Join us as we celebrate the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity with our brothers and sisters in faith across Christian denominations with a service of thanksgiving and remembrance. This ecumenical service will be led by Gary Gordon, bishop of the Archdiocese of Victoria, Greg Mohr, bishop of the British Columbia Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada will preach and Bishop Logan McMenamie will also be participating. Reception to follow.

If you are in the Nanaimo area, please announce this at worship this Sunday.  

The bishop has appointed Barry Foster as diocesan executive officer effective Janary 15, 2019. Barry joins us from the diocese of Calgary where he had served as both executive archdeacon and most recently as executive officer (21yrs). Barry has been ordained for 35 years.  

Effective February 4, Tara Saracuse (currently office administrator at St George the Martyr, Cadboro Bay) will join the synod staff as executive assistant to the bishop. Welcome Tara! Tara has a degree in creative writing and is a published children's author. She has worked in adminstrative roles in book publishing, commercial construction and the non-profit sector. Tara loves problem-solving and making order out of chaos, and in particular, likes to utilize new technologies to achieve these goals. Tara and her husband live on a small hobby farm with their two dogs and four cats.

February 1, 2019

Walking the Camino: 6 Ways to Santiago - a documentary

Come out and support students at University of Victoria connected to our Anglican chaplaincy who are planning to walk a portion of the Camino De Santiago in the spring of 2019. All funds raised go to support student costs associated with the pilgrimage.

Please join us as we celebrate the new ministry of the Parish of Central Saanich and its new incumbent, Lon Towstego.

Celebrate International Development Week by hosting a PWRDF Sunday in your parish. The Primate’s World Relief Fund (as it was first named) came into existence as a result of the Springhill Mine Disaster of 1958. On October 23 of that year, in Springhill, Nova Scotia, an underground “bump” in a coal mine trapped 174 men 4,000 feet underground. Seventy-five of the miners died. The tragedy moved Anglicans and other Canadians to respond with assistance for the stricken families and community.

Please join us as we celebrate the new ministry of St Mark, Qualicum Beach and its new incumbent, Elizabeth Northcott. 

Led by a team of lay people and spiritual advisors (clergy). New participants (candidates) are exposed to the Cursillo approach through a series of fifteen talks (Rollos), five meditations, daily Eucharist and other worship, music and fellowship. The fifteen talks cover the basics of Christianity and concentrate on the concepts of piety, study, and action. Away from the everyday pressures of their lives, participants form a Christian community by learning, praying, singing, and living together. To apply to be a participant please review the weekend participant application information here.

Brendon Neilson, who had been working on contract with the diocese in 2018 has joined the synod staff as part-time vision animator (effective December 10, 2018). His office hours are Tuesdays, Wednesday and Thursdays.

In case you missed it!

In this issue: All Souls Memorials, "Portable" Indigenous Meeting House for Inmates, The Man Who Lost Six Months and more...

Fifteen years as a front-line worker in shelters and social justice ministry taught the Rev. Alastair Hunting the importance of relationships and listening. "Being prepared just to hang out with people, to give them lots of time: that's the essential ingredient in a ministry of presence," said Hunting. When he first arrived at St. Columba's, a joint Anglican-United Church parish in Port Hardy, Hunting met an Indigenous elder. Through hearing stories of this place within the larger history in Canada, it was evident that a relationship between the church and the Indigenous community had been disrupted and even lost.