Anglican parish spreads the love

CALEB NICKERSON
SHAWVILLE Dec. 20, 2017
In the recent weeks, there has been some changes to the organization of the local Anglican Parish and The Equity sat down with the three members of the local clergy who are eager to see what the future has in store.
Starting back in September, the Parishes of Clarendon, Renfrew and Northern Pontiac were merged into the newly created area Parish of Renfrew-Pontiac.
“It’s a new idea that the diocese has developed to try to ensure that places in the diocese, which in some cases have been struggling with numbers and stuff like that, that we pull together a number of former parishes and churches into a larger area Parish,” explained Reverend Deacon Tim Kehoe, who was appointed to serve in the newly created area Parish on Oct. 1.
There are currently five churches in the region that meet weekly: St. Paul’s in Shawville, Holy Trinity in Radford, St. Paul’s in Renfrew, Holy Trinity in Danford Lake and St. James in Otter Lake. There are also nine other chapels throughout the region that meet anywhere from once a month to once a year.
“For many of the smaller communities, there’s a filial duty to the graves that are there too, because many of them also have cemeteries,” explained Archdeacon Mavis Brownlee. “It’s really important to us as Anglicans to observe our filial duty.”
Brownlee added that she, along with Kehoe and her associate incumbent, Reverend Carol Hotte, will be travelling from church to church each Sunday in a circuit. So far, the results have been encouraging.
“The exciting thing about the area parish is that we now have a clergy team,” she said. “This is a travelling show. People really like the diversity in the preaching style and in the music. It’s been a very rich experience for us.”
“It stretches us as clergy,” said Hotte. “When you go from congregation to congregation, there’s a little culture in every [one], so we have to adapt too.”