A Celebration of Ministry: Ordination to the Diaconate Debrah Mae Galt, B.Th.

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A Celebration of Ministry: Ordination to the Diaconate Debrah Mae Galt, B.Th.

God willing, Friday, October 2nd, celebrating the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, at 7pm at the St. Barnabas Church, Pierrefonds, QC, Bishop Mary Irwin Gibson intends to ordain Debrah Mae Galt, B.Th., to the vocational diaconate. As restrictions during this pandemic limit the number of people present for in-person worship, you are invited to join us on line on our Diocesan YouTube channel to celebrate this ordination.  

Congratulations Bishop Mary Irwin-Gibson on Five Years as the Bishop of Montreal

Join us in congratulating Bishop Mary on 5 years as the Anglican Bishop of Montreal!

Bishop Mary Irwin-Gibson, had been dean and rector of St. George’s Cathedral in Kingston since 2009 but is a committed, bilingual Montrealer with family connections and 28 years' service in the diocese.

Bishop Irwin-Gibson, who moved to the Montreal area as a young girl and grew up in the area, was ordained as a deacon and priest in 1981 and 1982. She served for three years as an assistant curate in the Parish of Vaudreuil, then for seven years as rector of the Parish of Dunham-Frelighsburg in Quebec until 1991.

She spent 18 years as rector of Holy Trinity Church in Ste-Agathe-des-Monts, in the Laurentians, earning an MBA in French along the way from the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM). In 2009, she became the rector at St. George’s Cathedral.

When nominations were open for the next Anglican bishop of Montreal, “I felt the Holy Spirit asking me to let my name stand,” she told Matt Gardner of the Anglican Church of Canada news service.

“I was willing to go if I was elected and willing to stay (in Kingston) if I wasn’t elected, because something I’ve learned from the military (in Kingston) about deployment is that when the boss calls you to go, you go, and if the boss says stay, you stay. And the Holy Spirit’s the boss.” The bishop’s husband, Mark Gibson, has a diverse business and consulting career, particularly in renewable energy and technical sales. He was executive officer of the Diocese of Montreal for about 10 months in 2006. They have two adult daughters.

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Diocesan Ordination Announcement

A Celebration of Ministry Ordination to the Diaconate Susan Mona-Marie Searle B.A., M.A., Dip.Min.

God willing, Tuesday, September 29th, celebrating the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels, at 7pm at the Church of St. John the Evangelist, Montreal, QC, Bishop Mary Irwin Gibson intends to ordain Susan Mona-Marie Searle, B.A., M.A., Dip. Min, to the diaconate. As restrictions during this pandemic limit the number of people present for in-person worship, you are invited to join us on line on our Diocesan YouTube channel to celebrate this ordination.  

Final Webinar Friday: Digital Faith Formation & Community Building for Church Leaders

The final installment in our Webinar series wraps up on Friday, October 2nd from 10am -11:30 am EST

Topic: Formation & Community for Church Leaders

To reserve your spot click “going” on the FB event or contact Lee-Ann

view week 1 now (Music & Worship)

view week 2 (Safety & Ethics)

Meet the presenters for week 3:

Rev. Dr. Joanne Mercer

Joanne is an anglican priest, knitter (a bi-stitchorial one at that - just Google it), theologian, crafter, educator, yarn bomber and general troublemaker in the diocese of Central NL in the Parish of Twillingate. Her interests are diverse and her thoughts scattered.

Rev Rob Cooke

Rob is Rector of St. Mark's Church and adjunct faculty member at Queen's College in St. John’s NL. In addition to being a priest, heretic, and provocateur, Rob is also a craft beer aficionado and causal home brewer, avid hiker and theology nerd.

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Resources / Film to be launched for the Season of Creation / Questions to encourage Theological Reflection

The Stewardship of the Environment Committee of the Diocese of Montreal, is launching a short film to articulate a message of urgency about climate change. View the trailer below and find some questions for theological reflection, including resources from the National Church and Green Churches.

Stay tuned for the launch of the Film on October 4th, 2020

Contact Richard Matthews for questions regarding The Seed.

Follow The Seed on Facebook

Questions for Theological Reflection

“The Seed” Video

  1. Take a moment to reflect on the feelings you had as you watched the video; there were probably several different ones as the story unfolded. 

    1. How do those feelings compare to how you feel when you pray, listen to or read Scripture, share your concerns with God, or listen for God’s call?

    2. Did you hear “calls to action”? Do those calls resonate with what God is saying to you? (Suggestion: This is a question that deserves time; talk about it today, but continue to listen for echoes in your spiritual listening over the next months).

  2. When you watched this video, what Biblical and theological themes came to mind? What other themes could have been used to present the message of this video?

  3. The video is titled “The Seed.” This is an important theme in the Bible. In the Creation story told in the first chapter of Genesis, God talks a lot about seeds (see Genesis 1:11 and 1:29). Jesus also had a lot to say about scattering seeds and letting things grow. Where do you see seeds of new life around you? Where are seeds important to you?

  4. Near the beginning, the narrator says “we took all that we could, more than we should.” This recalls a story told in the Hebrew Scriptures. When the Hebrew people have fled slavery in Egypt and are wandering in the desert, God provides them with bread that they called manna. God said to take only enough for the day but many people took more than that to save for future days, only to find that it spoiled. (This story is told in Exodus 16:13-26.) What does it mean to have enough? Where do you sense that we are taking more than we can? How does this Biblical story challenge other messages we are taught?

  5. How do you react to the mandate given by the old tree to the seed in the video, that “We are a sacrifice for paradise”? 

  6. As the narrator says, “We are each to do our part”; what is the part that you as an individual are called to do at this time?

  7. Many Anglicans have structured their thinking about their role in the world around something called the Five Marks of Mission. (You can read them all online.) The fifth mark encourages Christians to “strive to safeguard the integrity of Creation, and sustain and renew the life of the earth.” Where and how do you hear your Christian community called to respond to this call?

(Thanks to The Rev Dr. Jesse Zink for contributing to this document)

Download / Print the Questions in PDF

Other Resources

Join week 2 of the Webinar Series helping Church Leaders to improve using

A Series of webinars with Tools and Information to Improve Digital Worship for Church Leaders week 2

Week 2. Friday September 25 10-11:30 am EST

Presenters: Jen DeTracey, Tyler Schmidt, Reid Emerson August Bode and Jonathan White

Theme: Safety & Ethics

Join the Facebook event

Register HERE

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