April2025 Archives - Montreal Anglican

A Prayer from the Diocesan Representatives

Valerie Bennett — Wed, 19 Mar 2025 18:36:40 +0000

Gracious God, we thank you for bringing us through another winter and for showing us the new possibilities that come with spring. We are grateful for your generous blessing towards us and our faith community. We praise you for your presence in our lives.

We confess that we have not always been encouragers to our neighbours and have failed at times to be our siblings’ keepers. We pray that you will help us to change our ways and to always be on the lookout to prevent harm and danger being perpetrated towards the vulnerable among us.

God of inspiration and innovation, we thank you for all the great advances in technology that we often take for granted. Most of these tools are being used to make life easier and more meaningful for us. However, some people have found underhanded ways of manipulating this technology and harming others in the process.

Lord, we pray that you will change the hearts and minds of these hackers and fraudsters who have decided to harm the elderly and the naïve, thus profiting from their misfortune. Help them see that the love of money is the root of evil. Help them, like Zacchaeus, repent and reimburse their victims four times their loss (Luke 19:8). Please convince these scammers, we pray, to use their excellent skills to improve the world, making it a more peaceful and happier place to inhabit.

Finally, we plead with you Gracious God to instill in our precious seniors the skill of discernment to spot these dishonest schemes and to protect them when these ploys seem so authentic.

Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.
Valerie Bennett and
Stacey Neale

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Mile End Mission Executive Director Lou Hachey receives King Charles III Coronation Medal

The Anglican Church of Canada — Wed, 19 Mar 2025 18:35:05 +0000

Rachel Bendayan, M.P. for Outremont presented the award to Lou Hachey on February 25, 2025. Ms Bendayan commended Ms Hachey, the staff and the Leadership Team of 14 Mission volunteers who together make the mission possible.

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Mission and Discernment: A Summer of Challenge and Growth

Alan Ma — Wed, 19 Mar 2025 18:33:41 +0000

Often, when I think of the word ‘mission’, I recall Jesus sending out the twelve and the events in Acts. Yet, from time to time, I linger on the image of Moses during his time in the desert.
Born as a Hebrew during pharaoh’s persecution, Moses was saved from a certain death when he was adopted by the pharaoh’s daughter. Being raised in the high courts of Egypt as part of the royal family with vast resources at his disposal, the scene appeared to have been set for Moses to create system change – to right the injustice faced by his kinfolk, the Israelites. However, with one swift act, this prince became an “alien residing in a foreign land” (Exodus 2:22). Instead of leveraging the position afforded to Moses, he became an outlaw and fugitive in the desert. Yet, this was all part of God’s plan for His people and Moses. In the next thirteen chapters, God would display His Might through a series of miracles culminating in the liberation of the Hebrew people from slavery. Against this backdrop, we read of God’s love and care for Moses, and the intimate relationship they form. From the desert to the palace, God invites a meek Moses to the ‘mission’. God sends Aaron to aid Moses and strengthens his resolve all along the way. By the time pharaoh finally relented, we read of a very different Moses. Gone was the doubting figure; instead, we find a man of faith. Moses was transformed by God’s presence in his life, and the work that he was called to.
Again, I return to the image of Moses in the desert. The desert seems to bookend different seasons of Moses’ life. The initial fleeing into the desert may represent the laying low of the proud and mighty. The calling out of the desert may signify the restoration of Moses relationship with God and the rightful participation of within God’s designs. The re-entering of the desert may demonstrate the continual refinement of Moses as he continued to abide in God, not without fail, while furthering the mission.
The Montreal Mission Internship program, entering its fourth year, is a nine-week program for young Christians between the ages of 18 and 25 years old that gives them an opportunity to experience various moments of the desert. Participants will be placed in Christian ministries or not-for-profit organizations serving vulnerable communities across Montreal. Many will grapple with difficult circumstances, whether it be at a refugee residence or supporting at-risk youth or ministering to members of local congregations. Some participants may be laid low either by their preconceived ideas or outright mistakes. Many will see the limits of their own strength. Make no mistake, as one participant stated, “this program is not for the faint of heart – one should expect to be challenged. But it has helped me grow in ways that I would have never expected.”
Despite the challenges, there will also be moments of great joy. Our community will walk faithfully together with the Lord and gather weekly at the Montreal Diocesan Theological College to reflect on their experience. Supported by our team, participants may start recognizing God at work before, around, and within them. What’s more, they may begin sensing where they are invited and called to respond. Conversations around exploring one’s call lead to vocational discernment. As another participant recalled, “I loved that MMI offered an opportunity to learn about and practice discernment while also giving me chances to try new types of ministries related work for a short amount of time, helping me gain a greater sense of clarity for what I’m called to and would like to do.” It is our hope that participants may come away from the program, tempered and matured in Christ so that they may heed to God’s call on their life.
I invite you to share this opportunity with young people in your congregations and ministries.
Enrollment for the 2025 cohort is now open. Visit our website: montrealmission.ca for more information. This summer, we invite young Christians to join us in serving, reflecting, and discerning together. Participants receive a $5000 stipend for participation in the program. We also invite the church to pray with us in supporting the growth and maturation of the participants. May we all experience different moments in the desert knowing full well that the Good Sheppard will guide us through.

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Pilgrimage for the Planet – Keep the Oil in the Ground

Brenda Linn — Wed, 19 Mar 2025 18:30:34 +0000

In 2024, thousands of people and organizations around the world signed a Faith Letter in support of a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty. The treaty, a brainchild of Canadian Tzeporah Berman, has attracted support around the world, especially from nations who find themselves rapidly submerging as sea levels rise.
Christ Church Cathedral and Eastern Synod of the ELCIC were among the first faith communities in Montreal to sign the letter. Soon afterward, St John’s Lutheran Church invited the Cathedral to join them in a bold plan to support the treaty – and draw attention to it – with a pilgrimage to Parliament Hill. By bicycle. We hope and pray that many other churches and faith communities will join us.
The “Pilgrimage for the Planet” will set out for Ottawa on Saturday, May 10th. It will culminate on Monday, May 12th in a peaceful demonstration; a spirited call for the federal government to sign onto the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty. It’s an initiative spearheaded by the Lutheran Eastern Synod Climate Justice Committee, an invitation to let climate justice “roll like waters”! (Amos 5:24)
We will bike from Montreal to Ottawa to demand that the federal government join the road to a fossil fuel-free future. By choosing a zero emissions mode of transportation to make this journey, we are walking the walk (well, riding the ride) to keep fossil fuels in the ground, justice in our hearts, and hope in our future. For those of us who aren’t up to inter-city cycling, there is also the ecofriendly option of taking the train.
Either way, we are pilgrims for the planet. Are you with us on this journey? Sign up here: https://forms.gle/cDNq2rEnh4Kv1Zhs8
Whether you plan on completing the full pilgrimage or not, you are invited to join us for group training rides taking place on weekends in in April. Send us a quick email at pilgrimsfortheplanet@gmail.com for more info!

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Candidate – The Rev. Graham Singh

Montreal Anglican — Wed, 19 Mar 2025 17:27:26 +0000

Graham Singh is Pastor / Incumbent at St Jax Montréal, a bilingual church plant and community hub within our Anglican Diocese of Montreal. Ordained Deacon & Priest within the Diocese of London (UK) and apprenticed at Holy Trinity Brompton (home of Alpha) Graham became part of the Church of England’s programme for the re-planting of some 100+ historic city-centre church buildings. Graham is also Founder and CEO of Relèven, a Canadian charity whose vision is to ‘give rise to community’ through the adaptive re-use and development of religious property. Educated at the University of Western Ontario (Huron College), the London School of Economics, St Mellitus College with Cambridge University and Asbury Theological Seminary, Graham has also served as both student and guest faculty at the Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford. He sits on the boards of Montreal’s Table des Grand Jardins, Canada’s Table of Impact Investing Professionals and CMHC’s national working group on religious land. Graham is a regular writer in various church, charity, urbanism and popular media in Montreal, Canada and globally. He is married to Céline and they have three school-aged children. Together, the Singhs have been Quebecers for 10 years and celebrate family roots from Guyana, Scotland, England and France. Graham’s favourite passage from the Bible is Acts 2:42-47, where simple church life in the power of the Holy Spirit continues to serve as our guide, for the church of tomorrow.

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Candidate – The Very Rev. Bertrand Olivier

Montreal Anglican — Wed, 19 Mar 2025 17:26:26 +0000

I moved to Quebec in 2018, after being called to be Rector of Christ Church Cathedral and Dean of Montreal. In the past seven years I have made a home here, discovered the joys and beauty of our beautiful province and learned about its cultural richness and diversity as well as its political sensitivities. I proudly became a Canadian citizen in a moving ceremony in February 2024.
In the past seven years, I have led the Cathedral safely through the Spire restoration project and the Covid years and have ensured that we continue to be a face for the diocese for which we can all be proud. It has been demanding work which can only be done through the Grace of God.
I am a people person and passionate about spreading the Good News of God in Christ through a Church that is open, diverse and inclusive, where all are welcomed and valued, building community and reaching out to those around us. I am also an experienced leader, pastor and manager. I am perfectly bilingual.
In these complex times, and after much discernment, I offer my experience to lead the diocese in the prayerful development and implementation of its strategy for its next season.
Arrivé au Québec en 2018 pour être doyen de la cathédrale Christ Church, j’ai mené la cathédrale à travers la restauration de la flèche et la pandémie. Passionné par une Église ouverte et inclusive, je mets mon expérience de leadership au service du diocèse.

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Candidate – The Rev. Dr. Deborah Meister

Montreal Anglican — Wed, 19 Mar 2025 17:24:57 +0000

When I chose to be baptized at the age of twenty-seven, I was drawn to Anglicanism by its palpable sense of the sacred and its deep respect for humanity, not only in embracing our diversity, but in its cultivation of the depths of each person in word, in sacrament, in grace, and in hope. That juncture of spirituality and justice has been at the heart of my ministry, and, I hope, of my life.
After completing my PhD in literature, I enrolled in seminary at Yale Divinity School, where I fell in love with urban, multicultural ministry. During the twenty-two years that I have been ordained, my ministry has focused on repairing the breaches in our culture or society by fostering church communities which transcend those divisions. Sometimes, those communities were made up of people from different national, ethnic, or racial backgrounds; sometimes, they came from different social classes or theologies or political convictions. I have found deep joy in the often-difficult work of fostering relationship, healing division, and building communities of trust.
Working at the intersection of spirituality and justice, I served churches in Alabama, New Jersey, Washington, DC, and Connecticut (urban, suburban, and rural) before moving to Montreal five years ago as Associate Priest at our Cathedral. I am a member of the Diocesan Anti-Racism Task Force, a spiritual director, and monastic; an avid reader, hiker, and traveler; and am unable to live without a dog. The current one is named Benoît.

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Candidate – The Ven. Victor-David Mbuyi Bipungo

Montreal Anglican — Wed, 19 Mar 2025 17:24:04 +0000

Born on December 8, 1970 in Congo I’m the youngest of five children. My parents were both teachers.
I grew up in the Christian faith. I served as an acolyte. After discerning my vocation and studying at the regional Seminary, I was ordained in 1996.
My immigration to Canada 21 years ago was the result of a fortuitous conjunction of factors. My home diocese’s bishop wanted to get a scholarship for my PhD in Canada and the bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saint-Jérôme (Quebec) was looking for priests to fill the needs of local parishes. That’s how I ended up in the Diocese of St Jerome.
After a process of discernment, I joined the Anglican Church in 2014 attracted by the synodical conception of governance and the more evangelical openness to the changes our world is undergoing.
I like socializing and sharing with everyone. I’ve been told that I seem to be too serious. Yet those close to me know that I love spinning jokes. My strength resides in my ability to have a word which comforts others and helps them to move forward in life. But for the sake of the community, I’m also capable of making decisions that don’t please everyone. Disrespect for any human being upsets me.
I like singing, playing soccer and jogging regularly.
As a priest with 28 years’ experience and having held a number of positions of responsibility in the Church, I believe I can serve as a bishop.

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Candidate The Rev. Canon Dr. Neil Mancor

Montreal Anglican — Wed, 19 Mar 2025 17:22:56 +0000

Neil Mancor is the congregational development coordinator for the Diocese of Montreal. Ordained in 1999 he has an extensive international background having lived and served in the UK, Vancouver and since 2008 here in the Diocese of Montreal in parishes rural, urban, and suburban, before joining the Synod Staff in 2016.
As Congregational Development Coordinator, Neil is responsible for coordinating programs and initiatives in areas such as spiritual vitality, parish health, stewardship, restorative practice, and fresh expressions of faith. In addition, he leads the Revive course, a structured program designed to help parishes refresh their spiritual practices and respond to contemporary challenges. Neil also serves as the Chair of the Resources for Mission committee of the Anglican Church of Canada, collaborating with stewardship and financial practitioners from across Canada.
Neil is also involved in ministry initiatives and fresh expressions that use creativity to create community. He serves as a Godly Play storyteller and a Messy Church practitioner, engaging community through creativity and celebration.
The foundation of Neil’s scholarly work is the spirituality of the monastic middle ages. With a focus on the Desert tradition and the emergence of monasticism, Neil is rooted in the ancient practises and tradition which bring spiritual vitality to the Church today. This led him to create a series of lectio journals as tool for spiritual practise. Neil believes that the world would be a better place if we all learned to listen deeply, and that this lies at the heart of all spiritual practise.

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Candidate The Rev. Dr. Teresa Danieley

Montreal Anglican — Wed, 19 Mar 2025 17:21:40 +0000

“Is the Church a stone building? A book or a pew? No, the Church is the Lord’s hand and feet and that’s me and that’s you!” – Episcopal Youth Event song, 1993
My life’s work has been to help people and organizations (Christian and secular) act faithfully on the values they proclaim. Demonstrating agape love with glad and generous hearts (Acts 2:44-47) and acting as the Lord’s hands and feet to all whom we meet – that is what “being the Church” means to me.
I have been a priest in the Episcopal Church for over 20 years. From 2004 to 2016, I served as the Rector of St. John’s, Saint Louis, Missouri, US, where we experienced a renaissance – growing from a dozen people worshiping on Sunday morning to a community hub gathering over a thousand people every month.
I am the Champions Consultant for Missouri Jobs with Justice (a grassroots organization that advocates for workers’ rights), the Missioner for Public Advocacy for the Episcopal Diocese of Missouri, and a Priest Associate at St. Mark’s, Saint Louis. I will be completing the Interim Ministry Network’s Transitional Ministry Training this spring.
I earned a B.A. from Yale University, an M.P.P. from the University of Chicago, an M.Div. from the General Theological Seminary and a D.Min. from Eden Theological Seminary.
My husband, Jonathan, and I have three children: Lucille (14), Ruby Frances (12) and Theodore (8). Jonathan works for an international company. French is my second language; my family is learning it.

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