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What is your background and how did it bring you to do your present work?

As a child I always knew myself to be an artist. Drawing, painting, creating sculptures in chicken wire and paper mâché, etc., were activities that I found easy and deeply satisfying.
My first university training was as a cultural anthropologist. However, because the university wouldn’t let me do both studio art and another discipline, I joined the choir of Christ’s Church Cathedral in Hamilton as an extracurricular activity.
With considerable pushing by Joe Fricker, then dean of that cathedral, I entered theology at Trinity College in Toronto. At the time, I was very skeptical of religion, but I was reading philosophy and searching for meaning in life. I told him that if I didn’t like it, I’d quit! As it turns out, I’ve been an Anglican priest for over 35 years.

What led you to ceramics?

I began to study ceramics in 2015. I found it to be a kind of therapy, as the clay is such an organic medium, and throwing clay on a wheel requires the whole body to be engaged in the creative act. But I also felt like I was coming home to an old, well known, self-as-artist that had been put on the shelf for decades.
It was in my third year of the cégep programme that I became drawn to creating funeral urns. That also had the feeling of returning to my roots in pastoral care, especially of people at end of life and their families. Ceramics became a way for me to engage our cultural silence around death.
In January 2020 I went to UBC as a ceramic artist in residence at the Museum of Anthropology where for three months I had the daily luxury of studying the collections of funeral ware from a variety of cultures, and of creating my own work in the museum’s studio, inspired by some of their forms and techniques.
Then in 2022 I went to UVic as artist in residence at the Centre for Studies in Religion and Society. My project was called “Pentimenti: Ceramic Funeral Urns as Biographies of Spiritual Homecomings.” It had two parts. First, I had to research biographies of people from a variety of backgrounds who had experienced a return to their spiritual roots at the end of life, or at a crisis point in their life. And then I created urns whose forms and surface treatments would somehow express something of that homecoming in their life. It is the urns inspired by those six biographies which form the core of the work exhibited at the Cathedral.

You speak about “returning” and “homecoming” in several different ways: those who return to their spiritual roots and yourself in your return to your earlier sense of self as a creative person. Can you elaborate on these ideas?

It was the phenomenon of spiritual homecoming at end of life which inspired me to create the Pentimenti project at the Centre for Studies in Religion and Society (CSRS).
The previous director of CSRS, Harold Coward, co-edited a book entitled Religious Understandings of a Good Death in Hospice Palliative Care. I was inspired when I read about the use of the term “pentimento”to describe the experience of people who, under a communist regime, had been forced to abandon their religious beliefs. At the end of life, however, they desired to be surrounded by the liturgical practices and prayer presence of their early faith tradition.
We live in a cultural context in which people choose to abandon their religious roots, which has a different dynamic from that of those who have been barred from practising their beliefs. But the whole idea of returning to one’s spiritual roots in whatever form that takes, when life takes on such different priorities at the end of life, has remained my central focus, particularly as that expresses itself in different cultural and religious contexts.
“Pentimento” is also used in art history to describe a phenomenon in oil painting in which an earlier sketch or underpainting by the artist, which had been obliterated by subsequent layers, reappears with age. When I learned this, it was the obvious focus both for the biographical research and for the exploration of different techniques for revealing underlying layers using the ceramic medium.

Your research on the attitudes and rituals around death in different cultures has clearly inspired you. Other cultures also have different and extraordinarily beautiful ceramic traditions. Have these also inspired your choice of form or surface treatment?

I am interested in creating layered surface treatments which give the appearance of great age. And, perhaps because I need a large canvas for the surface treatments, I am drawn to creating simple, classic forms.
But it was the residency at the Museum of Anthropology (MOA) at UBC that really jumpstarted this area of my ceramic research and practice.
From the suspended coffins of Northwest Coast First Nations’ communities (before the Christian missionaries came), to the turtleback tombs of Okinawa (before the bombing in WWII), I became enthralled with exploring the beliefs, funeral rituals and accompanying material cultures around the world.
It was at MOA that I began to create larger, sculptural ossuaries inspired by Etruscan, Israeli and American prehistoric ceramic traditions. But I was also inspired by some of the ceramic techniques I discovered at the MOA.
For example, the earliest Chinese ceramic urns often have a rope textured design. This rope technique has become synonymous with the Jomon historical period (Jomon means rope). One of the urns in the exhibition uses a version of this technique.

Holly Ratcliffe’s exhibition runs from August 19th to September 13th at Christ Church Cathedral, 635 St. Catherine West, Montreal. The artist will give talks about her work on Saturday, September 7th, at Christ Church Cathedral: at 1pm in French and 3pm in English. She will also be onsite from 1pm – 3pm on Sunday, September 8th.

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By Jeff Alexander, Coordinator, All Saints Church, and Crosstalk Ministries Day Camp Committee member

This year marks the second in-person Bible Day Camp we have held post-COVID. Our attendance was up modestly to eight from last year’s six; however, beyond the quantity, we were very pleased by the quality of our interaction and of the youth helpers.
We followed this year’s theme Signposts, adapting the curriculum slightly for our small and young (primarily kindergarten age) group of campers.
The music was expertly chosen for the week by our friends at the First Filipino Baptist Church of Montreal.
It was very rewarding to have four ex-campers – ranging in age from 12 to 20 – return as helpers, and their levels of vigilance, energy, encouragement, and kindness were incredible.
They were particularly attentive to two campers on the autism spectrum and our youngest camper who is being fostered by one of our church families; she started the week with her hoodie drawn closely around her face and gripping her stuffed bear, but brightened during the week and was eventually as energetic and expressive as the others.
We were also blessed with the attendance of some of the campers and their families at our closing service. We interspersed elements from Bible Day Camp throughout the liturgy, including a beautiful liturgical dance.
It was truly a blessing to our community to have hosted this wonderful week.

St. Joseph of Nazareth Church, Brossard

By Rev’d Christopher Belle
Priest-in-charge, St Joseph of Nazareth Church, Brossard

The Crosstalk Ministries Day Camps compact Backyard Program is a near-perfect fit for our church. We began in the evening with a meal prepared and served by members of the church. We then proceeded with the program, consisting of a main presentation, devotions, Creative Connection and games.
The children had a wonderful time. Our smaller numbers made for a more intimate setting, and it did not take long for some of the quieter ones’ initial shyness to wear off.
A strong indicator of its success was the enthusiastic singing following the day camps. Children were still singing the songs on the way home.
I was also encouraged by how well children recalled what they had learned the evening before. The quiz was an exciting showdown every time. It is clear that they understood what we tried to pass on to them.
I am always impressed by the many ways day camps allow children to express themselves. There is something for everyone; singing, liturgical dance, arts and crafts, crazy games, devotions. Children usually find their niche.
I find that the supper at the beginning is a key element in building a sense of community; a time for campers to share and learn about each other. And having parishioners who are enthusiastic about child ministry, and happen to be good cooks, is an absolute blessing.
Thank you, Crosstalk Ministries. God bless you.

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On Saturday, July 20th, 2024, 235 people came out to enjoy a bowl of delicious Coaticook ice cream at the second annual ice cream social, held in the church hall of St. James the Apostle in Stanbridge East.
The event was organised by the parish’s Youth Council, a dedicated group of young people who are committed to bringing about positive social change in our region, with a particular focus on supporting initiatives that help young people and families.
The Youth Council meets to learn together and share skills (including fundraising techniques, event planning, marketing and publicity, and financial management), all while giving back to the community — and having fun too. As a priest, it is so rewarding to be able to empower and equip the younger generation for leadership in the Church and in the world!
Since its inception in 2023, the Youth Council has raised over $6,000 to give back to the community. That is tremendous generosity on behalf of the parish!
Maddison Ingalls, a member of the Youth Council who recently completed CEGEP at John Abbott College and who will begin studying psychology at Concordia this fall, said “Events like the ice cream social are so important to me because my grandmother used to be heavily involved in the community, and this way I feel I can follow in her footsteps and help out the community that raised me. I am so proud to be part of the St. James the Apostle Youth Council!”
Similarly, Gennevieve Baker, the organising chair for this year’s ice cream social and a mother of two young children, reflects that, “I grew up in the Church, but it was only after I had my own kids that I realized how important it was for me, and I wanted to get more involved. As a church it is important for us to be involved in the life of the community; the work of the Youth Council is one way of fulfilling that.”
Bedford Pizzeria (a local restaurant whose unfailing support for the community is outstanding), the well-known Laiterie de Coaticook, and Maison de la Pomme (a local apple processing company) all made donations for the event, and sheet cakes were baked by a team of eager volunteers. All of this helped to ensure that the event had zero organising costs, maximising the event’s fundraising potential.
St. James the Apostle hosted the ice cream social, but several other organisations helped with ticket sales and publicity, including; the Order of the Eastern Star, the Stanbridge East firefighters, the Missisquoi Historical Society, the Royal Canadian Legion, the Town Hall of Stanbridge East, and the United Church in Stanbridge East. The ice cream social is a real community event! It is gratifying to see the wider community getting so involved in the life and outreach of the parish.
The doors of the church were open during the event, allowing the public to take in the beauty of the church’s religious architecture. The red brick building is a unique architectural gem amongst Anglican churches in the Eastern Townships — and, indeed, the rest of Quebec. It is built in the carpenter gothic style: identifying features of this style include steeply pitched roofs and gables, gingerbread ornamentation, and strong vertical design elements.
Fundraising from the Youth Council has benefited several local elementary school breakfast programs; Girl Guides of Canada; the Graham Neil Winter Classic, which provides winter sports equipment to children whose families cannot afford it; le Tremplin, a home for at-risk youth; and Reilly House, a not-for-profit organisation that supports families throughout the Eastern Townships.
There is an old expression attributed to Theodore Roosevelt: People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. The Church cannot simply talk about loving our neighbour, it has to manifest that love to the world. As a priest, I am proud to be connected to a church that has such a big heart for the community around us!

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Our most recent Regional Ministry joint services was held at St. James the Apostle Church in Stanbridge East on Sunday, June 30th. It was great to have Bishop Mary with us.
One of the hardest things about rural ministry across such a vast geography is building a feeling of unity between the many rural points.
As such, we designate fifth Sundays as special times of worshipping together from across our entire region. There are no other services sceduled in the region on those Sundays. These are important opportunities for fostering community, fellowship, and teamwork as our Regional Ministry continues to develop.
Regional services are always followed by a potluck lunch.
For small, rural congregations that normally get less than a dozen people on a Sunday morning, these regional services have explosive energy and provide a tremendous sense of hope for the future.
God is not done with rural ministry!

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Decline was seen in decreased participation at worship, and in decreased giving; and in the lack of weddings, baptism, and confirmations. Christ Church had maintained the appearance that things were OK even as some repairs were delayed and as they went from a full time to a half-time cleric.

Bishop Mary, after discussion and concurrence with the wardens of Christ Church, licenced the Rev. Rodney Clark in the fall of 2021 as part-time priest in charge of Rawdon.

It had been more than 15 years since Fr. Clark had served in a parish; and though he is a priest with more than 30 year’s experience, he had not previously lived in a rectory, nor served a single-point charge.

When Fr. Clark was ordained in 1993 his first parish was in the Appalachian highlands of Quebec where he served as half-time incumbent responsible for six congregations. The other half of his job was as a community animator funded by a Quebec City non-profit corporation, where he worked for five years, expanding minority language community and social service delivery.
While there, he learned how to identify a mission field; how to geolocate people for ease of community engagement across a large territory, how to participate in on-the-ground social service animation, how to discern and reinforce the threads of a worn-thin social fabric.

From this work came the Megantic Community Development Corporation and with it a template which was picked up by the Network Programme Initiative of the QCGN. The QCGN NPI assisted with the creation and funding of social service agencies across much of Quebec – agencies such as ECOL in the Lanaudière where Fr. Clark now serves.

The work to encourage growth at Christ Church Rawdon started in 2021 with the identification of the mission field and the work to discern paths to growth. In the last two years, Christ Church has increased the parish from a roll of 70 to a roll of 270 households.
This has been due to the hard work of wardens, ACW members and its 168 volunteers [Rawdon knows the actual number of its volunteers as they are named and their hours are tracked for inclusion in the annual report], and many others.

Meetings were held with neighbours and family. Much time has been spent speaking with and listening to ACW members and aged parishioners. Phones were used – a lot. Data bases built. A parish-needs assessments completed.

The most important activity has been time spent BEING VISIBLE in the community as a whole: knocking on doors to say ‘Hi’, marching as a parish in parades, inviting up to 90 people to share in lawn games at the Rectory in the summer months, working with local non-profits to strengthen ties and relationships; becoming known by municipal councillors, the firemen and local SQ, and diving into community activities.

Fr. Clark and members of the parish are seen at AA, NA, & CA meetings; at the Legion, the Quilt Guild, the Multi-Ethnic Center, the ACW, at Friday Friends, and at ECOL events; and at almost all community concerts and meals and fundraisers in Greater Rawdon.
With an identified mission field, coupled with intentional listening to learn why people stepped back, and a focus on making the parish central to the life of the community once again; average attendance at worship on Sunday Mornings has more than doubled from what it had been pre-covid.

On Saturday July 13th Christ Church Rawdon had its annual Auction and FunFair. The day started before 7am and ended after 9pm – and then 45 were in Church @ 10:30 the next morning!

Christ Church had had no confirmations for a decade. The Bishop confirmed six in Rawdon in 2024 and will confirm another six in 2025.

Christ Church has youth and young families worshipping with them because the congregation is listening, hearing and responding to their needs and program and animation requests.

Music has become an opportunity for growth, and people gather as a community to sing 60-strong twice a month. Christ Church has 40 voices in the choir singing at special events [there had not been a choir for several years, and no one dreamed of a 40-voice choir].
Christ Church has built in partnership with the municipality a concert series [15 concerts have been booked for 2024-25] to open the doors of our church to newcomers, so they SEE who we are – and we have a dressed altar and lit tabernacle lamp to telegraph our theology to those coming for concerts; and a few moments are spent at each concert telling people what an Anglican Church / what the Anglican tradition is.

Attendance is up. The numbers on the parish roll are up. Average worshipper age is down. The average parishioners age is down. Christ Church has found vectors for growth.

This fall Christ Church will host two 1-day workshops called the Rawdon Youth Initiative in an effort to respond to the needs which we have learned of through our 18-month SWOT analysis process [SWOT = Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, Threat: it is a business tool which charities and non-profits use to aid them to see themselves more clearly and to discern paths for growth and renewal].
There is MUCH work to do to see Rawdon become a long-term sustainable parish; but the greatest impediment to growth was overcoming the inertia of being a shrinking parish. Christ Church Rawdon has overcome that inertia.

The journey from here to sustainable and self-supporting ministry needs love and work and continued consultation and a willingness to listen.

One of the important things which Christ Church Rawdon has done is pray for each other. The entire parish roll is prayed for each week by our ACW. The roll has been divided into 52, and each parishioner is remembered in intercessions at least once a year. These are small things to do; but the trust and the conversations which this simple discipline fosters is not small – it is parish changing.
There will soon be another English school in the parish, bringing the total number of students in English school in the parish to more than 1000.

The population is growing and becoming more diverse. The parish is growing and becoming more diverse. Christ Church Rawdon has legs and a promising future.

Together the incumbent and wardens and volunteers along with the many who look to this parish for care and support – are taking steps to ensure the long-term sustainability of the parish and are working to cultivate new avenues for outreach.

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PWRDF works with impacted dioceses to identify needs; this could include emergency accommodations, gift cards to purchase food, water and essentials, counselling and post-trauma supports, or locally identified long-term recovery activities to help rebuild community assets and increase community resilience.

To donate to PWRDF’s In-Canada Emergency fund, go to pwrdf.org/give-today.

Or mail a cheque to PWRDF at 80 Hayden Street, 3rd floor, Toronto, ON, M4Y 3G2. Please indicate In-Canada Emergency in the memo field.

On a local note, we are looking for new people to take on leadership roles in our Montreal chapter of PWRDF.We would love for some new people to join our planning team, to decide on the best ways forward. We would especially welcome young people to become involved, to help us with our social media efforts.

The work being done through PWRDF is an inspiring and tangible manisfestation of our faith. We have found being involved in it to be so rewarding; we would love others to experience it as well. There is so much opportunity and support through the national organization. We just need a few more enthusiastic souls to further the cause here at home. Interested? Contact Ann rhodesbartow@gmail.com or Ros roslyn.macgregor@gmail.com

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