St. Columba greets new year with joy and optimism
Happy New Year to our neighbours and friends in Manor Park. We hope you had a safe and happy holiday season and are ready to start the new year with optimism and gratitude. Certainly, those are two perspectives held by parishioners at St. Columba.
The last two months at St. Columba were busy – but joyful.
Invasive species
We are most grateful to Eugenie Waters and Christina Keys of the MPCA Environmental Sustainability Committee who are working, along with service groups, to clear St. Columba’s grounds of invasive species. More on this to come from Christina in the next edition of the Chronicle.
Dinners for veterans
On November 25, St. Columba again partnered with Karim Teyib and Massimo Donde (owners and chef – Dante Restaurant on Springfield) to host our third dinner for the veterans at the Andy Carswell Building (Veterans’ House). Our thanks for the warm welcome from the veterans and staff; and special thanks to Karim and Massimo for donating the lasagnes and focaccia; to Hillside Farm Boy for donating the salad ingredients; and to parishioners for baking and giving the wide variety of desserts.
Advent celebrations
The Church New Year – Advent 1 (December 1) – was celebrated with a Festival of Music and Readings. Music Director, Faye Grinberg Rice, pianist Eugenie MacKay and all the St. Columba Cantors (Sophia Nickels, Keumnim Lim, Shawn Mattas, Alison Hamer, Spencer Cripps and Mallory Williams) were joined by Natacha Demers and Natasha Henry from the Montreal Conservatory of Music, and violinist, Douglas Brierley. The music was incredible, and we were happy to welcome nearly 100 people to the service.
Each Sunday in Advent began with the lighting of another candle, starting with Hope, then Peace, Joy and Love. The Sunday School children lit the first candle, with the Aulthouse family (Kate, Andrew and Ruthie) on the second week, the Spelay family (Zak, Angela and Thomas) on the third week, and the Sunday School children again on the fourth.
Sunday School and outreach
The Sunday School Christmas Party on December 7 was great fun with balloons, games, crafts, food and tree decorating. We have a highly active and engaged Sunday School and a nursery for toddlers and we are always happy to welcome new families with babies and children.
At the time of writing this article (mid-December), the Sunday School children and their teacher Becky Hynes are busy rehearsing for their key role at the Christmas Eve 4 p.m. service for “Kids of All Ages” where they will present a Gospel play.
As part of our ongoing Outreach activities, Walmart and grocery gift cards were distributed to Manor Park Public School and Veterans’ House for families and veterans in need. Grocery cards were also given to MPCA for prizes or distribution at holiday parties for local community housing and co-ops.
Christmas card exchange
In the absence of mail services, Christmas cards were exchanged via the St. Columba post office where cards were dropped off, sorted and then picked up and delivered to parishioners.
Many other activities took place at St. Columba in the month of December, including the Christmas lunch for the Swiss Seniors followed by their children’s party; the Irish Seniors Social Group Christmas lunch; and the concert “Noel” by the Stairwell Carollers, who meet at the Church for their practices.
In early December a group of St. Columba retired ladies had a wonderful outing to see the movie Wicked. The great company, comfy reclining seats, popcorn and fantastic movie were a big hit, and we are already planning to do it again – especially when Part II of Wicked is released next year!
We would also like to take the opportunity to acknowledge and thank Wes Smiderle, who will be stepping down as editor of the Chronicle with this issue of the paper. It has been a pleasure to work with Wes and to be part of the Chronicle team by providing space for the bundling of the Chronicle once printed.
We extend a warm welcome to Ryland Coyne as he assumes the role of editor and look forward to working with him.
The Parish of St. Columba is looking forward to this year with optimism, enthusiasm and gratitude. Learn more about our new priest.
This article was written by Diana Poitras.
