So much has changed in the last year.
After embarking on the Ministry Assessment Process (MAP) in spring 2014, MAP sub-committees, the wardens and Corporation spent the early part of 2015 developing the four options which came forward from MAP. We worked with the Masters students in Social Work at Carleton University and learned from their research. One of our parishioners, David Tipple, provided us with extensive demographic information. Another parishioner, Innogen Henderson, provided us with a cost-benefit analysis of re-development. We became excited at the thought of re-developing our church building and property. Another option was to re-work the church building so that we would live upstairs and re-develop the basement. (As a first step in that endeavour we removed a number of pews at the back of the church opening up the area underneath the arches and created a new children's area on the south side of the church.) As further MAP options, we looked at amalgamation and sowing the seeds elsewhere. We also costed out the options.
Through our MAP discussions we met with Bishop John and the Venerable Dr. Peter John Hobbs,
Director of Mission. We talked with Michael Herbert, Director of Financial Ministry at the Diocese. We met with social service agencies, community organizations, a developer, an architect, a commercial real estate broker. We researched churches which had renewed themselves and we talked to politicians, parishioners and the Cathedral Hill development group. We spoke with other parishes and we talked endlessly, all the while developing and exploring the detail – energy, time, money, expertise - associated with each option.
On May 8 & 9, 2015, we held a well-attended parish workshop – about 60 people participated in each of the Friday and Saturday sessions. We discussed our parish and determined that, above all, we wanted our community to stay together. We looked at the four options facing the parish and everyone was asked to indicate their preference. The option of amalgamation was clearly chosen as either a first or second choice.
Subsequent to the workshop, many people wanted to know with which parish we might amalgamate. All Saints' Westboro (ASW) is the parish which came to the fore. On June 7, 2015, we held a Special Vestry, with a first vote on the matter of amalgamation with ASW. The vote was 35 in favour, 23 against with 8 abstentions. By mid-month, a new communication vehicle was begun – printed and website posted articles entitled "Amalgamation Conversations" aiming to keep parishioners up to date on developments.
Over the summer we held a number of exploratory meetings with ASW to flesh out our knowledge of one another: our cultures, our practices, our finances, our views. On September 20th, at the request of interested parishioners, we held a Question & Answer session following the 10:30 service. On the 27th the two congregations worshipped together at ASW. On Monday, October 5th, the two congregations met with the Bishop at St. Matthias for a Town Hall. Subsequently, in answer to questions raised about finances, and for the information of the parish, a draft joint budget was created and circulated. On October 25, 2015, we held a second, and final, vote on amalgamation with ASW. With a very large turn-out and impassioned talk, the vote was taken: in favour – 74; against – 33; abstentions – 4.
Through the November 5th Amalgamation Conversation the timetable for amalgamation was announced. Final services at St. Matthias will take place on Sunday, February 7, 2016, and the church will be decommissioned on Monday, March 2, 2016.
The two parishes met together on Sunday, November 22nd, when ASW joined us at St. Matthias for a worship service followed by a Soup-er Sunday. This series of informal soup and bread lunches has become a cold weather tradition at St. Matthias. The event gave us the opportunity to get to know one another on a more informal basis.
In the meantime, the wardens and Corporations of the two churches have continued to meet together, to plan for the future.
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While all the MAP and amalgamation discussions continued, the work within the parish did not abate. We all well-remember the heating system difficulties we encountered during the winter of 2014-2015. Adverse weather and lack of heat badly affected our attendance over the winter.
Our excellent Parish Administrator, Joan Bouwmeester, and her husband and church property manager, David McGechie, advised early in the year of their retirement from their respective positions. With much regret, we bid good-bye to both. Joan was subsequently replaced by parishioner, Kathy Laffin, while David's duties were taken up by volunteer cleaning/garbage squads within the parish. Cleaning team members included: Susan Athrens, David Tipple, Jim Stevenson, Katy Burnett, Paul Knoll, Tom Pierce, Ted Cherrett, Linda Phillips, John Wilker-Blakley, Peter Carr, Mary McNamara, Gary Santia, Elizabeth Reicker, Don Butler, Marolynne Capstick, Chris Kirch, Chris Helleur, John Helleur, Charlie Donnelly, Caitlyn O'Brien, Carol Crosby and Eloise Simmons. Property maintenance reverted fully to volunteers especially Tom Pierce and Don Butler, and the gardening rakes and trowels were taken up by volunteers Joanne Bocking and Susan Dibble.
On the parking front, we held discussions with Vinci Park, the company which takes care of our parkers and all the administration associated with parking. We also met with representatives from the Civic Hospital to discuss further possibilities related to parking. Those discussions are now moot with the advent of amalgamation. Some of our stained glass windows experienced some leading failures and were repaired over the summer.
Our February 2015 Vestry meeting responded enthusiastically to a motion to sponsor a refugee family through our Diocese. In view of our financial position and future uncertainty, this was a real leap of faith. We are grateful to the Parish for undertaking this responsibility.
We also took time to eat! Many parishioners took advantage of the annual Shrove Tuesday
Pancake Dinner prepared and served by our 32nd St. Matthias Scouting groups. Through our
Pastoral Care Team we once again hosted a spring and fall Seniors' Service and lunch for many in our parish who cannot come to church regularly. As well, we held two very successful flea markets in the spring and fall. With the organizational talents of Mollie Stokes and many others, we are like a well-oiled machine! The fall flea market and Synod overlapped, but the Rev. Canon John W-B and Synod delegates Susan Gates, Janet Stevens and Roslyn Butler were all able to attend.
The fall also greeted us with another leak in the heating system which led to ceiling damage in the downstairs cloak room. This is (sooner or later) going to be repaired. As well, the heating system continues on a somewhat erratic basis to provide us with heat.
With respect to refugee sponsorship, a family has been identified, and we have a refugee committee in place. Noel Lomer has been a prime mover in this work and we are very grateful to Gaye Moffett and the Rotary Club of West Ottawa for its assistance with fund-raising for the family. The Club has donated $11,083.62 towards the fund with the parish donating about $15,000 (and counting).
On a further positive note, we are grateful that the parish has responded well to an idea which arose from our community consultations – the establishment of a St. Matthias Mission in Hintonburg. The project is in the early stages, but at this point we can say that we will be working with the Parkdale Food Centre and its guests in the neighbourhood to meet some of the identified aspects of social exclusion.
With respect to amalgamation with All Saints' Westboro, we give our thanks for the warm welcome and sympathy with which we are being received.
We give our thanks to Marolynne Capstick, who previously served as Deputy Warden and stepped down at last year's Vestry. The Wardens also give our thanks and appreciation to our Treasurer, Ken McMillan, for all his hard work throughout his tenure. Most of all, thank-you to John for his leadership since the day he arrived. It has been a difficult journey and we appreciate his guidance, care, understanding and strength.
As this is the final report from the Wardens of St. Matthias, we must also honour and give thanks to all those who have come before us – the priests, the students, paid staff and the many volunteers who have taken on positions of leadership and positions of care and doing within the parish over decades. We thank our parishioners who carried us through 127 years. We have a proud history and a wonderful sense of community. Let us carry that with us wherever we go.
Chris Helleur Rector's Warden
Katy Burnett People's Warden
Ted Cherrett Past Warden
Linda Phillips Deputy Warden