St Barnabas, Waswanipi

On May 1st I became the rector of St Barnabas, Waswanipi.

Waswanipi is a Cree community of about 1400 people. The original Waswanipi community was located on an island downriver from the current site. In 1965 the old community effectively closed down - I am told that this happened effectively because the site was not large enough to accommodate the growing population. I understand that some elders continued to reside at the old community site after 1965, though they did so without the presence of a store, school, hydro or other conveniences. Some families moved immediately to the current community site, which is beside a highway that crosses the Waswanipi River. Most people moved to other communities in the region - Chapais, Chibougamau, Mattagami, Senneterre.

Following the signing of the first James Bay agreement involving the Quebec Cree in the 1970s, funding was provided to develop the current Waswanipi town site. Hence band members who had been scattered in the various communities of the region came to live at the new community site.

One of the first of the residents who moved to the new town site in 1965 was the Rev John Gull, who was an Anglican priest. He served the Waswanipi parish and community until his death in 1987. For a number of years after moving from the old community site, he had no church buildng at the new site - though I understand he used a church building in Miquelon, which is about a half hour drive down the highway.

A small Anglican church building was eventually erected at the new community site. A few years ago the new church building pictured here was built.

The current Chief and Council of Waswanipi made a commitment to tithe their Band Support income to the 2 churches of the community(Anglican and Pentecostal). Consequently at the present time there are no financial shortfalls in the 2 churches' programs of ministry.

Native Ministry presentation

Yesterday I made a presentation to students at Wycliffe College, which was billed "Native Ministries". Basically, I spoke of there being 4 major streams of faith present in "Anglican" Cree communities around James Bay.

These 4 streams are:
1) Christian traditionalists -these are Anglican folk who are working to rediscover and live out Cree spiritual traditions, and to do so as firm followers of Jesus Christ, whom they accept as the only-begotten son of God. They participate in pow wows, sweat lodges, traditional drum groups and other Cree spiritual ceremonies. These folk would rejoice to see smudging and traditional drums as a regular part of Anglican worship in their communities. But right now that is not possible. In some communities such things happen at funerals and family services(wake services), but often the traditional ceremonies can only take place outside of the church building. Often the Christian traditionalists function completely outside of the church, except for rites of hatching, matching and despatching. But there are also Christian traditionalists who are active Anglicans - it is just that their practice of traditional ceremonies takes place, at least for the most part, completely apart from institutional church life.

2) Pluralist traditionalists -these are folk who participate in and practice traditional ceremonies, and who identify Christianity as being "the white man's way". They may come to the Anglican church for rites of hatching, matching and despatching. Outwardly, they appear to be the same as the Christian traditionalists. But what makes them different is that they view Jesus as the same as Weesagetchuk, the trickster in Cree traditional stories. The Christian tradionalists seek a Cree Jesus, and may see Jesus as Cree, but the Jesus of the Christian traditionalists is Jesus the only begotten Son of God. The pluralist traditionalists see all religions as being essentially the same, and see Jesus as appearing in many different forms in all of the different religions of the world.

3) Anglican onlys -these folk will stick to Anglican worship only, and avoid all traditional ceremonies. They may view all traditional ceremonies as heathen, pagan, and even associate them with serving the devil. (Which is why the traditional ceremonies generally cannot take place in the church.) This was the version of Christian faith given to the James Bay Cree by the first Anglican missionaries in James Bay. (Recently, in the National Anglican Church archives here in Toronto, I have been able to take some time to read letters and Church Missionary Society reports of the first Bishop of Moosonee, John Horden, and the first Archdeacon of the Diocese, Thomas Vincent. It is quite plain from these papers that in their view, all traditional ceremonies were completely forbidden to anyone who would follow Christ.)

4) Pentecostal -I include in this stream of faith baptists and other evangelical groups. I use the term "Pentecostal" to illustrate that for many Cree elders all of these groups are lumped together as "Pentecostal". In some communities there are several of these groups. In the early days of the Pentecostal movement in James Bay, many of those in this stream did not regard the Anglicans as being Christians. And they rejected all traditional ceremonies as being evil.

People in the James Bay Cree communities may be firmly in one of these streams of faith, in none of them, or may move between them. Most of the time today people from these 4 streams of faith live together, work together, and do even worship together without animosity.

In some communities there is one of these streams of faith that is dominant - generally it is either the Anglican only or the Pentecostal stream. Government funding today largely favors the pluralist traditionalists. At one time all government funding which supported a particular one of these faith streams went to the Anglican onlys.

Living out the apology of our church for its involvement in residential schools, and our evangelical mission, leads me to believe that we should seek to highlight the Christian traditionalist stream. It could be argued that living out the Indigenous Covenant of the Anglican Church of Canada is to walk in this stream. But there are Cree folk in the other 3 streams who also are authentically Cree and Christian; they also need to be honoured and respected.

Reading Week begins

This week there are no classes at Toronto School of Theology, as it is Reading Week. Well, that doesn't make much difference to me, as I am not taking any classes. But spending time reading, and participate in various aspects of life at Wycliffe College.

This morning I attended a trialogue, "Mission and Power:Memory, Journey, Vision" with Bishop Mark MacDonald(National Anglican Indigenous Bishop, Elizabeth Tapia(Filipina Educator & Pastor) and Russell Daye(Canadian theologian). Great stuff. Session again tomorrow and another on Thursday. In the three trialogues these 3 engage in conversation ``around Mission and Canada as both a colonized, and colonizing nation`` The session this morning, which featured Bishop Mark as the lead off speaker, brought home to me anew just how different the way of thinking and being of indigenous people is, to that of the non-indigenous people.

Going back a long way, my own ancestors also were people of the land, and as such were indigenous people. But that is a very long way back indeed. My being so privileged to live and work amongst Cree people is a great gift.

Dr. Elizabeth Tapia spoke of doing doctoral work at a US university, and finding that there was not much in the way of indigenous theology in the libraries, because indigenous cultures are oral cultures. Hence she went back to the Philippines to interview indigenous people. It made me think about trying to get out to spend time with some indigenous elders in southern Ontario, as a part of my sabbatical time. I am here doing some reading...but there still is little in the way of indigenous theology that is in books, though there is some.

These 3 sessions are a part of the annual Canadian Theological Students Conference.

Moving time approaches

Sunday, January 25 will be my last Sunday at St. Peter's, Waskaganish as the resident rector. For three months(Feb - April) I will be on sabbatical, living in the residence at Wycliffe College, Toronto. Then at the beginning of May shall be starting out as the rector(half time) of St. Barnabas, Waswanipi. I will also be continuing as the half time Mahmow Program coordinator for the Diocese of Moosonee.

I have felt myself to have been "burned out" over the course of the last few years, and feel that much of what I have been attempting in Christian ministry in the last while has not been effective or fruitful. The Mahmow Program needs a radical overhaul and development. Hopefully the sabbatical time will help in these areas.

The sabbatical I have in part also timed so that I am out of the way for the James Bay Great Chapter 2009. I was Regional Dean of James Bay for 10 or 11 years, and in that capacity led every James Bay Great Chapter during that period. Hence my being out of the way for the 2009 Great Chapter allows the new Regional Dean to become better established in that position.

James Bay Great Chapter 2008

For some reason I have had problems logging into my blog account, but after persevering this evening, finally managed to do it.

One of the things which gave me the energy to persevere this time around was my desire to report the loss of the building being renovated to be the Kash rectory. There have been numerous delays with the project which it was hoped would have been finished before the end of 2007. But, still unfinished, the building burned to the ground about 4 am on Saturday morning. There was some insurance on the building, and an insurance adjuster is to visit Kash soon to investigate the claim.

It now becomes more complicated to have a residence for a priest in Kash, but is still possible that even at this now late time in the winter road season, things could still proceed so that there could be materials for a new residence for a Kash rectory sent up on the road before it closes with Spring.

I received the news of the burning down of the building on Saturday morning while attending the James Bay Great Chapter 2008. The Great Chapter is an annual event attended by clergy and laity from parishes in the James Bay Deanery. The parish of Constance Lake, which is actually in another Deanery, often sends delegates as well, as they did this time. (This is a Cree parish which is outside of this almost entirely Cree Deanery.)

This year's Great Chapter was a pre-synod Great Chapter. In this Diocese there is a synod every three years, and the Deanery Great Chapters help to prepare for the synods. This was done by reviewing draft Diocesan goals, which have been developed after consultation with parishes. Only if the draft goals are adopted by synod do they become goals of the Diocese.

Our Diocesan Bishop has been telling us that he will be retiring in about two years' time, and hence one of the roles of a set of Diocesan goals is to aid in the election of a new Bishop. We will need a Bishop who can lead the Diocese in fulfilling the goals.

This year's James Bay Great Chapter was hosted by the Moose Factory and Moosonee parishes. The sessions and most meals were held at the Moose Factory parish hall. The Sunday morning worship was at the Moosonee Anglican Church, as was the Sunday lunch. The two hosting parishes shared in providing billets and accommodation for the delegates from other communities.

As Regional Dean I am chair of the Great Chapter. I am often amazed at how things work out in the sessions, and this Great Chapter was no exception. There were moments of sadness and discouragement, but for me these moments were overshadowed by a sense of God working through all things to bring about his purposes.

The oldest Great Chapter delegate present was 92 year old Cree priest Samuel Hughboy of Wemindji. He made many valuable contributions to the gathering. The youngest present in any of the sessions was a baby by the name of Ricardo Wesley, of Kashechewan. For the sessions in which he was present, he mainly slept!

For two of the clergy of the Deanery, this was their last Great Chapter before they retire in August of this year. We also sorely missed a number of folk who have departed this life over the last few years, as well as others who were absent for various other reasons. But there is also the emergence of some new leadership in parishes of the Deanery, which was quite evident in some of the voices and happenings at the Great Chapter. Some young people of the Deanery have attended Great Chapters for a number of the years, and I find it something of a wonder to witness their growth over the years.

Our Bishop, Archbishop Caleb, led us in a Bible Study on Saturday morning, which engaged us all, and inspired us to not be content with mere spiritual milk, but to be able to digest and to feed upon strong spiritual food. There are a number of faithful Christians in the Deanery whom it is quite evident have been feeding and digesting strong spiritual food over a long period of time.

Materials on order for new Kash rectory

Recently building materials were ordered for the new rectory in Kashechewan. The building was originally erected to be a store. However, due to circumstances, the original owners and builders made a decision to sell the building instead of using it as a store. Most of the building at this time is one large room. Hence there needs to be smaller rooms built in that room - the plan calls for three bedrooms, and a washroom. When entering the front porch there are two doors to choose from. One will lead into the house. The other will lead into the office.

When entering the house, the kitchen area will be to the left of the door. Proceeding straight ahead will take one to the dining area, and the living room area. On the left, past the kitchen area, will be access to the washroom and the three bedrooms.

The plans call for the office to be finished first. This can then immediately be used for small meetings and small church services, even while the house part is still being worked on.

The double-wide trailer unit which is to be renovated into the church building will be worked on later. The plan is to have a priest living in the new rectory prior to those renovations beginning. Volunteers, some months ago, tore out all of the burnt-out material in the trailer unit.

A plan for financing the project is now in place. The total of the project, for renovations to turn the would-be store into a residence, and the double-wide trailer unit into a church building, is $230,000.00. Of this figure about $140,000.00 is already in hand. There are applications for grants and loans in process for the remainder. Fundraising and donations are and will be needed to pay off the loans.

Parish life continues without a building

Looking at my last post, about Kashechewan, anyone reading it may well wonder if the parish got the trailers. Well, no, but also yes. Meeting with wardens and vestry, the parish declared that they wanted to try and bring in two 14 x 70 foot trailers on the winter road. But the cost of such trailers, to get them to Kash on the winter road, was prohibitive, and especially in such a short time line. (The winter road would only last until sometime in March, and the trailers would have to be specially manufactured. And they would have to be paid for -about $200,000.00, before they would be transported to the community.) In order to set up the trailers and to have them at building code standards, in Kash, might cost as much as a further $200,000.00 Some of that cost might be reduced by volunteer labour, but still a tall task.

The Kashechewan First Nation, however, are giving to the parish, to renovate for a church building, a doublewide trailer unit which is just across the road from the old church. It was originally used as a youth centre. While being used as a storage facility for some building materials, it caught fire. But at the time of the fire there was some firefighter training actually going on at that very moment in Kash. Hence the firefighter trainees had a real life situation to work on. The building was saved - one of the firefighter trainees told me the story, proudly declaring that it was the first building ever saved from fire destruction in Kash.

The exterior of the building is completely untouched by fire damage. The inside is partially burned, with much smoke damage. A construction company working in Kash has now given an estimate for the renovation of the building for use as a church -volunteer labour will be used as much as possible -and some materials can be salvaged from the old church building. I just received the estimate this week. Also there is a solid possibility of a building being purchased and renovated for use as a rectory, that is very close to the trailer unit, and the old church building.

The last services in the old church building were on April 1, which included a confirmation service and a deconsecration of the building. Archbishop Caleb Lawrence led the services. That day was the beginning of Holy Week. Good Friday there was a Morning Prayer service in a building which is used as a classroom by Northern College. The service was led by Lay Reader Sinclair Williams, who actually constructed that particular building himself and owns the building. The building will hold only about 30 people when they are crammed in. But this works for small services. Easter Day services were held in the Highschool Gymn.

My first visit to the community since the closing of the old church was May 17-20. The day of my arrival I was able to celebrate Eucharist for a handful of people in the Northern College classroom. (This day was also Ascension Day.) The service was followed by a short meeting to continue discussions about work done for new church buildings. On Saturday I was able to hold a Select Vestry meeting in the classroom, as well as 2 pre-baptism classes. On Sunday morning the baptism-communion service took place in the highschool gymn. There were eleven baptized - all of them babies. Sunday afternoon I joined in leading a first children's Sunday School class in the basement of one parish family home. Following the Sunday School I had to depart on a flight for Moosonee. Sunday evening there was another service in the Highschool Gymn, led by the Parish Lay Readers and the St. Paul's Gospel Band.

Meanwhile there is a ladies' weekly house fellowship group, which has been going for years. The functioning of this group was unaffected by the closing of the old church building.