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.
Thursday, October 04, 2007
Friday, June 08, 2007
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.
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.
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Kashechewan Church building condemned
On Sunday, Jan. 21 I announced to the congregation of St. Paul's, Kashechewan that the whole of the church building, including worship space, parish hall, and rectory apartment, would have to be closed down due to mold infestation. Just following my December visit to Kashechewan the whole of the building was sprayed for mold. The spraying will have killed all mold spores in the air. However, there is mold behind the wallboards. And except in winter there is often water flowing into the basement. Hence it is that with the warmer weather the mold will be growing again. Archbishop Lawrence was forced into making a difficult decision.
The last service in the church building will be held on April 1. There will be confirmation on that Sunday, and Archbishop Lawrence will be present.
What will the congregation do? At a subsequent meeting of the congregation it was decided that work would be done to try and bring in a couple of trailers on the winter road. The plan is that the trailers would be used for the worship space, initially. Later on the congregation hopes to build a log church building, and to then use the trailers as a parish hall. As the winter road will close sometime in March, this does not leave much time to work things out. One of the challenges will be to find the funding for the trailers. The cost of bringing in the trailers is still something that is being worked out, but it is hoped that in the next few days the full cost of the trailers being set up will be known.
In Kashechewan at this time there is a real difficulty in finding other space to worship in. For example the elementary school building in Kashechewan, St. Andrew's School, has been closed for quite a while because of a mold problem. Currently the elementary school and highschool students are both using the highschool classrooms. The elementary school uses the classrooms for the morning and the early afternoon. The highschool uses the classrooms for the late afternoon and evening. The mold problem is one which is a common problem in these parts.
The last service in the church building will be held on April 1. There will be confirmation on that Sunday, and Archbishop Lawrence will be present.
What will the congregation do? At a subsequent meeting of the congregation it was decided that work would be done to try and bring in a couple of trailers on the winter road. The plan is that the trailers would be used for the worship space, initially. Later on the congregation hopes to build a log church building, and to then use the trailers as a parish hall. As the winter road will close sometime in March, this does not leave much time to work things out. One of the challenges will be to find the funding for the trailers. The cost of bringing in the trailers is still something that is being worked out, but it is hoped that in the next few days the full cost of the trailers being set up will be known.
In Kashechewan at this time there is a real difficulty in finding other space to worship in. For example the elementary school building in Kashechewan, St. Andrew's School, has been closed for quite a while because of a mold problem. Currently the elementary school and highschool students are both using the highschool classrooms. The elementary school uses the classrooms for the morning and the early afternoon. The highschool uses the classrooms for the late afternoon and evening. The mold problem is one which is a common problem in these parts.
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
My car the hunting machine
Today I hit my first cariboo. I was driving from Chisasibi, home to Waskaganish, and came across many cariboo on the highway. At one point, having just come out of a curve, there were two cariboo on the road in front of me. One of them moved fairly quickly across the road in front of me, and leapt over the snowbank on the other side of the road. His friend followed but more slowly. I could not avoid him at all, and caught him on his behind with the front bumper on the driver's side. Fortunately at that point I was not going very fast. The cariboo was knocked on to the snow on the shoulder of the other side of the road. He only lay on his side for the briefest of moments, before leaping to his feet and jumping over the snowbank to join his friend. Hence no steak for me from my first cariboo.
Stopping to check the front end of my vehicle, the only sign that I had hit anything was a tuft of hair caught in the headlight socket.
Earlier in the journey I had come over a hill and found about half a dozen white birds feeding on the salt on the road. They flew up in the air and I saw that I caught at least one of them, knocking it to the road.
Hence it is that I find I do not need a gun to hunt, I just drive down the road!
Last winter, on one trip, I hit a rabbit which I suddenly came upon on the road in front of me. The rabbit was hit in such a way that he was only nicked on the upper part of one leg, but nevertheless lay dead on the road. I had a passenger with me on this occasion. He picked up the rabbit and put him in the back of my vehicle. Upon arriving at "km. 381", which is the only gas station on the James Bay Highway, as well as being a cafeteria where many travellers stop, we saw one of the Chisasibi postulants for priesthood in the parking lot. Hence we made a gift of the rabbit to this Cree elder. The next time I saw him I advised him that after he was ordained he would not need a gun to hunt, but he would simply have to drive his car down the highway, just like me.
That elder is now a deacon. He will likely be priested later in 2007. I haven't asked him yet if he has got rid of his hunting guns yet. But I am not sure if he will still need them, as I really am not sure if a deacon's vehicle is as effective a hunting machine as that of a priest.
Stopping to check the front end of my vehicle, the only sign that I had hit anything was a tuft of hair caught in the headlight socket.
Earlier in the journey I had come over a hill and found about half a dozen white birds feeding on the salt on the road. They flew up in the air and I saw that I caught at least one of them, knocking it to the road.
Hence it is that I find I do not need a gun to hunt, I just drive down the road!
Last winter, on one trip, I hit a rabbit which I suddenly came upon on the road in front of me. The rabbit was hit in such a way that he was only nicked on the upper part of one leg, but nevertheless lay dead on the road. I had a passenger with me on this occasion. He picked up the rabbit and put him in the back of my vehicle. Upon arriving at "km. 381", which is the only gas station on the James Bay Highway, as well as being a cafeteria where many travellers stop, we saw one of the Chisasibi postulants for priesthood in the parking lot. Hence we made a gift of the rabbit to this Cree elder. The next time I saw him I advised him that after he was ordained he would not need a gun to hunt, but he would simply have to drive his car down the highway, just like me.
That elder is now a deacon. He will likely be priested later in 2007. I haven't asked him yet if he has got rid of his hunting guns yet. But I am not sure if he will still need them, as I really am not sure if a deacon's vehicle is as effective a hunting machine as that of a priest.
National Indigenous Bishop
Yesterday I was worshiping with the good people of St. Philip's, Chisasibi. In the morning service, which was baptism and communion entirely in the Chisasibi Cree dialect, I had one contribution to the leadership of the service. That was to speak to the gathered congregation of the appointment of Bishop Mark McDonald as the National Indigenous Bishop. Bishop McDonald is currently the Bishop of Alaska, and will begin his new position in March. After explaining briefly the role of the newly appointed NIB, and emphasizing that we will continue to be a part of the Diocese of Moosonee, with Archbishop Caleb as our Diocesan Bishop, I asked the congregation to pray for Bishop Mark, upholding him in prayer along with Archbishop Caleb. I then led in prayer, giving thanksgiving for the newly appointed NIB.
A news story giving more details of the NIB position, along with some biographical info, I had printed off from my email and I gave this to the Rector's Warden. He then took this to the local radio station where he used the info in the story to speak about Bishop McDonald. The Rector's Warden was himself present at the Sacred Circle gathering at which the assembled delegates called for the appointment of a National Indigenous Bishop.
In July 2003 I was privileged to be a student in a class taught by Bishop McDonald. I was at the Native Ministries Consortium Summer School held at the Vancouver School of Theology each summer. On the basis of my experience in that classroom, and my recollections of Bishop McDonald at the School, I am very much looking forward to Bishop McDonald's ministry as the National Indigenous Bishop.
A news story giving more details of the NIB position, along with some biographical info, I had printed off from my email and I gave this to the Rector's Warden. He then took this to the local radio station where he used the info in the story to speak about Bishop McDonald. The Rector's Warden was himself present at the Sacred Circle gathering at which the assembled delegates called for the appointment of a National Indigenous Bishop.
In July 2003 I was privileged to be a student in a class taught by Bishop McDonald. I was at the Native Ministries Consortium Summer School held at the Vancouver School of Theology each summer. On the basis of my experience in that classroom, and my recollections of Bishop McDonald at the School, I am very much looking forward to Bishop McDonald's ministry as the National Indigenous Bishop.
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