The Diocese Office will be moving to the church building of the former parish of St. Edmund, King & Martyr in the community of Bowness.  Renovations are well underway, and we anticipate the physical move to occur in the last week of  April.

The new address will be: 8336 - 34 Avenue NW, Calgary, AB, T3B 1R2.  Email addresses and phone numbers will remain the same.  Please take a moment to add this in your contacts or mail out lists.

We ask that the Diocese be patient during the moving week as we may have computers and phones down for a few days.  Also we would appreciate your prayers for a smooth transition for all involved as the move date draws closer.

Being a Christian is a career. We read the textbook, attend classes and do a lot of practicums to gain experience like an apprentice does. Hmmm…When the missional coaches teach courses, we talk about Evangelism.

And I quote:

Evangelism:  one definition:  “Cooperating With the Holy Spirit to share the good news, in order to help someone take steps towards becoming an apprentice of Jesus, therefore joining in the mission of God.”

Now imagine if that was what we all did! I know when I attend church on Sunday, I often feel like I am filling up my gas tanks or my apprenticeship teachings to venture outside the doors of the church for another week and not be afraid to show and share my faith with others.

This month's Missional Minute contribution comes from Karen Larsen.

Clergy Changes:

The Rev. Deacon Chandra Gray is serving for the time being with the parish of Christ Church, Nanton as Deacon.  

Archbishop Greg has appointed The Rev. Martyn Alvey to be Interim Priest-in-Charge for the Meota Parish until such time as the Ven. Alan Getty is able to resume his Incumbent's duties. 

The Parish of St. Michael & All Angels will be holding their final service on Sunday, April 27.  The Rev. Malcolm Kern will be resigning as their Incumbent and the parish will be requesting to disestablish.

The Rev. David Holmes, who has served faithfully in many parishes throughout the Diocese of Qu'Appelle and Calgary, including Church of the Epiphany in Rimbey, St. George, Stettler and the Parkland parishes, will be moving to Regina to be closer to his children.

Please pray for all these clergy as they transition to new roles in their ministry.

Registrar:

The Diocese Office is pleased to announce that our Registrar, The Rev. Deacon Charmaine Evans, is now working in the office three days a week (Tuesdays to Thursdays).  Currently, she is taking care of the Clergy Conference bookings, and managing the many details for the Office move.  We welcome her aboard!

The annual Blessing of the Oils & Renewal of Ordination Vows service will be held on Tuesday, April 15 beginning at 10:30 am at the Cathedral Church of the Redeemer.  Clergy are asked to arrive ahead of time to vest, and bring their oil containers for filling after the service.  Color is red.

April 2 to 4 - National House of Bishops - Niagara Falls, ON

April 6 - Confirmation Service - 10:30 am at St. Benedict, High River

April 6 - Cursillo Closura Service - 4:00 pm at Entheos Retreat Centre

April 10 - General Synod delegates' meeting by Zoom at 7:00 pm

April 12 - Ecumenical Campus Ministry 30 Year Celebration in Lethbridge

April 13 - Bishop's Visit to St. Aldhelm, Vulcan beginning at 11:00 am

April 15 - Blessing of Oils & Renewal of Ordination Vows, Cathedral Church of the Redeemer, beginning at 10:30 am

Please hold Archbishop Greg in your prayers as he serves as our Bishop and Metropolitan.

The upcoming Cursillo Weekend will run from the evening of Friday, April 4 through to the afternoon of Sunday, April 6 at the Entheos Retreat Centre near Bragg Creek.  This co-ed Weekend features a series of informative and inspiring talks from laypeople and clergy, small group discussions, worship, and fellowship.  Both men and women may attend; however, this is not a "couples weekend."  

For more information, please visit the Cursillo website at www.cursillo.ab.ca

A new Grief Recovery course will begin on 22 April led by Betty Craigie. The course will take seven weeks, meeting weekly. Participants should gather at 7.00 p.m. in the Coop Room [second floor] on Tuesday 22 April.

Courses have taken place in Christ Church since 2009, and many have been helped. The course follows a set pattern which leads to recovery.

Grief is the natural reaction to loss. Often this is the loss of a loved one but there are many other losses which can occasion grief - divorce, estrangement, unemployment, retirement, emigration, moving house and death of a pet, to name a few. Recovery means the return of the ability to enjoy happy memories and just to experience moments of joy, which is what we want for you. Registration is not required. Please direct any questions to Betty through the office at 403-243-4680.

This three-day silent retreat will have the theme, this year, of Celebrate Sacred Space - Pilgrims of Hope.

Rooms will be ready by 4:00 pm on Friday, April 25.  The retreat starts with a Welcome and Orientation at 6:50 followed by dinner at 7:00 pm, after which the silence begins.

On Sunday, April 27, the retreat concludes with a Eucharist Service at 11:00 am, followed by lunch at noon.  The silence ends after the Eucharist Service.  

Cost is $230.00.  Please let John or Patti know if cost is an issue.

To register or for more information, please contact the Mount St. Francis Retreat Centre at (403) 932-2012, or use their contact form on their website.

The Caring Collective, a group of five Innisfail Churches, are working together to support the ongoing challenges faced by Jasper after the fire that devastated their community this past summer.

Please join us for a pancake breakfast at the Innisfail United Church on April 26, 2025 from 8:00 - 11:00 a.m.  All proceeds go to the Jasper Community Team Society Child and Youth Participation Fund to help in their healing efforts.

We will also be accepting donations of food and funds for the Jasper Food Bank Society. A more detailed listing of specific needs will be shared in April.

We will also be doing a 50/50 Raffle for the Jasper Food Bank in April.

The Caring Collective is Innisfail United Church, Our Lady of Peace Catholic Church, Peace Lutheran Church, St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, and our own St. Mark's Anglican Church.

St George’s in NE Calgary has a ministry group of talented people, called Caring Crafters.  They meet twice a month to socialize, exchange ideas and work on their projects. Three outreach ministry projects they took on over the last year were seatbelt covers for breast cancer patients, blankets for the ICU and Palliative Care Units and Hats & Mitts for a local school.

For women receiving the diagnosis of breast cancer, there are many challenges and one of them is wearing a seatbelt following treatment or surgery.  Not wearing a seatbelt is not an option so what does one do?  As an outreach ministry, St. George’s Caring Crafters took on the project of knitting/crocheting seatbelt covers for recovering breast cancer patients.  Over a seven-month period, we knitted over 200 seatbelt covers and donated them to the Breast Cancer Clinic, the CIBC Run for the Cure and a breast cancer support group.  

A second project arose from the question, “What do you do with your leftover yarn?”  The Caring Crafters’ answer is to create comfort blankets for the Intensive and Palliative Care Units at Calgary hospitals.  As the blankets are knitted or crocheted, prayers are said and intertwined in the blanket for comfort, peace, and healing.  The blanket stays with the person it is given to and goes home with them when they are ready to leave the hospital.  In the case of a palliative care recipient, the blanket is given to the family to take home, hopefully to comfort them during their grieving process.

A teacher sparked the idea for the third project when she noticed that a lot of students at her school didn’t have toques or mitts to wear.  This past Advent, the Caring Crafters knitted or crocheted toques and mitts to donate so that children would stay warm and toasty during the winter months.  The teacher related that the smiles on their faces was the sweetest reward!

Does your church congregation have these skills and talents to become “Caring Crafters”?  I’m sure they do – in that friendly light, I would like to challenge other parishes to become caring crafters, to create and donate anything that shares your gift, passion and love of crafting with others, in your congregation and in the wider community.  Let’s get crafting!

We will gather to be together, to learn from others and each other and to celebrate pastoral care ministry happening in our parishes. This is meant to be an interactive and team building event.

While this day may specifically be helpful to those with a Pastoral Care team, however formal or informal, others are certainly welcome.

You will be asked to bring your own lunch and beverage and consider a free will offering to support Pastoral Care in our Companion Diocese of the Windward Islands.

Registration will NOT be required.

For more information, please contact The Rev. Tracey.

For the past year, Rev. Clara King, a priest in our Diocese, has been travelling across the country, developing a cutting-edge workshop for clergy on adaptive leadership as part of her PhD.  Now that the study is complete, she can finally offer it for the home crowd.  Join Rev. Clara and local clergy from other denominations to experience this transformational one-day workshop.  Learn to perceive adaptive challenges in a new way, how to lead adaptively in your congregation, and how to respond in a new way to God's invitation to be transformed.  This workshop is offered for clergy and congregation-leading lay leaders for free as part of the Adaptive Leadership Pedagogy Study.  More details to follow.

Contact Rev. Clara for more information or to register.

Please find below the moving account by Ahmad* of his life under the Taliban, and his coming to Canada, assisted by our Refugee Committee.  Thank you to Sofia Berumen and Jean Harrowing for sharing this with us.

*not his real name

If you or your parish feel called to help displaced people, please contact the Diocesan Refugee Committee (refugee@calgary.anglican.ca).   We have single women, men and families in dire need who are desperately waiting for the hope, safety and compassion of sponsorship. 

Lent calls us to practice almsgiving. It invites us to examine ourselves honestly on how subtly we have accepted society’s addiction to possessions, to affluence. Through the days of Lent, we are encouraged to focus our eyes on Jesus who gave his whole life in faithfulness to God, giving his life totally out of love for all. As we keep that clear focus, we join our life in the loving intention of Jesus to give himself for all (Anglican Fellowship of Prayer, Keeping a Holy Lent: www.anglicanprayer.org)

We invite you to join us in making the Bishop Nathaniel Garang Training Centre a reality in South Sudan. Our goal is to raise $100,000 to build four classrooms, a computer laboratory, a Library, a Principal’s Office, Washrooms and a Cafeteria by the end of 2025/2026.

WHY IS THIS CENTRE IMPORTANT?

TRAINING: We will facilitate the preparation, development and teaching of the South Sudanese clergy, and lay church and community leaders, laying the foundation for spiritual transformation and empowerment, and institutional accountability through mentorship and theological formation.

EMPOWERMENT: We will provide access for quality education, leadership and theological training, leading to the acquisition of knowledge and skills that enable South Sudanese church and community leaders to become competitive for employment within and outside the church and to alleviate the inequalities of access to education and leadership in the local community.

EXPERIENCE: We will enable the exchange of knowledge between the Bishop Nathaniel Garang Training Centre and colleges and dioceses in Canada, whereby the students from Canadian Anglican theological colleges and dioceses may visit South Sudan to live and share the practical experience with the students at the centre and other believers from different cultural backgrounds.

Click here to watch Rev. Nathaniel Athian Deng Mayen speak about the construction project and the role of the partners: Lenten appeal video

Donate through your respective Diocese of Qu’Appelle or the Diocese of Calgary websites, OR:

• SEND a cheque payable to Southdove Training Services Inc, OR
• SEND an e-transfer to southdove22@gmail.com  
• Mark your donation “Bishop Nathaniel Training Centre”

Bethany and Michael Hoskin are associate missionaries to Angola with SIM Canada.  In July 2024, they travelled there for a month-long mission trip and kept a visual and written journal.

Enjoy reading about each day's activities which included repairing a mural at the CEML Hospital, leading worship at the Spiritual Life Conference at Tchincombe Farm and teaching an ESL Bible Study in Lubango.

The book features original illustrations by Bethany, with some original sketches, as well as poetry written by both her and Michael.

Ebook Price is $9.99 CDN.

Buying Options:

- Purchase a PDF copy in Bethany's Gallery and Shop

- Purchase a Kindle version on Amazon

- Watch for a printed version coming soon!

Taste and See...

Anglican Renewal Ministries is dedicated to bringing the life and power of the Holy Spirit to all Christians.   This year, 2025, ARM gives thanks to God for having served the Anglican Church of Canada for 40 years! In addition to workshops on the person and gifts of the Holy Spirit, we also offer a quarterly magazine called “Taste and See…” with articles to uplift and encourage you in your walk with Christ.   We hope this magazine will be a source of encouragement to all.  Sample articles and a free copy of the magazine are available on our website. 

The Very Rev. Canon Richard Sewell, Dean of St. George's College in Jerusalem, will offer two reflections on site in Jerusalem which bring the Holy City into your home as he reflects on the ways that we can walk the way of Jesus.  Jerusalem still evokes a sense of the presence of Christ, who taught in the Temple, healed people and walked the way of the cross to his crucifixion.  He was resurrected in the city and, according to Luke's gospel, ascended into heaven from the Mount of Olives.  These are not simply events in the life of Jesus but provide the guide for us, as Christians today, about how we can live the way of Christ in our contexts.  The Holy Land is living under the shadow of war and Dean Richard will ponder how this reality can speak to the Christian life, wherever you live, as we approach Holy Week and Easter.

The Parish of St. George-in-the-Pines, Banff, has an Allen ADC-4000-B digital organ that they would love to pass along to any church or individual in the diocese who could use it.  This organ is free - all you need to do is arrange for pickup.  To contact the parish, please click here.

The Diocese Office has received five boxes of used Book of Alternative Services books.  

If your parish is in need of extra BASs, please be in touch with our office.

This set of three books on The Hebrew Bible: A Translation with Commentary is available.

If you would like this free set, please contact the owner here.

The New West Symphony & Chorus will be holding a special fundraising concert in suppport of the very important work of the Cochrane Pregnancy Care Centre.  To find out more about this Care Centre and their services, please click here.

This concert, entitled Melodies of Hope will be held on Saturday, April 26 at the Bow Valley Baptist Church (54 W Aarsby Rd. Cochrane) from 5:30 to 8:30 pm.

Tickets are $25 per person; children under 15 are $10 each; children under 3 are free.  Tickets are available here.

Please remember in your prayers:

- for peace within our country, and in the world, for victims of violence, war and natural disasters, and for areas of unrest and riots.  We ask for wise discernment in our leaders, and for this country as the election of our political leaders approaches; 

- for the Anglican Communion, for the selection of a new Archbishop of Canterbury, and for healing and direction moving forward;

- for the upcoming General Synod in June.  Please pray for all who are organizing, and all delegates and volunteers, especially the delegates attending from our Diocese;

- for the Windward Islands recovering from Hurricane Beryl;

- for those who are sick, suffering, isolated or in need.  We ask for prayers for Barbara, Maureen, Ruth and James, Kate, Rosemary, Patricia, John, Rob, Alan, Gloria, Joan, James, Jason and Barb;

- for those who have died and those who mourn;

- for the poor, the homeless, and the needy in our communities;

- for our Indigenous brothers and sisters, and their leaders in our diocese and country; 

- for refugees, remembering those fleeing regimes around the world;

Request a prayer:

Send prayer requests to ctubman@calgary.anglican.ca to let us know how we can pray for you.  We will only use first names which will be removed after two or three weeks.  We will also pray for you during our regular Chapel services each week.  Please ensure that you have permission from those whose names you are submitting for prayer, and that they understand their name will be made public to all who subscribe to the Newsletter.

We are interested in what is happening in your parish and would love to highlight those events and news in our newsfeed.

We look forward to your contributions - feel free to forward your event announcements, your parish news, your stories.  Send in your details and pictures to ctubman@calgary.anglican.ca.

The views and opinions contained in Newsletter items provided by individuals or groups for advertisement belong solely to those individuals/groups and do not reflect the views, opinions or beliefs of the Anglican Diocese of Calgary.