(Congregation in the Labyrinth, Photo Credits: St John the Baptist Anglican Church)

SUMMARY

St. John the Baptist Anglican church in the rural part of Ottawa, offers four acres of peaceful greenspace in a village setting. The church’s Quiet Garden and Labyrinth are tucked away off the street in a sheltered setting that provides visitors with a tranquil space to do walking meditation, connect with nature, relax, rest and seek spiritual comfort.

Greening Case Study

Hamilton Monthly Meeting Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), Hamilton, Ontario, 7 Butty Place, Hamilton. Meeting for Worship every Sunday at 10:30 am. 

Mission and Background

The way is available to all. It may be particularly attractive to those strongly concerned with peace and social justice and to those with a meditative or mindfulness practice who seek a supportive community.

Quakers meet in silent worship to strengthen this connection and bear witness to its power in our lives. From the stillness that puts us in touch with the Divine comes our corporate testimony of simplicity, honesty, and non-violence. Work towards the just and equitable treatment of all human beings and close attention to the health and sustainability of our communities and the environment that supports them are examples of these testimonies.

Historically these testimonies have led many Quakers to the forefront of movements for social justice: prison reform, the abolition of slavery, pacifism, and indigenous rights, among others.

On March 30th, more than 80 religious leaders from across Canada sent out a common message of hope, gratitude and solidarity to all Canadians in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The message calls us to “witness hope to each other and so become beacons of light during these uncertain times” and expresses gratitude to all health care and other front-line workers as well as to religious and political leaders. The religious leaders emphasize “This is a time for human solidarity” and that greater attention needs to be given to the most vulnerable including the homeless, the incarcerated, Indigenous Peoples, refugees and our global neighbours with fewer resources to face this crisis.

We wanted to reach out to you in solidarity during this time of COVID-19.

Since the start of the year, we have watched, along with the world, the increasingly frightening drama of the virus unfolding, domino effect, from the community to community.

And yet, in the fear, there is an abundance of good.

Article written by Iseult Hayden and Marilyn Grace on behalf of EcoAnselm

EcoAnselm is a fourteen-member ministry of ecology within St. Anselm’s Roman Catholic Church in Toronto.

This past October, following the Season of Creation, EcoAnselm hosted our first “All-Ministry Eco-Evening: Dialogue on Caring for Creation”. In response to the urgent appeal of Pope Francis, representatives from each area of ministry at St. Anselm’s joined in dialogue about how we, as a parish community, can proactively participate in shaping the future of our planet.

Working as the General Manager of Trinity-St. Paul’s the past six years, I have seen many non-profit and community groups create gorgeous works of art, major events, life-changing exercise, and learning classes, and meals galore.  It’s been a wonderful, messy melange of community and a great deal of fun.

You know what hasn’t been fun? Ensuring all those groups were insured (ensuring insured, there’s a tongue twister). I get it.  It’s annoying, hard to understand, expensive and takes time. 

Greetings from our new Executive Director, Rev. Michelle Singh

Thank you for your continued support of Faith & the Common Good (FCG). Your contributions, whether monetary or acts of service, allow us to continue delivering programs through our multi-faith network that contribute to building a more equitable, greener Canada.

Image: Rev. Michelle Singh and new Board Chair Tom Urbaniak

What can a faith community do on its own to conserve energy? 

On September 9th, 2019 through Faith and the Common Good’s Energy Benchmarking program, our Hamilton implementer, Environment Hamilton co-organized a “DIY Energy Audit for Places of Worship” in partnership with St John the Evangelist in Hamilton, Ontario. The goal was to start a conversation about potential energy retrofit ideas and plant some seeds of what could be accomplished.