Reflections on the heritage, life & work of faith communities in Ottawa and Eastern Ontario
The Feast of the Epiphany was the first time I visited St. Ignatius the Martyr Parish in over 20 years. Two decades ago, a Hungarian historian and political scientist, Fr. Leslie László, served as the Pastor of St. Ignatius and I visited him and a Hungarian-language liturgy celebrated there. The mid-century modern church at 518…
The posh and picturesque City of Westmount, situated adjacent to downtown Montreal, is an independent and predominantly English enclave of 19,700 residents. Much of the municipality has a Medieval, Victorian and sometimes Neo-Tudor flair. The Ascension of Our Lord Church is a prime example of Gothic Revival architecture. I attended Saturday evening Mass there on…
The dedicated and talented St. Joseph’s Parish Choir at 174 Wilbrod Street, led by Jamie Loback, Director of Music and Liturgy, hosted the annual St. Joseph’s Parish Festival of Lessons and Carols on Sunday, December 21, in support of the St. Joe’s Supper Table community meal programme and food bank. The service, elevated by music…
Jesus Christ is the light of the world, Reverend Geoffrey Chapman said as he opened the candle-lit Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols at St. Matthew’s Church in the Glebe. A light no darkness can extinguish, the congregation responded. The Anglican church, filled to capacity, was illuminated by row upon row of the faithful standing…
First Baptist Church, at 140 Laurier Avenue West, is one of Ottawa’s religious landmarks and a fine example of Gothic Revival architecture. In 1877, Prime Minister Alexander Mackenzie, a Baptist convert, laid the building’s cornerstone. I visited the church on the Fourth Sunday of Advent and found a liturgical community that places a keen focus…
Located 1,100 kilometres southwest of Ottawa, St. Mary’s Church in Chillicothe, Ohio certainly lives up to this publication’s “Farther Afield” category. I had just spent two days visiting a friend in this town situated an hour south of Columbus when I decided to attend Mass at St. Mary’s, one of three Roman Catholic church sites…
I arrived at the candle-lit Church of St. Bartholomew on the evening of December 7 to experience the richness of Advent, the liturgical season sometimes forgotten or unceremoniously truncated in the hurry to celebrate Christmas. This Anglican community in New Edinburgh — founded in 1867 and with the church dating back to 1868 — has…
The Cameron Highlanders of Ottawa, the Macdonald Highland Dancers, the Governor General’s Foot Guards Quartet and the Ceilidh Band joined forces to bring a taste of Scotland to St. Giles Presbyterian Church in the Glebe on Friday, December 5. It was all in support of the Centretown Community Food Centre, a ministry of the Centretown…
On the First Sunday of Advent, I drove out to the snowy village of Fallowfield, in Ottawa’s rural west-end, and visited a historic church with some of the most extraordinary examples of sacred art in this region. St. Patrick Parish at 15 Steeple Hill Crescent was dedicated in 1866. Today, the sturdy stone church stands…
More than 160 Catholic young adults gathered on Sunday, November 23 at 7:00 pm to celebrate the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe at St. Joseph’s Parish in downtown Ottawa — in a Neo-Gothic church consecrated in 1932. They were joined by 12 choristers and organist Jamie Loback, leading the congregation…