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 Donald Street was completed in 1961 and Fr. Raymond Burke served as its first pastor. The church was designed to accommodate up to 650 people and a piece in the October 15, 1960 issue of The Ottawa Citizen noted that the church’s design included novel features.
On Sunday, January 4 as the 10:00 AM Mass was set to begin, sunshine streamed in through a large, modern stained glass window adorned with a red cross on one side of the sanctuary, as well as through smaller stained glass and regular windows running along the top of the walls, where they met the ceiling. As Epiphany falls within the Christmas season in the Roman Catholic liturgical calendar, the sanctuary was decorated with wreaths, poinsettias, and a Nativity scene.
The faithful numbered around 80, with four parishioners serving in the Parish’s music ministry. The music, accompanied by guitar, was mostly Catholic folk in style and included Christmas songs, such as “The First Nowell,” “Beautiful Star of Bethlehem,” and “We Three Kings.”
Friar Maurice Richard, OFM Conv. is a Franciscan and serves as the Pastor of St. Ignatius the Martyr Parish. His homily was warm and conversational in tone. He spoke of how the stars, especially the North Star, united generations of people, particularly fishermen as a navigational tool. In cloudy conditions, fishermen turned to Stella Maris, Our Lady of the Sea, or Star of the Sea. They would pray to the Blessed Mother. Many, including the Wise Men of Scripture, used the North Star as a guide, much like people today are often united in using GPS to provide direction. But Friar Maurice shared that stars or the moon have united people in other ways as well. Two people in love but separated by vast swaths of land find consolation in looking at the same moon in the night sky.
In his homily, which he gave standing not at the ambo, but close to the faithful, Friar Maurice observed that the readings don’t speak about kings visiting the newborn Jesus, but rather Magi or studied ones (wise ones). It also doesn’t say that there were three of them. But what the readings do suggest is that they came from distant and different places. “They represent the world coming and following this star to worship the Messiah,” Friar Maurice said. Epiphany is about the unity and coming together of people, he added. The Church stands for the coming together of people, of working together for the common good, rather than each person for him or herself in a strictly individualistic sense. “Nobody is a self-made man or woman. First of all, we’re all created by God and secondly, we’re one of many brothers and sisters throughout the world. One of the things that the Incarnation does is Jesus becomes one of us, He unifies all of humanity. In his ministry, Jesus links people. He doesn’t only go to Jewish towns. He goes to Gentile towns and villages and speaks to the people, performs miracles and draws them in. Jesus’ message is that we are one. No matter what language we speak when we are at home, when we gather in this church, we speak the language of love,” Friar Maurice added.
During the Our Father, Friar Maurice invited children in the congregation to join him around the altar and a few of the youngest parishioners went up. When Mass concluded, Friar Maurice invited parishioners with birthdays in January to raise their hands. The congregation celebrated them by joining their voices in singing “Happy Birthday.” While not among the largest of Catholic parishes in Ottawa, St. Ignatius the Martyr Parish is nonetheless a diverse, lively, and multi-generational community of faith in the east-end.
Christopher Adam