The three new Canons are presented. From left to right: Canon David Greenwood, Canon Michelle Staples and Canon Rick Durrett.

CHRIST CHURCH CATHEDRAL, OTTAWA

By Canon David Greenwood

The annual worship service of the Anglican Military Ordinariate was held at Christ Church Cathedral,Ottawaon Sunday 13 November 2011.  This was the weekend of Remembrance Day and the Dean of Ottawa and Rector of Christ Church Cathedral, the Very Reverend Shane Parker wanted to link the national services of Remembrance with the historic relationships amongst Christ Church Cathedral and the Diocese of Ottawa and the military. ChristChurchis not only the cathedral of the Diocese of Ottawa but also the cathedral church of the Military Ordinariate.  Over and over again, during the service, these relationships were acknowledged and celebrated.  The Diocese of Ottawa has been a good friend to the Canadian Forces and indeed Christ Church Cathedral was named in 1999 as the “Cathedral of the Canadian Armed Forces Canadiennes.”

The worship service was overseen by the Dean.  The preacher for the day was Brigadier General the Venerable Karl McLean our Chaplain General.  The communion of Holy Eucharist was celebrated by the Right Reverend Peter Coffin, our Bishop Ordinary.

Just before the Eucharistic Prayer, the bishop invited the Dean to come forward and our Archdeacon, Colonel the Venerable John Fletcher invited Padres Rick Durrett, Michelle Staples and David Greenwood to come forward from the first pew.  These three military chaplains had been appointed by the Bishop Ordinary as Honorary Canons of the Ordinariate.  Dean Parker administered their Oaths of Allegiance, introduced them to the congregation (to a great round of applause) and then formally “installed” the three new canons into their canon’s stalls in the cathedral.

Following worship, the new canons and members of their families, other canons of the Ordinariate, military chaplains and senior members of the Cathedral were hosted by Archdeacon Fletcher and Nelson Usher to a wonderful lunch at the Delta Hotel.  The following morning, our Ordinariate Chapter met at the offices of the Ottawa Chaplains in Uplands.

Just SOME of the Park collection of memorable Santas.

A few years ago I met Canon James Rosenthal, who was then the Director of Communications for the Anglican Communion and the editor of Anglican World.  We immediately connected because of our shared belief in the importance of the legends of St Nicholas to the church.  We believe that St Nicholas can be a powerful voice pointing people to the babe atBethlehem.  Every year in early December, I wear a St Nicholas pin on my lapel, given to me by Canon Rosenthal.

I am all too aware of the debate around the commercialism of Christmas.  Still, I have learned that Santa can be a powerful ally for the church if we embrace his saintly origin and educate people that he was not a creation of Coca Cola.  In fact the present North American Santa Claus is a direct descendant of the traditional St Nicholas whose feast day is celebrated on 6^th December every year.  In many parts of Europe it is still St Nicholas who delivers the gifts to the children.  In the small community of Stahe in Germany where I lived, near the Dutch border, St Nicholas would deliver small gifts to the children on 6^th December and then the Christ Child would deliver the bigger gifts on Christmas Eve, while the family was attending church.  This tradition dates to the Protestant reformation when Martin Luther felt it was imperative to give Christ a larger role in the celebrations of the season in the home.

Many of my friends and family know that I collect St Nicholas or Santa figures.  I have between two and three hundred of them ranging from religious icons of Nicholas right up to more contemporary images of Santa Claus.  Starting the 6^th of December I begin decorating the house with them and I love mixing the images of Nicholas with historic and more modern Santas.  I also enjoy telling the stories of how each of these figures became part of my collection and I love seeing people’s reaction to them.

I believe I was called from the womb to collect Santas.  The one I have had the longest in my collection was actually purchased for me for Christmas 1962, 5 days before my birth.  I have commissioned a couple and one of my favourites is St Nicholas, wearing the robes of a bishop and towing a sleigh in the style of a Bayof Islandsdory (properly painted orange) and laden down with the simple toys that St Nick might bring to outport homes during my childhood.  (See the image at the top right of the front page of this newsletter.)  This was done by CapeBretoncarver Imelda George whose work is featured in Kevin Major’s excellent children’s story, House of the Wooden Santas.  The memory of those simple Christmases has inspired me to collect a number by well-known NL artist Kevin Coates.  I also have several in my collection byOntario artist, Charles Heseltine, whose depictions of Santa always remind me of the Santa who came to my elementary school (St Nicholas Anglican School) for Christmas concerts.  He was a jovial trickster who hopped around as intent on scaring you as giving you a gift and sitting in his lap or on his knee could be a bumpy ride.

My most unusual is a painted terra cotta piece from the Grand Bazaar inCairodepicting St Nicholas as a Coptic bishop.  I also have two from military friends, one a chaplain and the other a Military Policeman, in the style of matryoshka dolls that they purchased inAfghanistan.  There was something really quite satisfying about what they separately said to me. “I saw these Santas and I thought of you.”  One of the few factory created figures that I have is a praying Santa with a Bible sticking out of the pocket of his red fur-trimmed jacket.  I have to confess I love that depiction and I have used it often in my children’s story in church in this season.

One of the things that I have always admired about the teachings of Jesus and particularly in his parables was his ability to connect with people using the common images in their daily life.  For the last two months of the calendar year we are bombarded with secular Christmas imagery, except it is not really secular.  We have allowed our stories and our figures to be commandeered, but we can take them back.  The Santa who loves children is the same image as Nicholas the patron saint of children.  His reputation for generosity and kindness was earned because of his faith in Jesus.  Santa or St Nicholas should not remind us of Canadian Tire. His image should point us back to Bethlehem.

Canon Baxter Park is the Formation Chaplain in Halifax and the Anglican Canon Recruiter. He and his Santas reside in Lakeside, NS with his wife Nancy.

Archdeacon McLean and Padre Hounsell-Drover greet the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge

On Sunday 3 July 2011, the Royal couple, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were on day three of their visit to Canada.  Sailing overnight they arrived in Quebec City on board HMCS Montréal.  That early Sunday morning they gathered with the ship’s company and several Quebec City guests for Morning Prayer, a Divine Service worship service led by our Archdeacon Emeritus, Padre Karl McLean, former Archdeacon to the Canadian Forces and current Chaplain General.

Hymns during worship included Eternal Father, Strong to Save; Guide Me, O Thou Great Redeemer and Je Louerai L’Eternel (Praise, I will Praise You Lord).  The congregation were accompanied by a brass quintet from the Band of the Royal 22nd Regiment.

The visit was praised by the Rt. Rev. Dennis Drainville, the Anglican Bishop of Quebec, one of a number of senior clergy who were part of the service.  Bishop Drainville reported, “The significance (of today) for me and for many Anglicans is very simple.  We have a long association with the monarchy.  William will someday by King and because of that, his opportunity to come here and be among people – Canadians – and learn aboutCanadais very important.  We are diverse.”

Vested in choir dress, Padre McLean worn a red cassock, a sign of his office as Queen’s Chaplain and his Doctorate of Divinity academic hood awarded by King’s College on 19 May 2011.  Kate wore a lacy blue dress by Montreal born, Toronto educated British designer Erdem Moralioglu.  The shade of blue is said to have been chosen to symbolize the blue of Quebec’s Provincial flag.

Canadian Anglicans have recently expressed their support for military chaplaincy through large and small gifts to the Bishop Ordinary Trust. In early May, Blake Goldring, chairman and CEO of AGF Management Ltd., gave $500,000 to the trust and thousands of Canadian Anglicans have donated more than $56,000 through the Silent Night Project, a collective video initiative in fall 2010.

See full article for more: http://news.anglican.ca/news/stories/2368

There is a new theory of Anglicanism that has been floating in the air. This is the “Three-Strand theory” – that Anglicanism is really a compendium of three separate strands of thought and has been so since the mid 17th century. The Three-Strand theory offers there are three types of Anglicans (1) Evangelical Anglicans whose spirituality and theology clearly resonated strongly with those heady and Christo-centric, solo-scriptora Bible centred days of the Continental Reformation. Evangelical Anglicans are personal salvation oriented and anti-Diocesan, almost-congregationalist Anglicans who are more like our friends, the Baptists. (2) Anglo-Catholic Anglicans have a spirituality that remains in line with the teaching of the Church fathers and the patristic age. They long for reunion with Rome, ache for grounded strong centrist governance structure offered by the Papacy, have a love for Mary & liturgy, are parish centred and diocesan focused. (3) Liberal (or Lauditudinarian) Anglicans hold a spirituality and theology which resonates sharply with the Reformation ideas coming from France in the age of Reason. Their passion for justice, human rights, charity and pastoral care have lead them to support the ordination of women, remarriage of divorced persons and the full inclusion of persons of different sexualities as essential gospel messages that trump historic practices and ancient biblical edicts.

That there have been Low (Evangelical) Anglican, High (Anglo-Catholic) Anglicans and Broad (Laudinarian) Anglicans is nothing new in the Anglican Communion. What is new is the assertion that these diverse expressions of Anglicanism are now being presented as fully independent “strands”, which have always been in existence albeit in a loose affiliation called the Anglican Church; that actions within the last 30 years are causing these, mutually self-contained strands to now unravel; and that this unravelling is the normal and natural completely reasonable expected course of events. In 2000, Aidan Nichols’ work, The Panther and the Hind: a Theological History of Anglicanism introduced these strands as separate but self-contained independent elements within Anglicanism. And, in Anglicans and the Roman Catholic Church: Reflection on Recent Developments published this month (May 2011), Stephen Cavanaugh explains that the move of 780 Church of England priests to the Roman Catholic Church since the 1970s was the normal and predictable evolution of things as the three strands come to an understandable and inevitable unravelling.

What I find new and novel is that this is not a faithful depiction of the Anglican Church in which I grew up and experienced. In fact it is a hollow caricature that is being used as an apologetic, an after-the-fact re-writing of history to justify the ends.

First, the various expressions of Anglicanism are not and never have been self-contained and independent. People, parishes, Anglican groups, love their Bible, love their liturgy, love their music, love their history, seek church union and fellowship with other expressions of Christianity in faithfulness to Christ’s prayer that we all be one, seek justice, support the marginalized and oppressed, comfort the grieving, bind up the wounded, seek biblical based and traditionally valid religious education, long for the sacraments, laugh, live, pray and rejoice in the risen Christ… and they do this… all together — in a wide-tent church that recognizes each others’ ticks and foibles, but DOESN’T recognize three separate independent self-contained “parties” or “strands”.

Second, and perhaps most notably in the vastness of Canada, a three strand Church is an issue for an urban church, not a rural church. In rural Canada, filled with small towns which host only one Anglican parish church, these rural small town churches have rarely been able to be “strand-specialist” churches. All types of small town rural Anglicans have had to share the pews together doing High Church things one day and Low Church things another day and embodying it and claiming it all as their own. It is only in urban settings that two or more “specialist” Anglican churches can claim the corners of an intersection and attract congregations that are uniquely aligned with a particular flavour.

Third, many denominations have different strands or traditional groups within them, but that doesn’t make them entangled hybrids destined towards eventual unravelling. There are culturally Scottish Presbyterians, Korean Presbyterians and American Presbyterians who culturally and linguistically are as different as chalk and cheese; but that does not mean they are not united in their faithful expression of Christianity known as Presbyterianism. The Dominican Order within the Roman Catholic Church has an expressed mandate to be a Society of preachers and teachers and they are proud of their scholastic heritage; conversely Jesuits have travelled the world with evangelical zeal bringing the Christian faith to every corner; and Benedictines are synonymous with the rooted monastic life, filled with simple living, under rule and centred in prayer; but no one would suggest that these three expressions of Roman Catholicism are somehow not validly united or are naturally destined for unravelling and separation from their Mother Church.

Now despite all that I have said, I love the Three-Strand theory in as much as it helps to explain how different expressions and traditions within Anglicanism arose and how different relationships and issues in the 17th century influenced the developments of internal traditions and the theological diversity of Anglicanism. But when the Three-Strand theory claims the three strands are mutually independent and not validly related at all, then I get mad, because this is saying something against my family. My mom and dad are different people with different likes, dislikes and temperaments, similarly my brothers and sisters have differing sports loyalties and music tastes… but we love to be together, because we are all one family… and I love each one. I would be lost and lesser without any one of them. Similarly my Church has difference traditions, groups, flavours, focuses, trends and passions… but we love to be together and are proud of our wide-tent heritage, because we are all one family… and I love each and every one of them. I would be lost and lesser without any one of them.

My grandmother used to say I’d forget my head if it was loose; and indeed there are moments in the midst of this busy life when I would say she was right. In a similar vein I am astounded to realise how easy it is, as a military chaplain, to lose sight of the realities that impact our beloved church—not simply abroad, but right here at home. As we deal with wounded soldiers, grieving families, and mission imperatives, what device have we to keep us mindful that we are a part of something bigger that belongs not simply to things eternal, but something that answers to our living out the now in a community of faith that is bigger than us? I believe that this reminder is brought to us through the Anglican Church of Canada’s Vision 2019, and the guiding practices and priorities that it gives to us as a church for this time…not for all time, but just for now.

Vision 2019 was adopted at General Synod 2010 in Halifax as a strategic plan for the Church. It was the result of a prayerful and consultative process in which the church was asked to dream and to speak its heart. We all recall those lovely pictures of the baby in a mitre—well, that baby has found his feet and is walking! In other words, those dreams, deliberations and prayers, are now shaping the way we do business. When we meet as CoGS, Vision 2019 is writ large on our hearts and, literally, on our table tops. It reminds me that this thing is bigger than me. And that is a good thing.

I recall hearing at the time of General Synod a genuine and loving concern from some quarters that we already have a strategic plan in our church. For some it is laid out quite clearly in our Prayer Book, in our understanding of Mission, and in our life lived as people of Word and Sacrament. And what was seen in Vision 2019 was an attempt, perhaps, to restate that which had no need of restatement—we know what we need to do, right? And we know how we need to do it! Surely these things are eternal. It was an attractive thought and one which meant I wouldn’t have to challenge the way I understood my role within this body as it is lived out in these days.

Then, while we were pondering the implications of this strategic plan, in the middle of General Synod’s discussion on Vision 2019, my beloved brother died. And, as I was waiting for the flights to come through to get me home, I realised that something significant in my life had passed, and I was reminded that, part of that which we are – is but dust. But dust with an incredible value and a particular and uniquely holy context. What I am seeing in Vision 2019 is that it values the particular and uniquely holy context in which we find ourselves in this beloved church of ours in Canada—a context which calls us to healing, forgiveness, and renewal, and a call to face the particular challenges of our time with courage and focus. Balanced with our understanding and reception of the Five (more recently, Six) Marks of Mission, Vision 2019 brings our focus on things eternal and things temporal into a sharp focus. It allows us to ask not only what are we about as church, but also, what, in our present context, must be done? By so doing, it allows us to serve this church at this moment in time with love, compassion, encouragement, and understanding.

For the Marks of Mission, and Vision 2019 Practices and Priorities, please see www.anglican.ca.



A system of differing roles and responsibilities is nothing new to Anglican’s within the church or the military; but sometimes the question is posed “just what does the chaplain who is a Major do?”  The Afghanistan Roto Task Force 1-10 (TF 1-10) chaplain team leader, Major the Reverend Maude Parsons-Hörst, filled many different roles in a recent deployment to Afghanistan.  Starting with an Imposed Restriction (IR) posting to Petawawa, Padre Parsons-Hörst arrived with a positive attitude wishing to foster a team spirit that would get us through our tour. Her focus was to allow each team member to ‘play to their strengths’ and encourage growth.  Through our autumn deployment planning and throughout our participation in Exercise MAPLE GUARDIAN held in California, January through March 2010, Padre Parsons-Hörst was a facilitator between the team and Canadian Military Training Centre (CMTC) chaplain staff, an advocate for the team within the Petawawa base, and in communication with the “then deployed” Team Leader “chaplain-majors” in theatre asking questions and seeking lessons learned information.

Padre Grahame Thompson and Padre Maude Parson-Hörst were the two Canadian Forces senior chaplains assigned to ministry with the troops in Afghanistan.

When the TF 1-10 team arrived in theatre, the TFK Senior Chaplain, Major Andre Gauthier, was already in place.  Part of the task of the TF 1-10 team leader was to link with and support this ‘overall chaplain team leader’ which was accomplished through facilitating team meetings, participating in Next of Kin (NOK) visits, filling the TFK Major role while he was on HLTA, taking silent hour duty calls on a weekly rotational basis etc etc.  Part way through the TF 1-10 tour, Major Grahame Thompson came in as the TFK Senior Chaplain.  Major Parsons-Hörst provided the continuity link for this transition as she continued her previous supportive roles.

Both majors provide links with the chaplain net back in Canada.  The regular work of Monthly Reports, Professional Development Reports (PDR) and Chaplain Evaluation Reports (CER) all continue, as do chaplain postings and course requests. The Majors do this mentoring/administrative “office type work” while continuing to serve as chaplain to their own units, the Operational Mentor and Liaison Team (OMLT) – pronounced as omelette, Military Police, and the Task Force Headquarters (TFK HQ) staff.  They also provide chaplain support to Kandahar Air Field (KAF) based soldiers and Units while other chaplains are working outside the wire.  With regard to the deployed chaplain team, the majors supervise with professional critical thinking; think and act in terms of the larger team; anticipate and adapt to changes and challenges, and exemplify professional integrity in all they do.

Any special visits such as NOK family or VIP’s were a welcome and meaningful ministry of the senior chaplains.  Requests were received throughout the tour for special services such as dedications of plaques to the TFK Memorial or services for anniversaries of a death by a family member working in KAF.  Attendance and presentations at weekly Coalition Chaplain meetings as well as representing the Canadian chaplain team at Coalition Ramp Ceremonies (often held in the early morning hours) all fell within the majors’ responsibilities.  Regular Sunday church services also were frequently handled by the majors as captain chaplains, scheduled for services, sometimes found themselves called away for operational needs.

The pastoral support provided by Major Parsons-Hörst in remembering the chaplains who were “out and about” in prayer and connecting with them through email, played a vital part in energizing the ministry of the team.  Simply keeping track of who was where and who was available was a challenge at times, but essential to support the ministry needs of our deployed members

Sometimes it is easy to look at the role another person plays and be the armchair quarterback.  It is good to remember that much more goes on behind the scenes of anyone’s work than first glance might have you believe.  Heading up and mentoring TFK and TF 1-10 chaplain teams certainly was major work.

I am grateful to those chaplains and their people who have produced such excellent and sometimes unusual presentations of this beloved carol. And, of course there are wonderful videos from around our beloved Church. Thank you so much! This project has given us a golden opportunity to share this ministry and the vocation of our military members with the Church.

I am grateful to Padre David Greenwood who has taken the lead within the Ordinariate. He enabled us to come together with Lisa Barry of Anglican Video for some ‘clips’; encouraged us to get our own presentations online and simply kept us appraised. It has been a substantial job. Thank you David!  And thank you, Lisa!

We are all grateful to Kristin Jenkins, editor of the Anglican Journal and her staff for a marvellous November issue in which the Ordinariate was featured. Our national church newspaper has been very kind to us as have been all of the staff of General Synod. Special mention must be made of the good people of The Anglican Foundation which administers our trust fund. You might like to become a member. Just check out the website. Archdeacon John Robertson, in charge of General Synod’s Planned Giving programme has been a particular support and a blessing. You will note a large advertisement in the November issue for the Ordinariate.

In short, we in the Ordinariate have cause to be grateful to so many for their support and encouragement in this ministry of the Gospel that we share.

The carol ‘Silent Night’ is indeed beloved and the story of its inception is well known. You may not be familiar with the Christmas Truce of 1915 when both sides of the conflict ceased fire to meet in no man’s land much to the chagrin of their commanders. If you check the ‘Silent Night’ videos and make your way to the Ecclesiastical Province of Canada’s video you can hear the story told by Bishop Percy Coffin (Western Newfoundland). You can also Goggle.

May the day be hastened when nights may be silent of the tumult of war; when all is calm and the brightness is that only of the stars. Such nights will be Holy ones.

+Peter

Anglican Bishop Ordinary

by Padre Brad Smith

SAINT NICHOLAS (Nicolas, Nikolas) OF MYRA BISHOP, CONFESSOR C. 342

Feast: December 6

In June 2010, the Clericus of the Anglican Military Ordinariate unanimously passed a resolution adopting St Nicholas, Bishop of Myra as the Patron Saint of the Anglican Military Ordinariate of the Canadian Forces.  Following that motion Bishop Coffin encouraged all members of Clericus to uphold one another in prayer particularly on the feast day of St. Nicholas (6 December) and also in their regular prayer lives.

Padre Baxter Park, who made the motion to adopt St Nicholas as the Ordinariate’s patron saint writes “Nicholas has always been my patron and his example as a true servant of Christ has always spoken to me.”

St Nicholas is an inspiration not only to Padre Park but to Christians everywhere.  He is the patron saint of sailors–surely a positive note for those who wear a naval uniform.  He is well known among both western and eastern [Orthodox] Christians so he stands as a beacon of the universality of the Gospel.

For chaplains, who are often called to provide advice to commanders and on-the-ground support to deployed troops, St Nicholas represents the chaplain’s call to serve regardless of religious background and encourages us to work with chaplains of other faith traditions.  His birthplace (modern-day Turkey) also provides us with a catalyst to cross the boundary between Christians and Muslims.

As Padre Park notes:  “All of these are good reasons [to adopt St Nicholas as patron saint of the Ordinariate] but the truth is that in Nicholas’s life we see one who was always on the side of the weak and poor.  This advocacy work is very evident in our ministry as military priests.  Finally, his feast day falls right between the period of Remembrance and the Nativity.  It is a perfect time for Anglican chaplains to pause and pray for each other’s ministry.”  Clearly, Padre Park’s colleagues in the Anglican Military Ordinariate agree.

What follows is an abbreviated compiled history.[1]

St Nicholas has been honoured in both East and West and the countless stories associated with his name all bear witness to something extraordinary about him.  According to tradition, he was born at Patara, Lycia, a province of southern Asia Minor where St Paul had planted the faith.  Myra, the capital, was the seat of a bishopric founded by St Nicander and held by Nicholas.  The accounts of Nicholas given us by the Greek Church all say that he was imprisoned in the reign of Diocletian, whose persecutions were waged with great severity.  Some twenty years after this he appeared at the Council of Nicaea,[2] to join in the condemnation of Arianism.

He was apparently very well brought up by pious and virtuous parents, who set him to studying the sacred books at the age of five. His parents died while he was still young, leaving him with a comfortable fortune, which he resolved to use for works of charity. Soon an opportunity came. A citizen of Patara had lost all his money and his three daughters could not find husbands because of their poverty. In despair their wretched father was about “to commit them to a life of shame.” When Nicholas heard of this, he is said to have taken a bag of gold and at night tossed it through an open window of the man’s house. Here was a dowry for the eldest girl, and she was quickly married. Nicholas did the same for the second and then for the third daughter. On the last occasion the father was watching by the window, and overwhelmed his young benefactor with gratitude. This may have been the genesis of the Saint bearing gifts that would evolve into the Santa Claus of today.

Nicholas was apparently also the guardian of his people in temporal affairs. The governor had been bribed to condemn three innocent men to death. On the day fixed for their execution Nicholas stayed the hand of the executioner and released them. Then he turned to the governor and reproved him so sternly that he repented. There happened to be present on that day three imperial officers–Nepotian, Ursus, and Herpylion–on their way to duty in Phrygia. Later, after their return, they were imprisoned on false charges of treason by the prefect and an order was procured from the Emperor Constantine for their death. In their extremity they remembered the bishop of Myra’s passion for justice and prayed to God for his intercession. That night Nicholas appeared to Constantine in a dream, ordering him to release the three innocent officers. The prefect had the same dream, and in the morning the two men compared their dreams, then questioned the accused officers. On learning that they had prayed for the intervention of Nicholas, Constantine freed them and sent them to the bishop with a letter asking him to pray for the peace of the world.

The traditions all agree that Nicholas was buried in his episcopal city of Myra. By the time of Justinian, some two centuries later, his feast was celebrated and there was a church built over his tomb. The image of St Nicholas appeared often on Byzantine seals. Artists painted him as the protector of children or else tossing a bag of gold through a window. In the West he has often been invoked by prisoners, and in the East by sailors. One legend has it that during his life-time he appeared off the coast of Lycia to some storm-tossed mariners who invoked his aid, and he brought them safely to port. Sailors in the Aegean and Ionian seas had their “star of St Nicholas” and wished one another safe voyages with the words, “May St Nicholas hold the tiller.” Another story tells of three theological students, traveling on their way to study in Athens. A wicked innkeeper robbed and murdered them, hiding their remains in a large pickling tub. It so happened that Bishop Nicholas, traveling along the same route, stopped at this very inn. In the night he dreamed of the crime, got up, and summoned the innkeeper. As Nicholas prayed earnestly to God the three boys were restored to life and wholeness. In France the story is told of three small children, wandering in their play until lost, lured, and captured by an evil butcher. St Nicholas appears and appeals to God to return them to life and to their families. And so St Nicholas is the patron and protector of children.

From the legend of the three boys may have come the tradition of his love for children, celebrated in both secular and religious observances.  In Germany, Switzerland, and the Netherlands gifts were bestowed on children at Christmas time in St Nicholas’ name. The Dutch Protestant settlers of New Amsterdam made the custom popular on this side of the Atlantic. The Eastern saint was converted into a Nordic magician (Saint Nicholas—Sint Klaes—Santa Claus). His popularity was greatest of all in Russia, where he and St Andrew were joint national patrons. There was not a church that did not have some sort of shrine in honor of St Nicholas and the Russian Orthodox Church observes even the feast of the translation of his relics. So many Russian pilgrims came to Bari in Czarist times that the Russian government maintained a church, a hospital, and a hospice there. St Nicholas is also patron of Greece, Apulia, Sicily, and Lorraine, and of many cities and dioceses. At Rome, the basilica of St Nicholas was founded as early as the end of the sixth or the beginning of the seventh century. In the later Middle Ages four hundred churches were dedicated to him in England alone. St Nicholas’ emblems are children, a mitre, and a vessel.

Other Depictions of Saint Nicolas (click to enlarge)

—–

Further Resources and Links:

• Wikipedia Entry
• Catholic Encyclopedia Entry

Notes:

[1]This was complied from various public domain sources as well as the books, “Saints Alive” (Paraclete Press, MA), 1995, by Hal McElwaine Helms (Editor), and;  ”Lives of Saints”, Published by John J. Crawley & Co., Inc

[2] Nicaea was a city in Bithynia, now northwestern Turkey, a short distance south of Constantinople. The Council of Nicaea, in 325, was the first ecumenical church council, and was called by the Emperor Constantine to bring about agreement on matters of creed.

1. Why doesn’t the military fund the Anglican Bishop Ordinary?

Each of the major faith groups in Canada that provides chaplains for the CF, has a representative who serves on the Interfaith Committee on Canadian Military Chaplaincy, (ICCMC). This Committee, which represents the various different faith groups of Canada , not only provides faith group oversight of the ministry of CF chaplains, but also serves as an advisory body to the Minister of National Defence concerning all matters relating to military chaplaincy.

The ICCMC is not only responsible, as sort of a credentialing body, for endorsing perspective applicants for military chaplaincy, but even more importantly, it is responsible for helping ensure, and maintain, the vital link between individual chaplains and the civilian faith groups to which they belong.

Although the CF does understandably compensate ICCMC members for travel and other expenses associated with the committee’s work, in direct support of Chaplaincy, the ICCMC members (as representatives of their respective civilian faith groups) do not receive any salary or stipend from the Canadian Forces. If they remunerated at all for their roles on behalf of their respective faith group, that remuneration would come for the faith group to which they belong. For some faith traditions, membership on the ICCMC is a voluntary and part-time endeavour.  The Anglican Church of Canada would like to see the Bishop ordinary’s position as a paid (by the church) position. The Silent Night Project is an effort to raise funds in the church to help make this possible.

2. Does “ordinary” mean “ordained”  or something else?

In order for any our military chaplains to be truly effective within the ecumenical and multi-faith ministry context of the CF Chaplaincy, it is absolutely essential, to both their personal and professional well-being, that they remain thoroughly grounded in, and well connected to, their own religious traditions and faith communities. Key to this for those who are Anglican Chaplains is, of course, the ministry of the Anglican Bishop Ordinary.

The term “Ordinary” is an ecclesiastical term, denoting a person exercising ordinary jurisdiction connected with the office they hold office.

3. What does a Bishop Ordinary do, and why is this Silent Night project important/helpful?

The Anglican Bishop Ordinary is the civilian church leader who serves as the Anglican Church of Canada’s representative on the ICCMC.  As Bishop Ordinary, he/she also has governance responsibilities within the Anglican Military Ordinariate of Canada, which is the non-territorial ecclesiastical jurisdiction that includes all of the Anglican Chaplains serving in the CF, as well as all of the Anglican military members and their families.

On behalf of the Anglican Church of Canada, the Bishop Ordinary functions as a chief pastor to all of the Anglican service men and women in the CF, and their families, and is also kind of like a ‘chaplain to our chaplains’. The Bishop prays for us, and visits us, and cares for us pastorally and spiritually, and keeps us well grounded within, and sustained by, our Anglican tradition. He or she represents the wider church to us, but of equal importance, also represents us and our stories, within the life and the witness of the wider church.

In addition to this, the Bishop Ordinary also represents the Anglican Church of Canada in the important ecumenical role it has to play on ICCMC, a committee, which endorses and oversees the ministry of all CF chaplains, and advises the Government of Canada on all matters pertaining to CF Chaplaincy. As military chaplaincy continues to become more diverse and more demanding, it’s clear that the role of the Bishop Ordinary will, similarly, become more demanding.

4. Is it as much about awareness as about raising the funds to support the Bishop Ordinariate?

Absolutely. The funds contributed to the Silent Night Project are not as important as is participating in the project, or as is learning more about this important ministry of our military chaplains and our Anglican Bishop Ordinary. Just as the Silent Night Project is a project of the whole Anglican church, so is the ministry of the Anglican Bishop Ordinary and the Anglican military chaplains he cares for.

It was the Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, Archbishop Fred Hiltz, who requested that the Silent Night Project donations be channelled to the Bishop Ordinary Trust, which is a trust that was established by the former Primate, Archbishop Andrew Hutchison (who was himself a former Bishop Ordinary). It is our hope that with time, and with the support of Anglicans right across the Church, that we will eventually be able to build an endowment sufficient enough to provide the Bishop Ordinary with a stipend commensurate with the important and demanding ministry that he/she exercises on behalf of the whole church as well as provide some funding for lay staff support and for required travel not immediately related to support for the whole CF Chaplaincy, and so not funded publicly.

5. The web info touched on how the role affects all military personnel, not just Anglicans, but perhaps you could explain a bit.

Except in very specific ecclesiastical matters, members of the ICCMC speak with one voice. The advice and participation of every member, therefore, affects the ministry of all Chaplains. Likewise, the manner in which the various Faith Groups of Canada work together on the ICCMC, serves as a model for ministry in a multicultural environment such as the CF. While an individual chaplain will be a member of a particular faith group and will bear particular relevance to members sharing that faith, Chaplain Services must be relevant to all. Canadian Forces Chaplains, Anglicans and all others, “minister to their own, facilitate the worship of others and care for all.”

6. Can you compare the role of the clergy in the military to civilian work?

Military service, both for those in uniform, and for their families, all too often forces the individual to explore the deep cost of sacrifice. Fear and loneliness, death of a loved one, and life-changing injury, are just a few of the experiences  that can threaten a person’s ability to function effectively, unless he or she is willing to explore the deeper spiritual questions that lie at the root of the understanding of self.  For this reason, the military community recognizes that chaplains — who are experienced in addressing spiritual issues — are a critical component in the care and support of our sailors, soldiers, airmen and women and their families.

Although not all our service men and women and their families attend churches, temples, mosques or synagogues, they all do know that they can turn to their ‘Padre’ as someone who cares, and can help. Through their ministry of presence within our units, and on our bases and wings,.. both at home and overseas,.. our chaplains are a powerful sign of meaning and encouragement, and an ever-present source of comfort and hope.

For our Anglican Chaplains: the role and support of the Anglican Bishop Ordinary is important to their effectiveness, and health. Accordingly, as the Silent Night Project website states, it is hoped that they and their ministry, will be greatly enhanced because, “funds from the Silent Night Project will bolster chaplains’ ministry by supporting the work of their pastoral head, the Bishop Ordinary.”