As you know by now and as you will see elsewhere in this newsletter, my successor Padre Nigel Shaw was chosen by members of the Anglican Military Ordinariate on March 5th and ratified by the Primate and the four Metropolitans (Regional Archbishops). This is good news indeed and we wish Nigel, Janet and their family every blessing in this new and blessed ministry.

I would like to thank those who brought us to this point and those who brought the choice of a new bishop to fruition. Padre Gordon Mintz headed up the Search Committee and four nominees were gracious enough to let their names stand for discernment. I am particularly grateful to Gordon for keeping in touch with these worthy people throughout the process. I am also grateful to Padres Michelle Staples (Archdeacon Pro Tem) and Jennifer Gosse (Canon Secretary) and to our Chancellor, Ann Bourke, for managing the process. I particularly thank our Primate for his usual gracious support and enthusiasm throughout. His address to the Electoral College is on the Anglican Military Ordinariate (AMO) website and is worth a visit. I am grateful to a whole host of other people who are acknowledged in Padre Staple’s article further on in this edition. I am grateful to The Very Reverend Shane Parker and the staff and people of our Ordinariate Cathedral, Christ Church Cathedral, Ottawa. For all of these and for our new bishop we give thanks to God the giver of all good gifts!

This is my last Newsletter and I would like to give thanks for so much and for so many. I have had the privilege of serving with a great number of wonderful people some of whom have retired ahead of me. Amongst these are members of The Chapter, the Canons and Archdeacons who take counsel for the affairs of the AMO community. There are also people that do particular ‘bits’ of the ministry: Cynthia Greenwood who keeps our list of chaplains; Padre Michael Peterson our newsletter editor; Padre Shawn Samson who keeps our Canons (rules which govern us) in good order and our new Chancellor, Ann Bourke; Padre Gordon Mintz who set up our website and Padre John Hounsell-Drover who is our webmaster and Facebook page person now. I give thanks for members of the Interfaith Committee on Military Chaplaincy (ICCMC) with whom I have served these many years and for all that they have taught me about ecumenical and multi-faith expressions of “doing justice, loving kindness and walking humbly with God”. (Micah 6:8) And there are so many more who stand ready to serve and with whom I have had the privilege to work.

Above all I give thanks for our chaplains – all of them- our Anglicans and those with whom they serve! I have always been particularly proud of the place that Anglicans have taken in the chaplaincy in numbers far beyond our percentage of the Canadian faith community demographics. I am proud of the way that our Primate, our bishops and indeed the whole Anglican Church of Canada support our chaplains, our military members and their families. And I am so proud of the Canadian Armed Forces – members past and present and their families who also serve. May God continue to hold them all in the palm of His hand!

I have had the privilege of serving as the Bishop Ordinary for twelve years, three of which were contiguous with being Bishop of Ottawa. I have always been blessed with every appointment that I have ever had and if someone were to ask me what my favourite appointment was I would have to quote a former Chaplain General, Padre John Fletcher: “Whatever I was doing at the time”. This time with you has been a particular blessing. When I came on board in 2005 I was close to retirement age but not yet ready to fade into that good night. Not at all! Being with you has been life giving to me personally and Deborah feels the same. We both came from military families and when we were back with you it felt familiar. It was a time of high operational tempo with stresses and strains on military members and those who also served on the home front, the rear party people and the families, and still, as always, you have stood ready. I am so proud to have been a part of your life. I am so grateful for the graciousness that you have shown to us.

We now are in the midst of that for which we must be truly grateful for it gives us our ultimate meaning and indeed, abundant life! It is the very core of our faith and our eternal joy! This is the season of our Lord’s Passion as he goes to the cross and suffers and to win a victory which we will share. Though the darkness closes in and evil seems to predominate it will not have the final word. These things will never go away until the Kingdom comes in its fullness but they will be redeemed, overcome and transcended. The barriers to life here and in the future are down and on the third day He rises and the women race from the tomb to tell the story. In that we live and move and have our being and for this we need to be eternally grateful and in response live grateful lives. He rose again and lives in each and every one of us! Alleluia!

May you all have a blessed Eastertide and Thank You so very Much!

+Peter

Anglican Bishop Ordinary
(The Right Reverend Peter Coffin was appointed by the Primate to the position of Bishop Ordinary (Anglican) to the Canadian Forces in November 2004.)

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Sacred Circle heard a presentation on Indigenous Peoples in the military by Major the Rev. Catherine Askew and Vice President Victor C. Flett C.O., Canadian Aboriginal Veterans and Serving Members Association of Canada.

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I was recently looking to attend a healing retreat at the Christ the King Spiritual Life Center (the Center) in Greenwich,NY. Upon visiting their website, I noticed a link to the Community of St. Mary, an order of Anglican/Episcopalian sisters. As it turned out, they were co-located with the Center in Greenwich, NY on the other side of the same valley. This afforded for a perfect opportunity to go be a student of the healing ministry at the Center and then to cross the valley to the Community of St. Mary for a time of personal retreat.

After the healing retreat training ended, I took a day of leave and remained at the Center as the Sisters were at the end of a week of silence in which they did not receive visitors in their retreat house. At last, with the breaking of the silence, I packed my bags and got a ride across the valley. It was a strange feeling to go from one side of the valley to the other. During the 5 days at the Center, I looked each day across the valley in anticipation of the coming retreat on the other side. Then when I reached the other side of the valley, each day I looked back across this same valley to a recent past of a few days and then beyond to the life I’d left to come to this place, a life to which I would soon return.

Life at the Convent began with Matins at 630 am followed by Holy Eucharist at 700 am.  Then there was breakfast shared in silence after which the Great Silence ended. The next prayer, Terce, was at 930 am.  At noon we gathered for the next prayer, Sext, which was followed at 1230 pm with lunch in silence. The next event was Tea at 330 pm which was frequented regularly by visitors. Some people simply chatted while others knit, sewed, or in Mother Miriam’s case, spun wool. Vespers was the next prayer at 530 pm followed by supper in silence. The last communal prayer after which Great Silence started was Compline at 730 pm leading to sleep and the cycle repeated the next day with minor variation on the weekend. The weekend included the one meal at which talking was permitted, supper on Sunday.

Beyond communal prayer times, I had a good deal of time for personal prayer, reading in the Convent’s library and roaming about the grounds beholding the rolling countryside and admiring the free roaming deer. I also took great enjoyment in visiting the cashmere goats the sisters are raising while being cautious of potential trouble from the two dogs who were their faithful guardians. The sisters had three steers this past fall, but my enjoyment of them was now left to the supper table.  There were also numerous flowerbeds and a food garden, all of which were in the throes of winter hibernation so there was little there to encounter with excitement beyond what was and what will be again in the spring.

In the Convent itself, there was a lovely little store in which I bought numerous things that included local honey, a hand-made stuffed dragon named Eustace, some beautifully drawn and coloured cards, and my favourite, a goatskin pelt. Mother Miriam tells me she’ll likely get the rest of the skins made into hats which would be nice for some, but for me, I am content with the skin. It rests at this time on the chair in my office in which I sit and pray each day. My imagination dreams of it as something like what John the Baptist would have worn.

At the end of the four days, my wish was that I could have stayed longer. I felt like I was on the verge of settling into an even deeper restfulness in the rhythm of the daily life. I took away with me a renewed sense of the beauty of resting in God in monastic community and a renewed confidence in God’s calling me into the world to find this restfulness there. At my last prayer service with the sisters, during the open prayer time, prayers were offered for me; and I in kind offered prayers of thankfulness and that more people would respond to the call to vocations to the order. I do hope their order grows and continues to be a witness to the world of the rich faithful life of the Benedictine way of prayer and work. Not all are called to this life of service, and yet who among us is not called to its heart, to resting in God’s heart? Like the sisters, we are all called to be in the world, yet not of it. Their unique way of doing this, centered in the richness of communal prayer, work, and silence, has something to offer us all.

If you ever happen to be in Upper State New York(4 hours drive south of Montreal) and are looking for a place to stay and enjoy the quiet prayerful life, the Community of St. Mary is a five-star spiritual destination. More about the Community and contact information for Mother Miriam can be found at www.stmaryseast.org.

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When I first came to the Anglican Church, I encountered this odd animal named “Lessons and Carols”.  Growing up in the Roman Catholic Church, this was not a service that I was familiar with.  Moreover, I thought that the readings we took time with at the Easter Vigil were sufficient in length for a once-a-year event and didn’t feel the need for a lengthy service in the middle of Advent when things were so busy.  Over time, I have come to feel differently about the service of Lessons and Carols but just when I thought I was getting used to things, I found myself out of the Parish and in a Canadian Forces Chapel.  Now, if we wanted to have a service of Lessons and Carols, there needed to be an explanation; a reason to move off the pattern of Divine Worship or Communion services and hope that members would see as much value and richness of this worship service as in their weekly worship.  The approach I took was to do some research with regard to the purpose, meaning and history of the service and then to find a service style that would work within the CF Chapel.   What follows is some of that research and a service idea that I have used over the years.

The Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, as it is formally called, is traditionally used at Christmas.  The story of the fall of humanity, the promise of the Messiah, and the birth of Jesus is told in nine Bible readings selected from Book of Genesis, the prophetic books and the four Gospels, interspersed with the singing of Christmas carols, hymns and choir music.  The format was based on an Order drawn up by the Bishop of Truro inCornwall, Edward White Benson, who later became the Archbishop of Canterbury.  Lessons and Carols were first celebrated on Christmas Eve 1880.  Tradition says that the bishop organized the service in a small wooden chapel on Christmas Eve with the goal of giving men something to do other than go to the pubs before the midnight service.  The service has since become a tradition as a pre-Christmas liturgy with the most famous version being broadcast from King’s College inCambridgeon Christmas Eve.

So, what is a lonely CF chapel to do about putting on a Service of Lessons and Carols with those standards? Some chapels, such as ours in Petawawa, have an active choir that is a great asset, but others do not have a full choir.  And how do you keep people engaged and involved during nine readings and songs – not to mention the sermon!  A service I developed a few years ago addresses some of these concerns and works with CF congregations of all sizes.  I approach the service from the point of view of a story.  We place a large arm chair at the centre of the sanctuary and it is from there that the readers ‘read’ their story – the Lessons.  The service starts with an introduction by the celebrant about the service of Lessons and Carols.  It proceeds with the youngest members ‘telling’ the oldest story – imagine a four year old asking God’s question found in Genesis — “How did you know you were naked?”  We then move through readers of more maturity, a youth, a teen, middle aged members until the most senior member of the congregation reads the final Gospel.  In between each reading we sing a Carol; not the whole thing, just selected verses.  The choir also offers an Anthem.  Woven through the readings and the singing are short reflections on the part of the celebrant in lieu of a full-fledged sermon.  The whole idea is to have the service flow, through Biblical teaching, musical selections and theological reflections — all to unfold as a story.  It has been very well received.

In my heart, the service of Lessons and Carols will never replace the Holy Thursday’s Institution of the Lord’s Supper as my service of choice, but it has moved up on my list of favourites.

Padre Carol Bateman is the CFB / Area Support Unit Chaplain at Canadian Forces Base Petewawa.  

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Padre Joseph Cardy, or “Padre Joe” as he was universally known to the troops, is a key figure in the history of our Ordinariate.  A chaplain distinguished for his courage, humility, and leadership, he was an influential figure in the shaping of the modern chaplaincy.

A native of Port Credit, Ontario, Cardy did his BA at the University of Toronto and graduated in theology from Wycliffe College in 1941.  He spent World War II as chaplain to the Essex Scottish, an infantry regiment from Ontario that served in NW Europe.  During his service he was awarded the Military Cross for courage shown while evacuating the wounded under fire.  His MC citation states “Highly respected and admired by all ranks, [Cardy] is an outstanding example of his own teaching that morale and character in the fighting soldier arise from a Way of Life”.

Cardy was one of the so-called “Twelve Apostles”, the twelve Protestant chaplains authorized to remain on the strength of the Canadian Army Chaplain Service following the war’s end in 1945.  These were seasoned veterans of the war in Europe, many of them decorated for gallantry, who were invited to remain in the Army.  Much of their postwar work involved building base infrastructure and services that we would take for granted today.  For example, after many underpaid soldiers were stuck with bad loans at Borden in the late 1940s, and being told by the base commander that “The chaplain shouldn’t be the font of all blessings,” Cardy pushed for the creation of a base benevolent fund, the first of its kind in the Canadian military.

It was veterans like Cardy and Roy Durnford who were tasked with training and leading new chaplains recruited for the Korean War.  In late 1950, Major Cardy was sent to Wainwright to lead a team of seven chaplains preparing to deploy to Korea.  Albert Fowler, a former military chaplain and historian of the postwar chaplaincy, describes Cardy as “a rather tough or severe chaplain”, who besides training his chaplain recruits also found time to prepare one hundred and twenty men for confirmation while in Wainwright.

By the time Cardy and his chaplains got to Korea the war had become largely static.  The padres had time to set up chapels and a Christian leadership school in canvas camps behind the lines.  Cardy also worked closely with a United Church medical missionary to find ways, such as repairing orphanages, to keep the troops busy and fulfilled when they were out of the line.  The war could still be dangerous, however.  On one occasion he was orienting a brand new reservist chaplain when they came under mortar fire.  Only Cardy realized the peril they were in.  As Fowler tells the story, “I want to see what kind of shape you’re in Matt,” Cardy shouted, “see how quickly you can get under that tank.”   On his return from Korea in 1953, the Montreal Gazette reported that there wasn’t a dugout or fighting position he had not visited.

In his subsequent career, particularly in his term as Chaplain General from October 1968 to November 1973, Cardy presided over massive changes in the chaplaincy and in the Canadian Forces.  These changes included bringing chaplains under the scope of military promotion boards and annual Personal Evaluation Reports, integration of the chaplaincy, unification of the Forces and the dawn of modern peacekeeping operations.  Cardy’s role as CG in this period deserves greater attention than it has been afforded to date.  Padre Joe died in Victoria on 2 August, 2002, and his funeral was held at St. Luke’s Anglican Church.  He deserves a place in the memory of our Ordinariate, for he embodies an example of bravery and servant leadership at all levels.

Padre Mike Peterson is the Base Chaplain at CFB Suffield.

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The one rite of the church that has the potential to have the greatest impact on people is the funeral liturgy.  The part that can be the most profound is the act of the committal, or the Service at the Graveside, as it used to be called.  For members of a ship’s company, this service takes on a whole new meaning and often has a lasting impact on those who witness and participate.

As with all religious services in the CF, this final act of remembrance is voluntary, but it is one of the services onboard a ship that tends to draw the biggest gathering of people.  The service is simple and elegant, with the Officer of the Day and a Bos’n piping the still, a group of sailors attending the flag draped Committal Board, and the CO or XO reading each biography.  It allows those who are there the opportunity to reflect on their own lives and those they love who have gone before them.

This service also gives the chaplain exposure to the crew in an environment that afterwards will foster the questions of life and death and the life hereafter.  As one who has been honoured with conducting such services, I find that I am struck by those who take time out of their own duties, Ordinary Seaman and Lieutenant Commanders alike, who come and with dignity and solemnity bid a final farewell to those who have served before us.  The question has been asked as to why the family of the departed is not included in this ceremony, and there are a number of very formal and legal answers to this, but I think that the whole family of these persons are involved in this last act of remembering.  The Navy family and the immediate family, as great care is taken to have this moment documented in photographs, letters and a sea chart showing the final resting place of the former CF member.

The family on shore is represented by the family at sea and it is an honour that a ship’s company does not take lightly, as often many of them would say, “That will be me, one day”.

 Lt(N) the Reverend Robert Parker is chaplain sailing with HMCS Preserver with OPERATION CARIBBE (Roto 2012)

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Christmas is Christmas and Advent is Advent, right.  Advent is the time of expectation, the four Sundays and the accompanying weeks prior to Christmas where we recall the announcements of the coming of a Messiah.  Advent is a time of preparation, waiting for the Messiah to arrive.  Conversely, Christmastide, with its 12 days from Christmas to Epiphany (6 Jan) celebrates the Word-made-Flesh, the Incarnate-One, the Prince of Peace who has come into the world, God-with-Us, Emmanuel.  One period is the before-time and the other is the celebration of the realization of God’s accomplishment for us.

So one would think that Advent and Christmas are celebrated similarly by the faithful congregations of military chapels through out Canada.  Chapels after all are suppose to be the sacred space within PMQ communities which create an inviting congregational experience similar in expression to civilian congregations in civilian churches throughout Canada.  (My “home” bishop once reminded me that… “We don’t call it the ‘civilian church’… we just call it ‘the church’.”)  But in truth nothing could be further from the truth.  In reality, the needs of the military communities are such that it forces us, as military folks, to celebrate Advent and Christmas very, very differently.

Chapels are tied to the pulse and heartbeat of the military community where they are located.  Autumn times are usually extremely busy for military Bases, Formations and Wings.  After the busy and active posting season, there is a time for summer vacations, but then the ops tempo ramps up just as the fall school year starts.  Exercises are conducted, training peaks, temporary duty business is conducted   in far off places, conferences are held, the mid point of the fiscal year (October) causes budgets times lines to be reviewed and next year budgets to be readjusted.  Everyone is working full out and well into late November.  So when December comes around, units begin to slow down in anticipation of a holiday period called – block leave.  Unit Christmas parties or “Holiday” parties are held and sometimes units shut down temporarily for half a day.  Last year, our Base Commander put out a directive that, in order to minimize the disruption to base services, all units and sections should hold their Christmas parties simultaneously on the same day — Thursday December first!  Poor Advent gets compressed… if not forgotten entirely.

“I work on the chapel planning committee” says Hilda Young of Petawawa, “and it is always fun trying to squeeze everything in before block leave!  We decorate the chapel for Christmas on the Saturday before Advent 1.” And so Advent starts… often with a Christmas tree already fully decorated in the Sanctuary, a wreath or electric candles in every chapel window and often a fully staffed Nativity Set on display.  Advent 1 opens with a crèche filled with Mary, Joseph, manger, baby, lambs, sheep, shepherd, kings, camels… and sometimes a kneeling Santa!.  “Of course the young-people’s Christmas pageant is held on Advent 2 before all the families depart on Christmas leave” says Diane McKeage, Chapel Admin Assistant at 14 Wing,Greenwood.  It would seem that Advent-anticipation starts and then ends very swiftly and the culmination of the incarnation is celebrated and over before Advent itself is even complete.  By the time Christmas Eve comes around, all the office parties and chapel Noel services are recent history and families and single chapel members are returned on annual leave to be with their families and friends back from where they were recruited.  There is always a faithful remnant on Christmas Eve and I twice held very special Christmas Day worship services at the chapel with very few close friends in attendance.  Chapel congregations don’t reassemble until mid January, when, if the CLC is willing to “delay” Epiphany, the wee three magi often arrive to bemused looks of “Haven’t we already done this?” or “This is soooo, yesterday!” from kids.

The story of Christmas is certainly not lost in all of this.  Certainly there is the Charlie Brown version.  And Christmas carols are sung about Christ’s incarnation and God being with us.  And, as I said, the pageant will often comprise a nativity tableau.  But what is lost is the intentional time of anticipation — the longing.  The Reign of Christ is celebrated at the end of the church year… and then there is a whole month before Christmas; when we are suppose to be “the world in silent stillness laying” hoping, waiting, praying to hear the angels singing to announce the news that a Messiah has come.  But in our rush we miss that.  And I don’t think that we even know that we are missing it.  There used to be a commercial on television where ketchup was trying to be poured out.  The bottle was shaken and held at an angle while the background music sang, “an-ti-ci-pa-a-tion.  The message was that the anticipation was as exciting as the tasting.  We miss that excitement and eager expectancy.

The challenge for us as 21st century, busy Anglicans is, “How can we recapture that special Advent sense, that special Advent season in our lives?”  Is Christmas a ready-to-wear, off-the-shelf, instant-gratification event… or is there value in sustaining a sense of longing and desire for God’s presence?

Lieutenant Commander the Reverend Canon David Greenwood is the Course Resource Research and Development Officer at the Chaplain School and Centre in Borden.  He retires from the Canadian Forces in early 2013.

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Russell (Rusty) Oliver Wilkes (1905 – 1997) was one of a distinguished group of decorated combat padres of World War Two that included Laurence Wilmot, Robert Seaborn, and John Weir Foote.  He deserves to be better known by Anglican chaplains, and particularly by those posted to the Royal Canadian Regiment.

Rusty Wilkes was born and raised in Hamilton,Ontario, the son of a printer.  In the 1920s he studied theology at Wycliffe and Emmauel St.Chad, and was ordained a deacon in 1930 and a priest in 1930 in Keewatin Diocese.  A true frontier priest, he served small parishes in Manitoba and western Ontario.  Besides his parish duties, Wilkes was a band leader, a school board chairman, a volunteer firefighter, a baseball pitcher, and a fill-in newspaper editor.  He experienced the hardships of the 1930s drought and depression, and with his wife Ethel endured frigid and substandard housing and pauper’s wages.  It was all good training for war.

Wilkes wanted to join the army as a chaplain when war broke out in September 1939, but was not accepted until May 1940.  In those days chaplains did not require special training or accreditation.  On the authority of a letter from the Army’s Principal Chaplain, Wilkes enlisted in Winnipeg on 31 May and by mid June was embarking on a troopship in Montreal, bound for England.  He would not see Canada and family again for five years.

Shortly after arrival in England, he was assigned to serve the Royal Canadian Regiment, at the time a single battalion.  His sense of fairness and his suspicion of tradition impressed the Permanent Force Royals, to the point where he persuaded his CO to end compulsory church parades, which Wilkes saw as “a docile and sullen parody of worship”.  As in his parishes, Wilkes threw himself into the life of the regiment, organizing sports, canteen life (including obtaining condoms for his “red-blooded young Canadians”), and assisting soldiers with education by correspondence.  The RCR became fiercely possessive of him.

Wilkes landed with the RCR at Pachino in Sicily on 10 July, 1943, and served with them as they fought their way up through Italy.  The Italian campaign was a series of difficult and costly attacks against a skilled enemy in excellent positions.   In each action, Wilkes was up forward with his flock to “plant my bedroll with the RAP [Regimental Aid Post]”.   As the RCR official history put it, “Padre Wilkes as usual was in the firing line and accompanied by the stretcher bearers evacuated many wounded under intense close-range fire; his leadership was an inspiration”.

It was at one such action in Sicily, two weeks after the landings, that Wilkes was awarded the Military Cross for rescuing wounded men with “no regard for his personal safety” while being “intensely mortared”, and providing “an inspiration to all the men who took part in the battle”.   Years later, Wilkes modestly explained his courage as mere curiosity, saying that “I’m a nosy individual, so I spent as much time as I could at the front until the commanding officer ordered me not to go ahead of his tactical vehicles”.

Between actions, Wilkes participated in the frontline chaplain’s duty of recording the identity and grave locations of Allied and German dead, a grisly and unpleasant business which he glosses over in his memoirs.   Several highlights of his time in Italy include commemorating the regimental birthday, 21 December, which fell during the Ortona campaign in 1943.  Every RCR padre should know the story of the Ortona Toast and has a right to be present when it is celebrated.   In August of 1944, during the Gothic Line campaign, Wilkes had a brush with fame when the RCR tactical HQ was visited by no less than Winston Churchill, the British Prime Minister, and the theatre commander, General Alexander.  At the time Wilkes was the only officer present, and was dirty, bloodstained and tired, but he shook these great men’s hands, and was then asked to report the tactical situation.  “I’m only the padre”, I managed, “but I’ll get someone”.  For weeks thereafter, Wilkes was asked by his men if they could shake the hand that had shaken Churchill’s.

In late 1944 Wilkes was ordered to an administrative post in England, where he finished the war.  Years later he recalled that “It nearly broke my heart to leave [my men]”.   In peacetime he remained in the army, holding senior chaplain positions and retiring as a Lieutenant-Colonel in 1960.  Settling in Victoria, he resumed parish ministry, but maintained an honoured place in the RCR association, and was invited to Wolseley Barracks in London to preach at the regimental centennial service in 1983.   In his later years he was active in church life.  Rusty Wilkes died in Vancouver on 24 May 1997.   At his funeral at St. Michael and All Angels, in Victoria, the Colonel of the Regiment, Col. Dick Dillon, spoke of “the courage, dedication and great sense of humour of this remarkable padre whose presence in action was such an inspiration to the Regiment.

Wilkes deserves to be remembered for his courage and dedication to those he served.   He was practical in his churchmanship and theology, deeply pastoral, but could be fierce and fearless in defending ordinary soldiers against what he saw as a sometimes hidebound and stupid military culture.  He had the virtue of not being easily intimidated, and the good fortune to be supported by discerning commanders who allowed him to do his ministry.  Wilkes’ story is told most fully in a memoir, God’s Dodger, ghost-written by G.W. Stephen Brodsky (Elysium 1993) and now sadly out of print.   Rusty Wilkes is truly one of the remarkable figures in the history of our Ordinariate.

Padre Michael Peterson is Chaplain at CFB Suffield.  He gives thanks for Capt. Mike O’Leary of the RCR Association for his kind assistance in the compilation of this article.

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Dear Friends,

I am grateful to Archdeacon Fletcher for his invitation to write a few words for the Anglican Ordinariate Newsletter about life here in Jerusalem.

Recently, a long established and important Christian aid organization known as Biblelands changed its name to Embrace the Middle East, which is quickly becoming known as “EmbraceME.”  The organization changed its name for several reasons and decided upon its new name based on Mark 9:37, where Jesus took a child in his arms and said, ‘Whoever embraces this child embraces me and not only me but also God who sent me.’

Nearly two months have passed since my wife, Irene, and I arrived in Jerusalem.  We are embracing the Middle East, learning day by day, and coming to love the indigenous people that until now we have known only superficially.

For one entire month of those two it was the Muslim Holy Month of Ramadan.  Friday after Friday, tens of thousands of Muslims from the West Bankpoured out of buses and flowed by our apartment on their way to the Temple Mount/Haram Ash-Sharif to worship. The daily Ramadan fast was broken each evening, generally around 1930 hrs, with the sound of the Ramadan Cannon, which sounded all across Jerusalem  giving permission to Muslims to break fast. Ramadan ended with several days of celebration.  Shops did bustling business as the narrow streets of Jerusalem filled with happy, joyous Muslims celebrating their faith.

Friday evening and Saturday we naturally become part of Sabbath observance.  Stores are closed and the Jewish community becomes still, except inside synagogues and at the Western Wall, Judaism’s holiest site.  Irene and I have spent several Friday evenings at the Western Wall, respectfully well to the back, and sharing in the worship of the Jewish faithful.  One evening in particular the square was filled with literally thousands of worshippers, many hundreds of whom were Jewish youth dancing and singing.  Under what has to be one of the most beautiful skies in the world, both during the day and at night, the Western Wall on this occasion was a place like no other and one felt at the deepest level that there simply was no better place to be than at this holy place on this Sabbath evening.

As we live just 10 minutes from the Old City of Jerusalem, Irene and I walk frequently to sites historically identified with our Lord’s life, death, resurrection and ascension. We have gone to the Holy Sepulchre and stood in line with hundreds of others waiting to enter the tomb where tradition says Jesus was laid to rest.  Christian pilgrims have been coming to this tomb since the Fourth Century – indeed, since the time of the resurrection as there is evidence suggesting the site was never forgotten or lost to indigenous Christians.  There have been times when Irene and I have gone to the tomb late in the evening and found no lineups at all and we have been able to go immediately into the tomb.  On those occasions we can meditate unhurriedly upon those very first disciples who came to the tomb and upon the holy mystery of our Lord’s death and resurrection.

Being among and sharing in the religious life of the Children of Abraham is one of the great blessings of Jerusalem  Every day thousands of people from each of the three faiths live and worship side by side. It is a city on a hill, a Holy Hill in fact, and to it come all the nations of the earth.

As a priest of the Diocese of Jerusalem, I am privileged to meet indigenous Christians.  My bishop, the Rt. Revd Suheil Dawani, is an Arab Palestinian.  I have travelled with the bishop throughout the West Bank and Israel as well as Jordan.  Irene has joined us on a number of these occasions.  We have been honoured to enter into the lives of the local people, to meet the Living Stones of the Holy Land, and come to know them warmly as our brother and sister Christians and Anglicans.  Indigenous Christians have become a very small minority within the Holy Land, and in fact throughout the Middle East.  This is unfortunate as there has been an important presence of indigenous Christians here since the first Pentecost.  The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Anglican Church of Canada, the Episcopal Church in the United States, and indeed the entire Anglican Communion, as well as sister Christian Churches, have taken seriously the need to support the continuation of the indigenous Christian presence in the Holy Land and the Middle East.

These two months have flown by.  Each day is filled with a wide variety of ministry activities.  There are always visitors to greet, messages to prepare, official functions to attend, Eucharists and Evening Prayer to attend or preside at, schools and hospitals to visit, clergy conferences to participate in, funds to raise, and fellowship to enjoy.  Stamina is needed.  My military formation in physical fitness serves me well as each morning at 0630 I run around the Old City of Holy Jerusalem, pass the Mount of Olives, up Mount Zion, down to Gehenna, up to Jaffa Gate, around to Damascus Gate, and down Nablus Road to home.  Irene keeps fit by our walks and occupied by volunteering at St. George’ sSchool, where she helps the children with learning English.

We miss Canada.  We miss our family.  We are grateful though to be here.

I will be forever thankful for my time with you and with the Canadian Forces Chaplaincy.  Whatever strengths and maturity I now have, have come from being one of your colleagues.

Peace, Shalom and Salaam!

Irene and John

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On the morning of May 6, over two-thirds of the crew of HMCS Charlottetown gathered on her flight deck to commemorate Battle of the Atlantic Sunday while sailing in the Arabian Sea.

Despite the fact that the day was very hot and humid, almost every member of the ship’s company not on duty volunteered to take part in the event. All departments and all ranks played a role in the preparation for and execution of the morning’s commemoration.

During the ceremony, respects were paid to six former sailors whose ashes had travelled with Charlottetown from Halifax to the Arabian Sea.  Those whose remains were reverently committed to the sea included Able Seaman Robert Gordon Boehk; Petty Officer 2nd Class Garth Trevor Crawford; LSRP2 Edward Cameron McLean; Petty Officer 1st Class/Acting Chief Petty Officer 2nd Class Norbert Joseph Steele; Lieutenant Charles Edward Vennall; and Chief Petty Officer 2nd Class Paul Walker.

Following naval tradition, the names of each of the 24 Royal Canadian ships lost during the Battle of the Atlantic were read out, followed by the ringing of the ship’s bell.  It is worth noting that a former Charlottetown is included among that number.

There was a palpable sense of peace and reverence amongst those gathered, especially during the moments of silence which solemnly punctuated the ceremony.  However, in those very same moments, below decks, HMCS Charlottetown was alive with activity as OSPREY (the codename for her Sea King helicopter) and the operations room continued to search the seas in support of Combined Task Force-150.

While taking time to remember the past,Charlottetown’s crew was also actively undertaking her current mission to help set the conditions for security and stability in the Arabian Sea, while complementing the counter-terrorism and security efforts of regional nations to build a better future.

Military life in general and naval life in particular unfolds in a constant tension of innovation and tradition – present and past.  Canada’s military members proudly serve and proudly remember.  In the midst of a mission that fulfills the role “to be a security for such as pass on the seas upon their lawful occasions” – which is a quote from the Naval Prayer – Charlottetown also took time to pay her respects to those who fought and died in the Battle of the Atlantic and bear witness to the passing of six proud members of the Royal Canadian Navy.

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