Friday I headed back to Muskoka. Where in most places congregations thin out in the summer, in Muskoka parish life is busier. I arrived in Rosseau just in time to enjoy a gourmet meal prepared by The Rev. Peter Simmons. Peter had auctioned off a dinner in the Rectory as a fundraiser and kindly allowed me to crash the party. Cedar planked salmon, roast vegetables and carrot cake were on the menu and provided the perfect accompaniment to a delightful evening.
Saturday morning Peter and I paid a visit to Muskoka Woods, a Christian youth resort in Rosseau. There we were shown around by Ellen Duffield, a parishioner at The Redeemer and the main visionary behind the resort’s new project they call the Leadership Studio. With a team of management experts, the Leadership Studio facilitates a programme of experiential learning that fosters both creativity and humility. We tiptoed around groups of teens who were asking questions about the need for change in the world and how they might act as agents of change.
What a contrast with the afternoon, however. I rendezvoused with the Revs Tom Cunningham and Barbara Graham at Fenbrook Institution in Gravenhurst. Fenbrook is a federal medium security correctional facility accommodating some 450 male offenders. An Anglican service is held there once a month, and Barbara suggested that I accompany them and bring a message. I used to visit the Saskatchewan Penitentiary regularly when we lived in Prince Albert and found Fenbrook much less oppressive in appearance. The institution was built in 1998 and the ranges were scattered about the property in what look like independent buildings, whereas Sask Pen is an old Victorian structure that resembles what you might see in an old prison movie. Barbara has been leading worship services and Bible studies at Fenbrook since it opened. Her diaconal ministry there is enhanced by the fact that the facility has a high Inuit population (ten of the fourteen that attended our service were from the North), and she and her husband spent many years serving the Anglican Church in the Diocese of the Arctic. The inmates’ respect and affection for her was evident, and her ministry there has been recently recognised by an award from Correctional Service Canada.
But prisons are prisons. They breed boredom and desolation. One fellow I spoke with said that he was not doing well there, that he could feel himself deteriorate, in spite of the efforts he was making to retain his sanity and be engaged in the life of the chapel community. He doubted that he would ever be released from prison, thanks to Harper’s ‘tough on crime’ legislation, and even if he were released, he said that he had nowhere to go, since his family had abandoned him. I suggested that God always has a purpose for us, wherever we are (trying to drive home one of the points of my sermon on Romans 12.2). But he struggles with a deep sense of shame and believes that he is not worthy to be used by God. His despair elicited my compassion, and I will pray for him. My visit furnished a reminder that God’s children languish as much in prisons they make for themselves as they do in the prisons made for them by others.
Saturday night I stayed at a bed and breakfast in Bracebridge called ‘The Monastery’. Its appointments and comforts rival a luxury hotel, and the hosts were most welcoming and generous. But I confess that the reason I chose to stay there is because I was curious to see what had become of the ‘House on the Hill’, the former retreat centre established by the Society of St John the Evangelist (the Cowley Fathers) in 1927. When the Fathers departed in the early 1980s, the property was divided and the buildings converted into single-family dwellings. I stayed in the former Retreat House (now B&B), which stands between the former Chapel and Refectory. I was glad to see that the buildings are in good nick and that the owners of ‘The Monastery’ were intent on honouring the legacy of the place. But it was also a melancholy experience. As I walked between the crosses marking the graves of many of the humble and pious brothers buried next door, I gave thanks for their faithful dedication to God’s work in the diocese.
Sunday morning I was pleased to participate in the morning services at St Thomas’, Bracebridge. After the first service, I had a bit of breakfast with the three adult women who had been preparing for confirmation, and one more who was reaffirming her faith. It was most heart-warming and encouraging to hear their testimonies. Their Rector, Kelly Baetz, beamed at them like a proud mother hen, and yet I know that she also sees herself as a fellow traveller on the path of discipleship. This is one of the reasons why she is such an effective Priest. The sermon treated the theme of discerning God’s will (Rom 12.2), and, in reflecting on the story of the Cowley Fathers, I mused that God’s will can bring us to some interesting places. One of those being confirmed, Bev Van Der Jagt, will be moving to Sudbury in October and will take up a role as Part-time Pastoral Assistant at St John’s, Copper Cliff, and Christ Church, Lively.
While I was doing my rounds I received an e-mail from the Rev. GailMarie Henderson informing me that a service of Evensong was being held at St John’s, Ravenscliffe, with Canon George Sutherland officiating, the Rev. Don Clark preaching and Mr Ross Brock and choir leading the music. The church was full and the service was beautifully led. But I was captivated by Father Don’s sermon. He spoke of joy, distinguishing it from mere happiness and what the world offers in the way of contentment. As he drew illustrations from his own life it struck me that we should have a diocesan policy that those who had been ordained fewer than fifty years should not be allowed to preach on the subject. Father Don will celebrate his sixtieth anniversary next year.