Official Coat of Arms Granted to St. George’s Anglican Church

by Lucinda Landau

Bishop Ralph Spence of Niagara designed the original concept for a Coat of Arms for St. George’s Anglican Church in Georgetown. Now on display at St. George’s, the framed original was commemorated at a special service this past Sunday, April 24, 2005 in the Victorian era church. The request for a parish Coat of Arms was initiated during the 150th celebrations at the historic Georgetown church, which Bishop Spence designed in consultation with the Canadian Heraldic Authority.

“Bishop Ralph is Canada's leading vexillologist — an expert on flags”, said Reverend Rob Park, rector of St. George’s, “so it is only natural that we asked him to design a Coat of Arms to represent our parish.” Bishop Ralph has designed numerous flags and coat of arms including the City of Hamilton and the City of Burlington as well as the insignia for the Halton Regional Police Service.

“It is very momentous for our parish to receive our own Coat of Arms,” continued Reverend Park, “We have stewardship over a church built by Georgetown’s earliest settlers in 1852, we want to uphold the tradition they established.” Each symbol has a meaning significant to the history of St. George’s. The red cross on white is the symbol of St. George. It has been made unique to the parish by the addition of the blue background and the white trillium flowers. The use of the blue makes an illusion to the Royal Union Flag and thus to the pre-Confederation origins of the parish. Long considered an Ontario symbol, the trillium appears in the arms of the Diocese of Niagara and it can also serve as a Trinitarian symbol.

The parish motto is taken from Peter 3:18 – GROW IN THE GRACE AND KNOWLEDGE OF CHRIST. The armorial bearings were officially granted on the 15th of October, 2004 but the original artwork painted by David Farrar with calligraphy by Doris Wionzek was presented this past Sunday at a special commemoration service at St. George’s on Guelph Street.

“A medieval interpretation of the colors in St. George’s Coat of Arms speaks to the characteristics that our parish wants to be known by: Red signifies bravery, strength and a just and generous nature; Blue signifies truth and loyalty. For our parish, these are all qualities and virtues implicit in the life and teachings of Jesus Christ,” concluded Reverend Park.

The parish, along with other Anglican churches in the Diocese of Niagara, will be holding services on Pentecost Sunday, May 15th with a special emphasis on hospitality, to which parishioners have been asked to invite close friends and neighbours. “Throughout His ministry, Jesus was forever inviting people into new relationships and offering people hospitality – ‘come and see’, he says to us.” said Reverend Park. “If any one is interested, that would be a good day to come and see the Coat of Arms as well.”

St. George's to be featured on the CTS TV program Faith Journal

Some folks from Faith Journal were here at a Sunday Service in December and they taped some of the service and the dancers of the Halton Hills School of Dance who were performing a litugrical dance for us. The segment, which airs this Saturday, April 23 @ 8pm, involves interviews with The Rector, The Rev'd Rob Park, and Yvonne Oldaker, the dance schools owner and instructor, as well as a couple of the dancers. The theme of the segment is youth, youth spirituality and the Church.

new CTS -� Crossroads Television System

Demolition Plan Approved

I wanted to use this opportunity to reach all the members of our parish and let you know about the results of the special vestry held on Sunday April 3, 2005.

The Special Vestry was called to authorize a quotation to demolish the rectory building. We recommended a quote from Priestly Demolition Inc. and the motion to accept this quote was approved by a vote of 63 in favour, and none against. As a result of this vestry, St. George’s now has authorization from the parish and subsequently the authorization of the Diocese of Niagara to enter into a contract with Priestly to carry out this work.

It is with some sadness that we have reached this decision as a parish. For well over a hundred years this house has served the parish and many of its rectors. Yet, with the chronic water problems eluding the many attempts to fix the issue, and the recent discovery of toxic mold in the walls and ceiling of the first floor, it is no longer safe to live in nor is it now considered worth repairing.

There is great potential for the future of the rectory property and the growth of St George’s. Along with our new stewardship program “Stewards Together”, St George’s is focusing on becoming a community that is more inviting and more welcoming. This was an important part of my presentation to our Annual Vestry meeting at the end of January. In that presentation, I outlined some of the challenges and blessings that we have at St. George’s in Georgetown (the presentation is available in PowerPoint format by request).

One important component to our growth is to make St. George's more inviting by improving the visibility of our current parking, plus the goal of additional parking in the future. The wardens and I are excited to begin this work. It will help us to have a more inviting appearance by making much more visible our current parking. Part of the demolition cost will be covered by some of the budget items already allocated to the rectory (property tax, insurance, and utilities). For the remainder, we will need your help.

The wardens and I, together with the Stewardship Task Force, continue to encourage you to make your pledge to St. George’s using the “Stewards Together” pledge form you received in the mail. To help with the rectory demolition, we invite you to consider one of two options. The first would be, if you are able, a special one-time gift toward the demolition. The second option would be to designate a portion of your regular (weekly or monthly) pledge and gift to this project. A number of members have already come forward with pledges for the demolition, but
we need your support as well.

If you have any questions about the Special Vestry meeting, the vision of St. George’s, the “Stewards Together” program, or how you can support the rectory demolition project, please contact me.

Peace,
Rob

The Rev'd Robert W.A. Park
Rector

Bishop Spence's Pentecost Challenge

St. George's will be ready to take up the challenge! The Choir is preparing special music for the 9:30 service and other groups in the church are beginning to think about how they too may prepare.

Below is the letter the Bishop has sent out to all parishes challenging us be evangelists. Here is a copy of that letter.

To the People of the Diocese of Niagara

My dear friends:

In the April edition of the Niagara Anglican, I offered a challenge to all parishes of our diocese. This was a gentle challenge for all of us to become an evangelizing community and to invite our friends, neighbours and family members to church to celebrate on Pentecost Sunday, May 15th. This is the day we commemorate the birth of our Church so what better time would there be to invite people to come and share in one of our grand celebrations.

We have faced, and will continue to face, many challenges in the coming months. This Pentecost we can remind ourselves of who we are and what we are called to be. We are a Resurrection people grounded in the hope and faith that in Christ Jesus all things are being made new. We, as individuals, as a diocese and as an Anglican Church are being made new in our Resurrected Lord and we should be proud to invite people to share in this hope.

I know the time is short before Pentecost, however, I urge you to consider embracing this challenge in whatever way you can. Be ready to ‘welcome the stranger’. Work hard at your worship celebration, pay attention to your hospitality ministry, offer ‘welcoming’ homilies, invite people to social time and, as I wrote, let’s show them the best of Anglicanism.

There have been a number of resources produced that will assist you in this endeavour; invitations that may be used in your neighbourhood, homily ideas, bulletin announcements, hospitality ideas, liturgical suggestions etc., so I encourage you to make use of them. If there is anything more that you may need, please contact the evangelism office (905/527-1316, xt. 257).

I hope we all take this evangelism opportunity to heart - it is at the centre of our Christian faith to spread the Good News of Christ Jesus to the ends of the earth. Again I say, what a glorious Spring, what a glorious Easter, what a glorious Pentecost it will be!

Bishop of Niagara
April 2005