Ann Chaplin	Rector’s Warden
Ian Culbert	People’s Warden

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A year of challenge and change

2010 was an eventful year at St John’s – mind you, there are very few uneventful years at the corner of Elgin and Somerset. As usual, challenges were met and steps were taken along new paths because of the wonderful dedication of St Johnnians to this place and to each other.

It was a year of Vestries! Several Special Vestries were held in addition to our annual meeting in February. Two of these concerned the new arrangement of the furniture in the Nave. In the spring, a vote was taken to extend the trial that began last winter so we could continue to experience the choir, clergy and congregation worshipping together in the open space at the front of the Nave. Improvements were made to the temporary central altar and further “traffic flow” and seating experimentation took place. Then, in November, we were ready for the final decision, and the Vestry voted overwhelmingly to continue with the new arrangement, and to move ahead to obtain a beautiful and moveable Nave altar, together with appropriate seating. Advent and Christmas showed us how both Nave and Chancel-centred worship configurations work well with the new arrangement. Many thanks are due to the long-serving members of the Architectural Renewal Committee who spearheaded this work, and particularly to their Chair, Gay Richardson. Thanks, as well, to Dr. Gordon Johnston, our Choirmaster and Organist, who built and installed a wonderful new electronic organ in the Nave which brings even more beauty to our worship and praise.

We also discussed repairs to the building at Special Vestries. In the spring, a report was presented by the new Long Range Facilities Planning Committee, whose mandate, under the able leadership of Bill Broughton, is to help us plan the repairs and maintenance to the church that can be anticipated in coming years. The idea is to build the necessary costs into our annual budgets. However, not everything is predictable! One of the items high on the list in the spring was repairs to the roof. A “seven-bucket Sunday” in August showed us just how vital those repairs were! By November, it was obvious that the size of the job, and its cost, were going to be much larger than anticipated. A Vestry that month voted to fund a complete new roof out of the Rectory Fund, but with a repayment plan. By year’s end we had a new roof, under budget, over half of the cost of which had already been pledged by parishioners! This was a wonderful example of stewardship of both our beautiful building and our resources. Many thanks to our Building Committee chair, Hans Stenman.

Staff changes: This was the last year as our curate for the Rev. Naomi Kabugi. We will miss Naomi’s insightful sermons, her wonderful teaching and storytelling and her huge smile – we have never had a more beautiful Christmas Eve Angel!

In June, we said good-bye with congratulations, but with sadness too, to the (now) Rev. Wanda Dillabough, our former Christian Education Coordinator, who left to take up her ministry in the Diocese of Quebec. In August we welcomed our new Coordinator, Caitlin Beck. Caitlin, a long-time member of St John’s, and a Youth Leader under Wanda for several years, moved seamlessly into the job and has already started to leave her mark on the Sunday School, Youth Group and children’s participation in Services. The following month our new Parish Administrator, Ani Arnott, joined us. Bringing experience as a church administrator in a number of other churches, Ani took up a half-time job which is responsible for keeping lines of communication open, preparing the Bulletin and other key documents, supporting the Office Volunteers, supervision of building cleaning and maintenance, and dozens of other very helpful tasks that keep us on an even keel.

This has also been a year in which God has challenged us with new frontiers of caring and balancing our love and support for all the members of St John’s family. Steps have been taken to make it clear that we welcome, cherish, include and rejoice in both those with records of offences and those who have been victims. We are learning all the time what this means, in practical terms in the life of our church, and how we can walk the path that this call sets before us. Two examples of this ministry were the workshops held with Jan Handy, a former Anglican priest who specializes in working with victims of sexual abuse, and our new “Statement of Inclusion” which can be found posted around the church, in the Bulletin each Sunday and on page two of this report.

Other notable events took place this year. We were honoured and delighted by a visit from the Primate who presented our own Monica Patten with the Anglican Award of Merit – the Canadian Church’s highest honour – for her work with the National Church. We also had a two-part Sunday morning workshop on the Millennium Development Goals, led with inspiring enthusiasm by Margaret Capelazo.

It has been a great honour to serve as your Wardens this year. The work of the church could not have been accomplished, however, without the help and support of a variety of key people. We want to particularly name Bruce Marshall, who served on Corporation and Parish Council in the new position of Deputy Warden and provided us with his wisdom – and the church with his talents with a screwdriver!; Peggy Lister who took over earlier this year as Envelope Secretary; Emmy Verdun, our Treasurer, who is always going above and beyond the call of duty; and last but definitely not least our hard-working Rector, the Rev. Dr Dana Fisher, for putting up with our inexperience with such good humour! This is truly a blessed place.