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One of the most oft-heard phrases at St. Matthias Anglican Church on Sunday was that it resembled Old Home Week, with more than 200 parishioners past and present gathering to take part in the 127-year-old church’s final service.
Former incumbents, including the Venerable John Fowler, who led the church from 1985 to 2000, and the Reverends Joan Riding and Michel Gagné, were on hand, while other worshippers came from as far away as California to pay their last respects.
“If they’d only been coming all along …” lamented Ottawa West Archdeacon Chris Dunn, as he watched from just inside the nave. But Dunn knows better than most the realities of St. Matthias’s closure: with declining numbers of members and an aging infrastructure, it was only a matter of time – five to 10 years, admitted St. Matthias’s priest, John Wilker Blakley — before the coffers would run dry.
Instead, the church’s members — about 200 in total, but only 75 attending on most weeks — decided to cast their lot with Dunn’s congregation at nearby All-Saints Westboro, and save their alms for the poor and other ministry initiatives, rather than the new roof, new plumbing and new heating that ultimately would have only postponed this day.
Still, it was a bitter pill for parishioners to swallow on Sunday, as the building that many were baptized, confirmed and married in, where they eulogized their parents and grandparents, and which served as much as a community centre as it did a house of worship, will cease to be such a familiar and regular part of their lives.
“I have mixed emotions,” said Marlyn McNeely, a weekly attendee at St. Matthias since she joined Sunday school in the early 1950s. “I went to school in this area, and I’ve seen some of the faces I grew up with here today and in the past few weeks as they’ve come back once more, and it reminds me of the camaraderie that I’ll miss.
“But we’ll move on, and hopefully that will go with us.”
Nineteen-month-old Maya Piper, with her father, Chris Piper, and Margaret Ashburner attended the final service at St. Matthias Anglican Church, Feb. 7, 2016.
McNeely’s grandparents, upon their arrival in Hintonburg in the early 1900s, built St. Matthias’s previous house of worship, on Fairmont Avenue.
“My grandmother used to go to the evening service, but she would skip out before the last hymn, because she wanted to listen to Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd on the radio.”
No one skipped out early on this Sunday’s services — the final one, at 10:30 a.m., was preceded by an 8 a.m. one, attended by only 25 parishioners. For each ceremony, Wilker-Blakley changed up the traditional liturgy by having some members address the congregation with stories of how St. Matthias Church transfigured their lives.
One, delivered by Brenda Hofstatter, echoed sentiments shared by numerous others listening from the pews. Yes, she agreed, St. Matthias’s was where official family functions and other group activities took place, but the church went far beyond that. “What is harder to put into words, and why we are feeling this loss so acutely,” she said, “is the feeling of peace and calm we feel when we walk through those doors. This has been more than a community to us, it has truly felt like a second home, and we are so thankful that every generation has felt this sense of home.”
The loss was shared by other communities, too. A large vase of cut flowers, resting in the chancel, was a gift from nearby St. Stephen’s Presbyterian Church. Meanwhile, as cantor Patricia Brush sang a beautiful rendition of Litany of the Saints, and as organist Deirdre Piper played the communion anthems, and as the recessional brought an end to the end, 20 volunteers from Parkdale United Church were in the basement hall below, preparing lunch.
“Our hearts go out to them,” said Anthony Bailey, Parkdale’s minister. “We know it’s a very sad day, and we wanted to make concrete our solidarity and our love and commitment, so we offered to cook a lunch and serve it to their entire congregation.”
Meanwhile, congregants, many armed with cameras, wandered the building, grabbing digital keepsakes or simply having one last look.
“Everyone’s got their initials carved on something here, it seems, if only figuratively,” said Hofstatter’s husband, Tom, who, after 25 years at St. Matthias, describes himself as a “relative newcomer.”
Sheila Delisle and her husband, Gerry, who flew in from Mountain View, Calif., to attend Sunday’s ceremony, pointed to framed photographs of relatives of Sheila’s. Joining them were Sheila’s sister, Myrna Holman, and her husband, Bill, from St. Catharines, and their son, Andrew, from Boston. The family wanted to be at St. Matthias’s last service, as it was Sheila and Myrna’s father, Canon Cecil Roach, who preached there when the building was first erected in 1936, when its members could only afford to build a temporary roof over the completed basement in which they worshipped for a dozen years before completing the superstructure in 1948.
“We grew up here,” said Sheila. “It’s a very sad day, but we’re thankful for all the people that we’ve met throughout our lives, a lot of whom are here today. That means a lot to us.”
bdeachman@postmedia.com
The St. Matthias Anglican Church choir sings at its final service, Feb. 7, 2016.
Priest John Wilker-Blakley greets parishioners at St. Matthias Anglican Church’s final services on Feb. 7, 2016.
Following the final service at St. Matthias Anglican Church, parishioners gathered in the church basement for a lunch provided by members of nearby Parkdale United Church.
Close to 200 people attended the final service at St. Matthias Anglican Church, Feb. 7, 2016.
Among those who took part in the processional for St. Matthias Anglican Church’s final service was John Fowler, right, who was the church’s priest from 1985 to 2000.
George and Joan Dettrich, longtime members of St. Matthias Anglican Church, attend its last service, on Feb. 7, 2016. George, who has been confined to the hospital for the last 42 days, was given a day pass to attend Sunday’s service, which also marked his 79th birthday.
Following the final service at St. Matthias Anglican Church, parishioners gathered in the church basement for a lunch provided by members of nearby Parkdale United Church.
Many of the parishioners attending St. Matthias Anglican Church’s final ceremony Sunday, like the one top right, brought cameras to preserve the moment in history.
The recessional closing the final service at St. Matthias Anglican Church. Feb. 7, 2016.
St. Matthias Anglican Church, on Parkdale Avenue, held its final service on Sun. Feb. 7, 2016.
Two-and-a-half-year-old Zephyr Fleming at the final service at St. Matthias Anglican Church, Feb. 7, 2016.
Priest John Wilker-Balkley speaks at St. Matthias Anglican Church’s final services on Feb. 7, 2016.
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Former incumbents, including the Venerable John Fowler, who led the church from 1985 to 2000, and the Reverends Joan Riding and Michel Gagné, were on hand, while other worshippers came from as far away as California to pay their last respects.
“If they’d only been coming all along …” lamented Ottawa West Archdeacon Chris Dunn, as he watched from just inside the nave. But Dunn knows better than most the realities of St. Matthias’s closure: with declining numbers of members and an aging infrastructure, it was only a matter of time – five to 10 years, admitted St. Matthias’s priest, John Wilker Blakley — before the coffers would run dry.
Instead, the church’s members — about 200 in total, but only 75 attending on most weeks — decided to cast their lot with Dunn’s congregation at nearby All-Saints Westboro, and save their alms for the poor and other ministry initiatives, rather than the new roof, new plumbing and new heating that ultimately would have only postponed this day.
Still, it was a bitter pill for parishioners to swallow on Sunday, as the building that many were baptized, confirmed and married in, where they eulogized their parents and grandparents, and which served as much as a community centre as it did a house of worship, will cease to be such a familiar and regular part of their lives.
“I have mixed emotions,” said Marlyn McNeely, a weekly attendee at St. Matthias since she joined Sunday school in the early 1950s. “I went to school in this area, and I’ve seen some of the faces I grew up with here today and in the past few weeks as they’ve come back once more, and it reminds me of the camaraderie that I’ll miss.
“But we’ll move on, and hopefully that will go with us.”
Nineteen-month-old Maya Piper, with her father, Chris Piper, and Margaret Ashburner attended the final service at St. Matthias Anglican Church, Feb. 7, 2016.
McNeely’s grandparents, upon their arrival in Hintonburg in the early 1900s, built St. Matthias’s previous house of worship, on Fairmont Avenue.
“My grandmother used to go to the evening service, but she would skip out before the last hymn, because she wanted to listen to Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd on the radio.”
No one skipped out early on this Sunday’s services — the final one, at 10:30 a.m., was preceded by an 8 a.m. one, attended by only 25 parishioners. For each ceremony, Wilker-Blakley changed up the traditional liturgy by having some members address the congregation with stories of how St. Matthias Church transfigured their lives.
One, delivered by Brenda Hofstatter, echoed sentiments shared by numerous others listening from the pews. Yes, she agreed, St. Matthias’s was where official family functions and other group activities took place, but the church went far beyond that. “What is harder to put into words, and why we are feeling this loss so acutely,” she said, “is the feeling of peace and calm we feel when we walk through those doors. This has been more than a community to us, it has truly felt like a second home, and we are so thankful that every generation has felt this sense of home.”
The loss was shared by other communities, too. A large vase of cut flowers, resting in the chancel, was a gift from nearby St. Stephen’s Presbyterian Church. Meanwhile, as cantor Patricia Brush sang a beautiful rendition of Litany of the Saints, and as organist Deirdre Piper played the communion anthems, and as the recessional brought an end to the end, 20 volunteers from Parkdale United Church were in the basement hall below, preparing lunch.
“Our hearts go out to them,” said Anthony Bailey, Parkdale’s minister. “We know it’s a very sad day, and we wanted to make concrete our solidarity and our love and commitment, so we offered to cook a lunch and serve it to their entire congregation.”
Meanwhile, congregants, many armed with cameras, wandered the building, grabbing digital keepsakes or simply having one last look.
“Everyone’s got their initials carved on something here, it seems, if only figuratively,” said Hofstatter’s husband, Tom, who, after 25 years at St. Matthias, describes himself as a “relative newcomer.”
Sheila Delisle and her husband, Gerry, who flew in from Mountain View, Calif., to attend Sunday’s ceremony, pointed to framed photographs of relatives of Sheila’s. Joining them were Sheila’s sister, Myrna Holman, and her husband, Bill, from St. Catharines, and their son, Andrew, from Boston. The family wanted to be at St. Matthias’s last service, as it was Sheila and Myrna’s father, Canon Cecil Roach, who preached there when the building was first erected in 1936, when its members could only afford to build a temporary roof over the completed basement in which they worshipped for a dozen years before completing the superstructure in 1948.
“We grew up here,” said Sheila. “It’s a very sad day, but we’re thankful for all the people that we’ve met throughout our lives, a lot of whom are here today. That means a lot to us.”
bdeachman@postmedia.com
The St. Matthias Anglican Church choir sings at its final service, Feb. 7, 2016.
Priest John Wilker-Blakley greets parishioners at St. Matthias Anglican Church’s final services on Feb. 7, 2016.
Following the final service at St. Matthias Anglican Church, parishioners gathered in the church basement for a lunch provided by members of nearby Parkdale United Church.
Close to 200 people attended the final service at St. Matthias Anglican Church, Feb. 7, 2016.
Among those who took part in the processional for St. Matthias Anglican Church’s final service was John Fowler, right, who was the church’s priest from 1985 to 2000.
George and Joan Dettrich, longtime members of St. Matthias Anglican Church, attend its last service, on Feb. 7, 2016. George, who has been confined to the hospital for the last 42 days, was given a day pass to attend Sunday’s service, which also marked his 79th birthday.
Following the final service at St. Matthias Anglican Church, parishioners gathered in the church basement for a lunch provided by members of nearby Parkdale United Church.
Many of the parishioners attending St. Matthias Anglican Church’s final ceremony Sunday, like the one top right, brought cameras to preserve the moment in history.
The recessional closing the final service at St. Matthias Anglican Church. Feb. 7, 2016.
St. Matthias Anglican Church, on Parkdale Avenue, held its final service on Sun. Feb. 7, 2016.
Two-and-a-half-year-old Zephyr Fleming at the final service at St. Matthias Anglican Church, Feb. 7, 2016.
Priest John Wilker-Balkley speaks at St. Matthias Anglican Church’s final services on Feb. 7, 2016.
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