News from Annunciation Ottawa

The Rev. Carl Reid of Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary church in Ottawa writes in the this month's Annunciator:

Please pray for me, a sinner. My ordination dates are now firmly set: Saturday, January 12, Saint Patrick’s Basilica at 10 AM, ordination to the diaconate; and, Saturday, January 26, Notre Dame Cathedral at 10 AM, ordination to the priesthood. Archbishop Terrence Prendergast, SJ will preside at both services, and also preach the homily at Saint Patrick’s, while our Ordinary, Msgr Jeffrey Steenson will preach at Notre Dame.

It seems that a number of local Catholics intend to be present for my first Mass, which will be Sunday, January 27 (Septuagesima, being the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time). As our little church on the edge of Westboro has such limited seating capacity, Fr Francis Donnelly has suggested and graciously offered, through Fr. Galen Bank, that we use Blessed Sacrament at 194 Fourth Avenue in the Glebe. To avoid conflict with their usual Sunday morning Mass schedule, we shall, for that one last Sunday, keep the 12:30 PM time that we have become accustomed to since last April.

Please note from the calendar on the last page that, once I am ordained, we shall begin to offer Mass every day of the week. As you will see, the times vary through the week, as we attempt to accommodate differing schedules for as wide a variety of people as is possible. The apparently peculiar time of 12:15 PM on Mondays and Thursdays looks toward the hope that perhaps people from Tunney’s Pasture may find our proximity agreeable. Attendance at noon–hour Masses at other Catholic parishes, especially Saint Patrick’s in downtown Ottawa, is quite healthy. If you know people who work at Tunney’s, please let them know.

My ordination will also mark the “winding down” of at least part of our relationship with the various Catholic priests who have so generously devoted their time in ensuring that we have had Mass every Sunday since our reception into the Catholic Church. I say “winding down part of our relationship” as we are looking forward to future opportunities where we might do things jointly, or, if I am required to be away on a given Sunday, one of them might be able to fill in.

In terms of doing things jointly, an obvious one, about which several people in our parish have been asking, going back even to before our reception into the Catholic Church, is perhaps a once-per-month Sunday Evensong and Benediction. Pursuant to that, Fr Scott McCaig donated to us, on November 16 an ostensorium (monstrance) for Benediction. We shall work towards beginning this wonderful devotional service hopefully in February, inviting as many of the Companions, or any other Catholic friends as may be able to attend, to join us.

January also marks the beginning of formation studies for Doug Hayman and Kipling Cooper, along with several other Canadians, and a goodly number of Americans, pursuant to their ordinations, DV, in Eastertide. Let us pray for them, as they “dive in” to the joys of Canon Law...

Carl

Congratulations to Deacon Reid and all of our brethren in Ottawa. I have warm memories of his visit to the Anglican Use Society's Conference in Newark, NJ in his role as suffragan of the ACCC and am grateful that his obvious pastoral skills and calling have been validated by the Church ad majorem Dei gloriam inque hominum salutem.