The Very Reverend Michael J. Pitts

Dear Friends,

Thank you for taking interest in our Web site. I hope you are finding what you are searching for. I hope also we may be tempting you to come and join us in person in the Cathedral, especially as we celebrate this very special time of Advent and Christmas .

As I look out from my office window, I see the streets and stores of Montreal already decorated for Christmas. I am not among those who object to the commercialization of Christmas, or who would separate the religious feast from its secular counterpart. After all, the heart of the message of Christmas is that God the Son is born and lives in the secular world, in all its secularity. St John tells us that "the word became flesh", and "flesh" refers to humanity in all its earthiness. The task of Christmas then, for Christians, is to discern where Christ is born, and where he lives in the secular world today.

As I read and think about the fundamental documents of our faith and the source of our tradition, the books of the Bible, I believe I see the following:

Jesus is born and lives among the lowly, the suffering and the outcasts. While he is not unknown to the wealthy and the powerful, his preference is clearly for the poor. He not only preaches a Gospel, but also lives a life, in which divisions are overcome, barriers are broken down, the outsiders are brought inside and made welcome, people are loved for who they are, not judged or condemned for what they do, those of little account, especially women and children, are given their place in God’s family. In his birth and life, a new world begins.

As we look at the events of our world today, the great events of war and peace, wealth and poverty, distrust and division, or the smaller events of discrimination against those who differ from the norms society has set for itself, violence against powerless individuals, the dehumanization of those we can’t agree with, we need to think hard about where Christ is and where he would have us be. Some of the answers I hear coming from some Christian people and their leaders often don’t seem to me to be drawn from the Gospel I know.

In the words and music of Advent and Christmas at Christ Church Cathedral, we shall be proclaiming again the Gospel, and, as always in our sermons, trying to show its significance and importance in our modern secular world. We look forward to celebrating this wonderful and joyous season with you.

Michael J. Pitts,
Dean and Rector