The Very Reverend Michael J. Pitts

Greetings from the Dean,

Welcome to Christ Church Cathedral's web site. Whether you are a visitor to Montreal, looking for information, or a member of the Cathedral Parish, seeking the latest news, or whether you have found us while surfing the net, I hope you will find something useful and of interest here. I always enjoy trying to answer the messages I receive, or passing them on to the appropriate member of our staff.

Fall is here, and this is a time of year when churches gear up for a new season following the different pace of the summer months. In the Cathedral it is a time when newcomers join us, students coming to Montreal's universities, or men and women, with their families, beginning new jobs and contracts.

Christ Church Cathedral is a meeting place for people from all parts of Montreal and from many backgrounds. Our guess is that among our congregation are people with about twenty different first languages. Here you can meet people from every continent of the world, and from a broad spectrum of society.

But first and foremost this is a meeting place with God. We exist to offer a way of connection with the spiritual dimension of life, and to be the bearers of grace. This occurs in many different ways. It happens in our daily and weekly liturgy, through music and dance, through study and discussion, through pastoral care, counselling and spiritual direction, and, for many, just by our being a quiet oasis in the middle of a bustling city, open for prayer and meditation seven days a week. From our meeting with God springs a desire to share the experience with others, and several groups meet to work on different aspects of that process. Others discern their vocation to respond to God through their secular lives and occupations.

Whatever our divine mission and purpose, we are a human institution. We have our disagreements and debates, sometimes sharp, unpleasant and hurtful. But, in our post-modern world, we have to learn new ways of building and existing as communities, and there are few models available to us. So the church can be a school and testing ground of new ways for society and its institutions.

Below is our Fall Program. We do hope we may have opportunity to meet you in one of out services or activities. The clergy, lay staff and members of our community join with me in this greeting.

Yours sincerely,

Michael J. Pitts

Fall 99 Education and Special Events Program

Friday evening 10 and Sunday 12 September
Junior Confirmation Course begins

Sunday 12 September
Sunday School begins

Wednesdays 15 September through 13 October
A series of Bible Studies on the Book of Revelation in the St Anselm Chapel at 7.30p.m.

From Saturday 18 September,
Youth group begins

Sunday 19 September
A celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Primate's World Relief and Development Fund.
Preacher: The Rev Gwenda Wells

September 27-29 1999
Trinity Institute's 30th National Conference
Episcopal Identity and Vocation in the New Millennium

This conference will be downlinked from the Episcopal Cathedrals' satellite teleconferencing network to the Convocation Hall, of the Diocesan Theological College, 3473 University, Montreal

Tuesday 28 September
Gavin Elbourne Memorial Lecture; The Rev Paul Jennings
Myth and Meaning in Biblical and Theological Language

Sunday 3 October
10.00 am University Service, Preacher The Rev Dr Patricia Kirkpatrick

Sundays 3 through 31 October
Music and Liturgy, an illustrated dialogue with Patrick Wedd in the Chapter House at 12 noon.

Sunday 10 October
A Celebration for Thanksgiving

Monday 11 October
Thanksgiving supper for students

Wednesdays 20 October through 17 November
A seminar on the Jubilee

Saturday 23 October
Caribbean Evening

Tuesday 26 October at 7.30 p.m.
Reception in the Deanery for New members

Sunday 31 October
A celebration for All Saints

Friday 5 through Sunday 7 November
Parish Retreat

Sunday 7 November
Remembrance Service

Sunday 14 November
Sermon on Restorative Justice

Friday 19 and Saturday 20 November
Hymn-a-thon through Common Praise

Saturday 20 November at 6.30 p.m. in Fulford Hall
Dedication Supper

Sunday 21 November
Dedication Festival

Wednesday 1 December at 7.30 p.m. in the Cathedral
Advent poetry, literature and music.

Friday evening 3 and Saturday 4 December
Junior Confirmation part 3

Advent Sundays 28 November through 19 December
Reflections on the Advent themes (at 12 noon, with lunch)