The Diocese Office will be moving to the church building of the former parish of St. Edmund, King & Martyr in the community of Bowness.  Renovations are well underway, and we anticipate the physical move to occur in the last week of  April.

The new address will be: 8336 - 34 Avenue NW, Calgary, AB, T3B 1R2.  Email addresses and phone numbers will remain the same.  Please take a moment to add this in your contacts or mail out lists.

We ask that the Diocese be patient during the moving week as we may have computers and phones down for a few days.  Also we would appreciate your prayers for a smooth transition for all involved as the move date draws closer.

Clergy Changes: 

The Rev. David Holmes, who has served faithfully in many parishes throughout the Diocese of Qu'Appelle and Calgary, including Church of the Epiphany in Rimbey, St. George, Stettler and the Parkland parishes, will be moving to Regina at the end of April to be closer to his children.

Archbishop Greg is pleased to announce that he has appointed The Rev. Dr. Pilar Gateman to be the new Incumbent for the Parish of St. Benedict, High River as of August 1.  We ask for your prayers for Pilar as she transitions to this new role, and ask God to bless the parish as they journey together.

The Parish of St. Michael & All Angels, Strathmore will be holding their final service on Sunday, April 27.  The Rev. Malcolm Kern will be resigning as their Incumbent and the parish has requested to disestablish.

The Parish of St. John the Evangelist, Pincher Creek has voted to disestablish as a parish, and Archbishop Greg has notified Diocesan Council of his intention to close this parish. 

Please pray for all these clergy and parishes as they transition to new roles in their ministry.

Clergy Conference 2025:

We are looking forward to gathering at beautiful Waterton Lakes National Park for our Clergy Conference from May 27 to 29.  Registrations have now closed.  Any questions or concerns can be directed to Rev. Charmaine, our Registrar.

April 17 - Maundy Thursday service at All Saints, Cochrane, 7:00 pm

April 19 - Easter Vigil Service, Cathedral Church of the Redeemer, Calgary, 7:00 pm

April 20 - Easter Morning Service, Cathedral Church of the Redeemer, Calgary, 10:30 am

April 21 to May 5 - Holidays

Please hold Archbishop Greg in your prayers as he serves as our Bishop and Metropolitan.

St. George, Diamond Valley is offering a Taize service on Good Friday evening at 7.00pm.

All are welcome.

A new Grief Recovery course will begin on 22 April led by Betty Craigie. The course will take seven weeks, meeting weekly. Participants should gather at 7.00 p.m. in the Coop Room [second floor] on Tuesday 22 April.

Courses have taken place in Christ Church since 2009, and many have been helped. The course follows a set pattern which leads to recovery.

Grief is the natural reaction to loss. Often this is the loss of a loved one but there are many other losses which can occasion grief - divorce, estrangement, unemployment, retirement, emigration, moving house and death of a pet, to name a few. Recovery means the return of the ability to enjoy happy memories and just to experience moments of joy, which is what we want for you. Registration is not required. Please direct any questions to Betty through the office at 403-243-4680.

This three-day silent retreat will have the theme, this year, of Celebrate Sacred Space - Pilgrims of Hope.

Rooms will be ready by 4:00 pm on Friday, April 25.  The retreat starts with a Welcome and Orientation at 6:50 followed by dinner at 7:00 pm, after which the silence begins.

On Sunday, April 27, the retreat concludes with a Eucharist Service at 11:00 am, followed by lunch at noon.  The silence ends after the Eucharist Service.  

Cost is $230.00.  Please let John or Patti know if cost is an issue.

To register or for more information, please contact the Mount St. Francis Retreat Centre at (403) 932-2012, or use their contact form on their website.

The Caring Collective, a group of five Innisfail Churches, are working together to support the ongoing challenges faced by Jasper after the fire that devastated their community this past summer.

Please join us for a pancake breakfast at the Innisfail United Church on April 26, 2025 from 8:00 - 11:00 a.m.  All proceeds go to the Jasper Community Team Society Child and Youth Participation Fund to help in their healing efforts.

We will also be accepting donations of food and funds for the Jasper Food Bank Society. A more detailed listing of specific needs will be shared in April.

We will also be doing a 50/50 Raffle for the Jasper Food Bank in April.

The Caring Collective is Innisfail United Church, Our Lady of Peace Catholic Church, Peace Lutheran Church, St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, and our own St. Mark's Anglican Church.

The Christian Way: Living Our Baptismal Vows

It is becoming more and more difficult to remain resolute and hopeful in a world where so many forces are competing for our souls. As Christians, though, our identity and devotion are oriented to the One in whom our love and life is found, Jesus Christ, whom we are bound to in the vows of our Baptism. This meditation on “Living Our Baptismal Vows” will lead you through both the Biblical meaning of our Baptism, as well as giving you the opportunity to reflect on how to live out your Baptismal vows in this present world. Each week, we will begin with a short time of teaching, and then spend time in conversation and Lectio Divina. You will also be given some short Christian texts from the saints of the past and present to reflect on during this journey as well. Please join us in this post-Easter time of reflection.

Date: Thursday Evenings, May 1 – July 3, 2025

Location: On Zoom

Time: 6:30pm-8:00pm

Instructors: Rev. Elizabeth Short & Rev. Br.  Jason Carroll

To register, please contact Barbara Labrecque.

10:00 - Gathering and Welcome in the Sanctuary

10:30 - Session 1 - Pastoral Team discussion; models that work

Sesson 2 – Pastoral Care and Prayer; learning and resources 

12:00 - Lunch and connecting

12:45 - Session 3 - Grief and its many dimensions

Session 4 – Healing service; what, when and how 

2:30 - Giving thanks and sending forth

We will gather to learn and to celebrate pastoral care ministry happening in our parishes. This is meant to be an interactive and team building event. Bring a parish member and fill a car. 

Two parishioners formerly of St. Augustine, Lethbridge, Andrew and Elizabeth Golison (Gholizadeh), are moving from Lethbridge to Calgary at the end of this month. They fled from religious persecution in Iran to Turkey where they lived for several years. St. Augustine’s, along with St. Leonard on the Hill in Red Deer had the privilege of sponsoring them (under the authority of our Diocesan refugee ministry) to come to Canada. They have now been in Canada for more than 2 years.

They have 3 needs:

Employment: they are now actively searching for jobs in Calgary. They have good and growing proficiency in English. We have been pleased to have employed them as part time caretakers at St. Augustine’s and are happy to provide a reference. They can furnish resumes upon request. They have agreed to help establish (on a voluntary basis) a startup ministry to refugees in Calgary, but their work will be self- supporting (at least initially) and will need regular work to make ends meet.

Help moving: they have a small amount of furniture that they need to move into their 1 bedroom downtown apartment on April 28.  If any of the community would be available to help unload, please call Judith Robinson at 403-894-6889.

A Parish Home: They are also looking for an Anglican Church to be a part of in Calgary.

To offer any assistance, please be in touch with Rev. Steve Bateman at (403) 327-3970.

For the past year, Rev. Clara King, a priest in our Diocese, has been travelling across the country, developing a cutting-edge workshop for clergy on adaptive leadership as part of her PhD.  Now that the study is complete, she can finally offer it for the home crowd.  Join Rev. Clara and local clergy from other denominations to experience this transformational one-day workshop.  Learn to perceive adaptive challenges in a new way, how to lead adaptively in your congregation, and how to respond in a new way to God's invitation to be transformed.  This workshop is offered for clergy and congregation-leading lay leaders for free as part of the Adaptive Leadership Pedagogy Study.  More details to follow.

Contact Rev. Clara for more information or to register.

Taste and See...

Anglican Renewal Ministries is dedicated to bringing the life and power of the Holy Spirit to all Christians.   This year, 2025, ARM gives thanks to God for having served the Anglican Church of Canada for 40 years! In addition to workshops on the person and gifts of the Holy Spirit, we also offer a quarterly magazine called “Taste and See…” with articles to uplift and encourage you in your walk with Christ.   We hope this magazine will be a source of encouragement to all.  Sample articles and a free copy of the magazine are available on our website. 

The Parish of St. George-in-the-Pines, Banff, has an Allen ADC-4000-B digital organ that they would love to pass along to any church or individual in the diocese who could use it.  This organ is free - all you need to do is arrange for pickup.  To contact the parish, please click here.

The Diocese Office has received four boxes of used Book of Alternative Services books.  

If your parish is in need of extra BASs, please be in touch with our office.

The New West Symphony & Chorus will be holding a special fundraising concert in suppport of the very important work of the Cochrane Pregnancy Care Centre.  To find out more about this Care Centre and their services, please click here.

This concert, entitled Melodies of Hope will be held on Saturday, April 26 at the Bow Valley Baptist Church (54 W Aarsby Rd. Cochrane) from 5:30 to 8:30 pm.

Tickets are $25 per person; children under 15 are $10 each; children under 3 are free.  Tickets are available here.

Our annual garage sale fundraiser will take place on Saturday, June 21 from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm.  Proceeds from the garage sale are used for the day-to-day operation of the Foodbank.

At this time of year, spring cleaning comes to mind and we would welcome donations of household items, small appliances, bedding, towels, shoes and purses.

Donations can be dropped off on Monday or Thursday between 9:00 and 11:45 am.  We are unable to accept larger items until Friday, June 20.  Please call us at (403) 288-6330 if you have any questions and also to let us know if you have larger items to donate and/or to make alternate arrangements for drop off.

Please remember in your prayers:

- for peace within our country, and in the world, for victims of violence, war and natural disasters, and for areas of unrest and riots.  We ask for wise discernment in our leaders, and for this country as the election of our political leaders approaches; 

- for the Anglican Communion, for the selection of a new Archbishop of Canterbury, and for healing and direction moving forward;

- for the upcoming General Synod in June.  Please pray for all who are organizing, and all delegates and volunteers, especially the delegates attending from our Diocese;

- for the Windward Islands recovering from Hurricane Beryl;

- for those who are sick, suffering, isolated or in need.  We ask for prayers for Barbara, Maureen, Ruth and James, Kate, Rosemary, Patricia, Rob, Alan, Gloria, Joan, James, Jason, Barb and Michelle;

- for those who have died and those who mourn;

- for the poor, the homeless, and the needy in our communities;

- for our Indigenous brothers and sisters, and their leaders in our diocese and country; 

- for refugees, remembering those fleeing regimes around the world;

Request a prayer:

Send prayer requests to ctubman@calgary.anglican.ca to let us know how we can pray for you.  We will only use first names which will be removed after two or three weeks.  We will also pray for you during our regular Chapel services each week.  Please ensure that you have permission from those whose names you are submitting for prayer, and that they understand their name will be made public to all who subscribe to the Newsletter.

We are interested in what is happening in your parish and would love to highlight those events and news in our newsfeed.

We look forward to your contributions - feel free to forward your event announcements, your parish news, your stories.  Send in your details and pictures to ctubman@calgary.anglican.ca.

The views and opinions contained in Newsletter items provided by individuals or groups for advertisement belong solely to those individuals/groups and do not reflect the views, opinions or beliefs of the Anglican Diocese of Calgary.