Virtual Voices 107th Edition Virtual Voices The Video E-Newsletter of Mount Royal United Church for Friday September 2nd 2022 Welcome to our one-hundredth and seventh edition of the Mount Royal United Church Video E-Newsletter. You will find the video at the bottom of this message. If you have any news items or information you think we should be including in an upcoming e-newsletter, please send your suggestion to newsletters@mountroyaluc.ca
we will do our very best to put it on for you. A quick reminder that our Sunday Service is live streamed from the sanctuary beginning at 10:30 AM and can also be watched later on the church website. The Prelude will begin at 10:15 AM with music and the announcement slides before the service begins
with Rev. Stuart. This video will be produced and sent out weekly on Friday morning with all the important things from our faith community. We plan to keep them short so you have time to drink a cup of tea or coffee while you watch. We hope you have a very good day today. Best Regards, Newsletter Committee Message from the Chair of Council - Susan Fowler Hello and welcome to our first edition of Virtual Voices following a vacation that was way too short. How is your summer going? Can you believe it is already September? Today’s message is full of celebrations as we welcome you back so please read it all and plan to participate, as you are able. Even though we haven’t had a worship service in the sanctuary since July 31st, and staff enjoyed a few weeks of vacation, there was lots of church work happening during the month of August. Tracy and Rev. Stuart returned to work the last week of August to get things underway for Sunday worship which resumes on September 4th. Due to a death in his family, Rev. Scott will be absent. We are very fortunate to welcome his wife, Rev. Catherine Stuart, to lead us in worship. It would be great to have a good crowd to make Rev. Catherine feel very welcome. The service will be at 10:30 with the live music and live stream beginning at 10:15. If you were passing by the building, you may have noticed that the flat part of the roof over the offices was replaced last month. Thank you to the Property and Maintenance Committee for overseeing the roof replacement and to those who pursued grants to keep the costs as low as possible. Stay tuned for information on how you can contribute to offset the cost which exceeds the existing roof fund. And the Ministry and Personnel (M&P) Committee was very busy. A huge thank you goes out to Debbie Maund, M&P Chair, and her committee for working very hard on your behalf, to ensure needed staffing is in place. By now, I expect most of you have heard that Tracy Parrott, our long time Office Administrator, announced in June that she would be retiring September 30th. Please be sure to join us for coffee and conversation on a date to be announced as we take the opportunity to thank Tracy for her many years of pleasant and helpful assistance and efficient running of the office. And our even longer-term custodian, Wayne Surrette, is on an unexpected absence. We wish him a speedy and complete recovery. You are missed, Wayne. Be sure to follow your doctor’s orders. Fortunately, M&P was able to hire Matt Wilson, as temporary Custodian. If you see him around, be sure to say hello. Matt has filled in for Wayne in the past, knows our building and expectations so we are lucky he is able to fill in. And we are very happy to say that M&P was successful in hiring a person for the position of Office Administrator. Emily Smith will begin her position on September 19th. The overlap will allow Tracy to familiarize Emily with her duties at Mount Royal. Emily comes to us as an experienced church Office Administrator, having worked at Visions United. So again, thanks to M&P for your efforts and welcome Matt and Emily. While staffing was big news the past few weeks, M&P Chair, Debbie, sent along a reminder to share the functions of that committee as set out in “The Manual”. M&P provides “the consultative and supportive role, the healthy relationships role, and the supervisory role. It provides resources and support for the staff and the community of faith with respect to any issue affecting staff of our church, including ministry personnel and lay employees. The committee works to build positive and trusting relationships between staff and members and adherents of the community of faith.” She went on to say “If members of the community of faith have praise or concerns about staff, both ministry personnel and lay employees, these can be shared in signed correspondence with the committee. The issues will be considered confidentially by the M&P Committee, who will recommend action.“ The next meeting of the M&P Committee will be held on September 8th at 7pm. If you have any praise or concerns to bring to its attention, please contact Debbie by phone at 506-961-4636 or by email at mandp@mountroyaluc.ca Things have been fairly quiet over the summer but we are now gearing back up for fall activities. Groups resuming this week; Val’s Tai Chi, Art Club, Writer’s Circle… Of course, Craft Group continues to meet faithfully Tues at 10:00 either next to the Bessborough parking lot if weather permits or inside as necessary. All welcome. Please bring a folding chair and your coffee if outside. I do want to mention a couple of important dates: A Celebration of Life for Marj Henderson who died March 7th will be held Sat. Sept 10th at 1:30 PM on the top floor of the Euston Canteen, 221 Parlee Beach Rd in Pointe du Chene. Parlee Beach was near and dear to the Hendersons. The family invites you to share a memory, picture, or anything you chose. And a bit of advance notice about the Celebration of Life for Grace Harris which will be held at Fair Haven Funeral Home on Oct 1 at 11 AM. Grace died in June. A really special event for our church family is the Community Fun Day planned for September 18th (raindate 25th). We really want to put a push on to invite Mt Royal folks to come back to church. Our numbers have been very small and we miss your smiling faces. So please, let’s all make an effort to come back this September but especially on the 18th. We will likely have an abbreviated worship service and then move outside to greet one another and people from the community over a drink and a hot dog. The Community Fun Day is planned as a sort of open house for the community to see what happens at 106 Mt Royal Blvd besides Sunday morning worship. We’ll have representatives from various groups that meet at the church: Tai Chi; Art Club, Writer’s Circle, Craft Group and the Guide and Scouting groups. There will information about registration and group activities available from the Guides and Scouters. In fact, the 1st Jones Lake Group Committee will set up its big tent and hold it’s “move up” ceremony during our open house. That will bring some folks from the community to participate. We are really hoping to have the children back in church this fall so Karen Tanner, our Christian Development Chair, will be chatting with parents and kids about BLAST. Erin Smith will be offering face painting and hopefully the whole event feels fun and welcoming. Rev. Stuart will be promoting movie nights, book studies and other activities as he wanders about chatting with folks. This would be a great time to say hello if you have never met him because of COVID restrictions. If you feel comfortable, please wear your name tag as you mill about greeting people. COVID protocols permitting, this fall, we’ll have some of our former fundraisers to promote. We know people have been asking about dinners, the always popular rummage sale and of course, the Smiley Face pancake breakfast. Fingers crossed, we will be able to resume marathon bridge and Lunch with Friends; two very popular events in the community. We’ll also invite people to see our facilities and live stream and recording capabilities should they wish to rent the sanctuary or other space for community events. Please turn out in big numbers to support this event and show people in the neighbourhood that Mt Royal is an important and vibrant part of the community. This is so very important for our church to be welcoming and interested in our neighbours. If you have any questions, or want to offer to help please email me chairperson@mountroyaluc.ca Finally, we have our known church family celebrations to share. Happy Birthday to Nancy Brown on Sept 3rd, Jean Taylor, Faye Germon, Terry Foreman, Donna Oke, Ethan Stuart and Jennifer Smith. Best wishes to these people and anyone else celebrating a birthday, anniversary, or other special event this week. Please send your messages of congratulations and best wishes to Tracy in the office office@mountroyaluc.ca or call 506-855-5771. The Wonder Box is still there to accept your burning questions. Please drop one in the box or email Rev Stuart at minister@mountroyaluc.ca That’s it for this week. I hope you are well and I look forward to seeing you in person very soon. As always, if you have questions or concerns, please contact me.
Susan Fowler
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