I've signed up for NaBloPoMo. This means that I will ostensibly be posting every day this month. Oi! I cannot promise fabulous content but content there will be. I should also warn my non-religious readers that there will be religious content this month. You can skip those posts if you so choose.
Happy All Saints' Day! We celebrated by attending the Baptism of Teddy's friend Arabella (Mommy is our friend Cat) at All Saints' Anglican church in Sandy Hill. It's a gorgeous old church right across the road from Laurier House. I'm not sure if William Lyon Mackenzie King (who lived at Laurier house after Wilfrid and Zoe left it to him) was a parishioner, but I do know that Robert Borden was one. I am such a nerd for Prime Ministers!
Today and tomorrow are Anglican Days for our family with the Baptism today and my grandmother's funeral tomorrow. For those of you who didn't know, my grandparents were Protestants. Well, Grandpa MacDonald was a Catholic and my Grandma agreed to raise her children in the Roman Catholic church; she had been raised in the United Church of Canada. She really loved the Eucharistic tradition and the creed, though, so when as a widow she married Grandpa Selby (a quintessential Englishman) she became an Anglican herself.
I always find Anglican mass...odd. It's so familiar, yet different. A bit like I've stepped into a fun house -- similar to what I'm used to but just a bit off. Today's experience was lovely, though. I am going to write about it later in the week, since I'll need blog topics!
And I'd better give my readers what they really want: photos of Teddy from Hallowe'en.
He was a polar bear. An incredibly cute one. Here's proof:
Happy All Saints' Day! We celebrated by attending the Baptism of Teddy's friend Arabella (Mommy is our friend Cat) at All Saints' Anglican church in Sandy Hill. It's a gorgeous old church right across the road from Laurier House. I'm not sure if William Lyon Mackenzie King (who lived at Laurier house after Wilfrid and Zoe left it to him) was a parishioner, but I do know that Robert Borden was one. I am such a nerd for Prime Ministers!
Today and tomorrow are Anglican Days for our family with the Baptism today and my grandmother's funeral tomorrow. For those of you who didn't know, my grandparents were Protestants. Well, Grandpa MacDonald was a Catholic and my Grandma agreed to raise her children in the Roman Catholic church; she had been raised in the United Church of Canada. She really loved the Eucharistic tradition and the creed, though, so when as a widow she married Grandpa Selby (a quintessential Englishman) she became an Anglican herself.
I always find Anglican mass...odd. It's so familiar, yet different. A bit like I've stepped into a fun house -- similar to what I'm used to but just a bit off. Today's experience was lovely, though. I am going to write about it later in the week, since I'll need blog topics!
And I'd better give my readers what they really want: photos of Teddy from Hallowe'en.
He was a polar bear. An incredibly cute one. Here's proof:
Cutest polar bear ever! All the babies in my life were animals this year - Teddy the polar bear, Mason the giraffe, Madeline the kangaroo. I suppose that's normal for kids though, eh?
ReplyDeleteAlso, I know what you mean about Anglican stuff being similar but somehow different. Despite not having been to a Catholic mass in *ages* (in fact, I think the only Catholic mass I've been to in the last decade was your wedding), I noticed at Tod's mom's wedding (Anglican - what with her being an Anglican priest and all) that the music all sounded identical to Catholic songs, but the lyrics were all different!
And it's really interesting that your Grandma agreed to raise the kids Catholic - I thought it was customary for kids to be given their mom's religion?
And now I'm off to sign up for NaBloPoMo!
Oh yeah - and I forgot to mention: I'm STOKED that you are going to blog every day! Can't wait to read all the postings!
ReplyDeleteI love going to Anglican mass. I was raised Catholic, so there's a lot that's familiar about the services, but it just feels like there's so much more ceremony to it. Also, if you ever get the chance, you should try going to a Compline service, which is usually held late Sunday evenings.
ReplyDeleteAnd good luck to both you and Beth on NaBloPoMo!
@Beth - I'll have to get all the pertinent deets from my Dad, but my family nearly disowned my Grandma for marrying a heathen Catholic. I am not kidding. The only person who WOULD marry them was my Grandfather's friend (priest in Napanee) but only if my Grandma agreed to raise the kids in the Catholic faith. Since her church was not terribly understanding, and she wanted to raise her children in a faith, my grandmother agreed. She must have done something right - both my Dad and Aunt Linda are still involved, faithful Catholics!
ReplyDeleteAnd WORD re. Anglican and Catholic hymn tunes sounding identical. I had no problem singing most of the hymns today - they were to the tunes of "Alleluia, Sing to Jesus" and "All Creatures of our God and King". Though Catholics are not immune, since "ACooGaK" has the same hymn tune as "That Eastertide with Joy was Bright"...
@Rebecca - oddly, I had the exact OPPOSITE feeling at mass today. It's my understanding that within Anglicanism there are High, Low, and Broad parishes - High being closer to Roman Catholicism and Low being closer to Presbyterianism or other Protestant groups while Broad allows for a mix of both. Even within High and Low, there are some parishes that are higher than others (altar facing backwards, like pre-Vatican II Catholic churches) and some that are lower than others.
The church we visited today was Broad and as such it just felt off. Like the first (and only?) reading was told as a story for kids and the moral was explained right at the beginning.
I'm sure I'll post on this again, though, since I'll need blog fodder!
Ah. It could be that the Anglican churches I've been to (which is an admittedly small number) were all of the High variety. I'm interested in hearing about it (and about Smarties!)
ReplyDeleteTeddy does make an unbelievably cute polar bear. Thanks for sharing the pictures!
ReplyDelete