Ship of Fools: MW 2944: St Thomas's, Huron Street, Toronto

Thread: MW 2944: St Thomas's, Huron Street, Toronto Board: Oblivion / Ship of Fools.

To visit this thread, use this URL:
http://forum.ship-of-fools.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=70;t=030424

Posted by Knopwood (# 11596) on :

Thanks to Pencefn for reporting on the service of thanksgiving for HM's reign. As it happens, I was visiting Toronto that weekend myself, but I opted to attend another service for the Queen, in the presence of the Lieutenant-Governor (provincial viceroy) of Ontario, at the city's ordinariate parish, where they have proper Benediction (St Thomas's opts for the old Canadian moderate Catholic "Devotions" to the Blessed Sacrament at the usual 7pm service, and seems to have omitted it entirely on this occasion).

It wasn't a direct scheduling conflict as the service I attended was at 4:30 but it would have been rather trying for me to do both back to back, especially having been to Mass in the morning.

Normally, I would suggest that such a special service is not a very accurate gauge of the level of welcome in a parish, but in this case I fear the reviewer has stumbled, if perhaps inadvertently, on the truth. It is not usual IME to be ignored altogether, but I too have found a disconnect between the dignity of the services at St Thomas's and the cold, snobby atmosphere of the coffee hours. Certainly taking photos at a service like this one would not necessarily arouse attention.

Fr Ipema is indeed somewhat peripatetic, being an honorary assistant at nearby (and, IMO, much friendlier) St Mary Magdalene as well as the interim p-i-c of a suburban parish in interregnum in addition to occasionally hanging his biretta at St T's. Although he is Dutch-born (it's TAY-o, not Thee-o), he arrived here quite young and I have never noticed anything distinctive about his accent.

The thurifers of "Smoky Tom's" are legendary in their own right: the most (in)famous story (possibly dating to the Anglican Congress of '63 and perhaps even apocryphal) is of one who managed to set the then-++Cantuar on fire.

Incidentally, Shipmates can listen to the service in its entirety if they are so inclined.

[ 05. November 2015, 15:12: Message edited by: Knopwood ]

Posted by Crucifer (# 523) on :

Having visited Smoky Tom's on several occasions (including the Sunday AM Solemn Eucharist, Evensong and Devotions, and a weeknight Solemn Eucharist), I've had mixed experiences in terms of the warmth of the welcome. I am/was acquainted with a few parishioners and have found them to be welcoming whenever they've been there when I've visited.

However, I do get the sense that if one does not know anyone there and stands around waiting for someone to talk to them (a la the Mystery Worshipper project) they would probably end up mostly being ignored.

The clergy (the rector more so than the others that I've met) have generally been cordial and welcoming, although not effusively so, which I would probably attribute to a) a function of their personalities, b) the type of reserve often displayed by high church clergy, and c) not wanting to scare off potential newcomers by being overly welcoming.

I think it's one of those places that you would have to attend for awhile and possibly have to get into peoples' faces a bit before you'd show up on anyone's (apart from the clergy) radar screen.

As to St. Mary Magdalene, I have only visited there once (on their patronal festival, no less), but based on that experience, it did seem to be somewhat more welcoming than St. Thomas's.

Posted by Knopwood (# 11596) on :

Yes, I have several acquaintances at St T's (one of my best friends serves there) but I imagine I'd be a wallflower when visiting if I didn't. And the rector is indeed quite affable (as is Trinity College's dean of divinity, who is shared as an honorary assistant by St Thomas's and a few other parishes).

Posted by Oblatus (# 6278) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Crucifer:
Having visited Smoky Tom's on several occasions (including the Sunday AM Solemn Eucharist, Evensong and Devotions, and a weeknight Solemn Eucharist), I've had mixed experiences in terms of the warmth of the welcome. I am/was acquainted with a few parishioners and have found them to be welcoming whenever they've been there when I've visited.

It probably helped that I knew a St T's parishioner through an online discussion board, but one summer Sunday I was not only welcomed but invited to sing in the 9:30 a.m. choir and enjoy a rehearsal and service led by the excellent John Tuttle. We sang Byrd's Sacerdotes Domini, a psalm and refrain, and a congregational Mass setting I can't remember (Proulx or Rutter, maybe)? I felt warmly welcomed and appreciated, even though I could be there only for that one day.

Posted by Crucifer (# 523) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Oblatus:
I was not only welcomed but invited to sing in the 9:30 a.m. choir and enjoy a rehearsal and service led by the excellent John Tuttle.

I should have mentioned Mr. Tuttle as well. I am an amateur organist and on one visit I went up to the choir after the service to talk to him. We had a very pleasant chat.

I asked him about a hymntune by Walter MacNutt, one of Tuttle's predecessors at St. T's, that I had heard on one of St. T's podcasts (it's not published in any hymnals to my knowledge) and he emailed me a PDF of it a week or so later.

UBB.classic^TM 6.5.0