Voice From a Church

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Douglass Dalton has been a parishioner at the Church of St. John the Evangelist in Montreal for over 46 years, ever since he was 17 years old. He talks about how he first came to the church, what it means to him, the value of its liturgy and language and the nature of its community. Throughout there are scenes from services on Palm Sunday, Good Friday, Easter, and All Saints.

The Church of St. John the Evangelist so known (also known as the Redroof Church). is an Anglo-Catholic church, which means that although it is an Anglican church, the liturgy is in many ways more similar to traditional Catholic liturgy.

Documentary 16 minutes

Filmed, edited and directed by Janet Best

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Comments

A beautiful meditation on the riches of Anglo-Catholicism and the life of one special church. Margaret Stonyk

Absolutely wonderful, both technically and theologically. I felt so much at home throughout wondering why did I not think of that, since it is exactly what I believe. “Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way?” Lk 24:32. Peter Harper

·I love this short film about a very traditional (Anglo-Catholic) church (St John the Evangelist aka 'Red Roof') in our Diocese, by one of our artists Janet Best. I love it for so many reasons, chief amongst which is how this speaks about belonging for those who don't quite fit in. I am part of other church networks where we will openly plan to reach the '26 year old urbanite' and I would support those decisions until I'm blue in the face... however, that decision does not cover all of the bases and unless we use the breadth of the church and also have other aims (like this one) we will fail as a global movement of 'The Church' At the moment we seem to have a tale of extremes in the church: very old, very conservative, very liberal, very modern, very traditional.. where is the space for the middle? This, for me, is the true heart of the Anglican movement and I thank God for the creative opportunities we have in Montreal to celebrate and experiment with that as we shape the life of the church. I think everyone would learn something from this video. Bravo, Janet! :-) Graham Singh 29 November 2018

Thank you for expressing so much of my own experience. I have often said that we are a collection of weirdos, not necessarily because an individual is (although some of us clearly are), but because as a group we are allowed to be as we are as we allow ourselves to encounter God and learn to love each other in our strange ways. Cynthia Kathleen Taylor