Happy Saturday! It’s sunny, but a little too warm for me today, in the resort town of Cobourg. I’m away on a new adventure tomorrow, so I am blogging today. Actually, this new adventure--this new chapter of my life--actually started last week.
Last year, my friend Rev Deb (actually she is Archbishop Deb) told me about a course she was running for the Community Catholic Church of Canada (CCCC). She is training deacons for her church, which is located in the Niagara area. As a deacon for the CCCC, I can perform marriages, funerals and baptisms. I thought that this was something that I really wanted to do, although I confess that I was partly interested because it might give my books more credibility.
I’m feeling more than that now, although truthfully, I think my calling is to work with the elderly. I kind of laugh at that because my dearest friend is now 90 and I consider her to be more of a peer. Perhaps what I am guided to is peer counselling! Then, that might lead to funerals unfortunately, but that is our circle of life. There are several seniors’ homes here in Cobourg and I’m hoping that I can connect with elderly there and really get to know them and be of some assistance.
So, I say that the adventure has already begun, because I ended up retired, so I now have the time to put into it, and I have already taken the chaplain course As a chaplain, once I get my approval from the province, I can do marriages (as well as commitment ceremonies and renewal of vows). Let the new chapter begin! My home will be known as St. Anne’s parish of the Community Catholic Church of Canada and my front room will become a chapel. I’m still working on a name for it. It’s my reading room and it has my collection of teacups and teapots. I’m thinking The Tiny Tea Chapel, but that implies that the tea is tiny rather than the room. I am open to suggestions!
After I am ordained a deacon, which will happen in November, I have the option to go on to be a priest for the CCCC. I was originally not sure of that next step, but I now understand that if I am not a priest, I cannot bless people, which I believe is important in the ministry of the elderly, that I hope to embark on. I will decide for sure before the priest course begins in November, but I believe that it is what I want to do.
Tomorrow, I head down to Niagara-on-the-Lake, for our official kick-off. Most of the course is online, but I will be down there four times in total, including tomorrow and the ordination in November.
I find this pretty exciting as I never believed that IT was my purpose in life, although it did help me pay the bills and raise two lovely daughters.
Well, that’s it for today, folks, as this deacon-to-be is in the midst of laundry! No matter what our purpose in life is, there are still the everyday chores to do.
God bless all of you in the latest chapters of your lives and I pray that your adventures are satisfying!
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