Note: This Parish Profile has been edited to correct inaccuracies in the previous version.
Interview with Lynda Wilkie from St. Paul’s (Middlechurch)
RLN: Can you tell me about the name of your parish?
Lynda: St. Paul’s is between The Cathedral and St. Andrews, so it was always called the “middle church.” This is the third building. The first one was washed out by flood and the second building became dilapidated, so a new one was built.
RLN: When was the first church built?
Lynda: The first church was built in 1825. We’re excited to be coming up on our 200th anniversary in 2025. To mark the occasion, we will be having an anniversary service on January 26th presided over by the bishop. We hope former priests and parishioners will attend to help us mark the start of this special year. As part of our anniversary, we will be hosting a springtime Strawberry Tea as well as a Pork BBQ in the fall.
RLN: Could you tell me about the early forming of the church?
Lynda: The church was started by Red River settlers. Some came down from Hudson’s Bay. And there were also Métis settlers here too. And at one time, there was an Indian Industrial School in this vicinity. The early St. Paul’s had some of them come here.
RLN: How has it changed over the fifty years you’ve been going here?
Lynda: Quite a bit has changed. When I first joined the church, we had a wonderful choir. There were about eight to ten people in the choir, and three or four guys that were in it. And the church was full nearly every Sunday. It was busy and doing lots of things in the community. Recently some high-end townhomes have been built nearby, and some of their residents have started to come here.
RLN: Who all comes to St. Paul’s (Middlechurch) now?
Lynda: We have a mix of ethnic groups. For a while, Madeline was kind of in charge of our choir. But with COVID, we had to give it up. So we haven’t restarted. I don’t know that we will, because there’s really only maybe three people left from the choir that are still coming. We’re very lucky to have Debbie Pansky and Jean Bailey as our Wardens and Allan Jacobs as our lay assistant. They have done a wonderful job of keeping St. Paul’s going in tough times.
RLN: What does worship look like at your church?
Lynda: Well, it’s changing. We have a new minister, Reverend James Gomez from India. We are grateful to be sharing him with the Church of the Ascension in Stonewall. He’s a very nice person. We’ve gone through a lot of rectors over the years, and all different. Karen Laldin was our previous priest here. She was a big change, too. But she knew how to do everything, and she took charge. She had us doing stuff we’d never done before, which was good.
RLN: What kind of relationship does your church have with the broader community of St. Paul’s?
Lynda: We used to have a lot of events throughout the year. We had potluck suppers, a Christmas Tea, and we had a Strawberry Tea in the springtime that I mentioned before. We’re excited to be doing the Strawberry Tea again for the 200th anniversary. This event was always looked after by a certain family from the area and their descendants. It started with the mother and then the daughters took it over and so on. It sort of followed on in that family. But then COVID-19 came, and everything got shut down. We really haven’t gotten back to it. Our numbers are so low right now that it’s hard to get anybody to take charge of that. But the 200th anniversary gives us the opportunity to start it up again!
RLN: What do you think is the biggest obstacle that your community is facing?
Lynda: I’d say getting the youth in. I think our congregation has dwindled because we’ve aged and aged out. So getting families involved and children involved is going to be the way through this. I do remember the days when the church was full. You had to come early to get a seat. It wasn’t that long ago.
RLN: What are some of your hopes for your parish going forward?
Lynda: To increase the people that are coming and the children that are coming, that would be my hope for the future of St. Paul’s. It’s got such a history. It’s always been part of the community here. There’s one family that comes all the time, Sharon and Ed, and Sharon used to be the secretary over at the school. She knew all the kids. They would come to church and she would say “Oh, hi. How are you?” It was nice to see.
RLN: How would you describe your community to a stranger?
Lynda: I think we’re very welcoming. I remember when I first started here, I had my son Clinton and my daughter Kim both baptized here. And I remember two people in particular were smiling and wanted me to keep coming. They got me into the choir and got the kids into Sunday school. One of them was quite a personality. She was very friendly and laughing and easygoing. I remember her during one of the sermons, I forget who the rector was at the time, but she kept looking at her watch and she finally said, “Can we wrap this up? The football game starts in half an hour, and I’ll be home to watch the football game.” She loved the Blue Bombers.
RLN: What is something that you would like the rest of the diocese to know about your parish?
Lynda: Our main emphasis has been service to the Middlechurch Home across the street. Our cemetery has a section set aside for the Yazidi community as well as a place of final rest for those who have no family and are handled through the Medical Examiner. We see this as a large part of our service to the community. We are a friendly and accepting group and we would encourage people to visit us in our small parish. We have been a parish for almost 200 years and we are working towards continuing into the future.
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