Bilingual and Ecumenical

In the often fractious Quebec cultural landscape, there’s a shining beacon of bilingual ecumenical co – operation. Longueuil, created by merging seven municipalities in 2002, is home to 230,000 residents across the St. Lawrence River from Montreal. One of those former towns, St. Lambert, was 90 per cent English – speaking 50 years ago; it’s 10 per cent today.

Rev. Barry Mack, at St. Andrew’s in old St. Lambert, wonders about the future. “Denominational churches are folding—Baptists, Lutherans, a Catholic church is now a condo and another’s rumoured to be closing. People ask what it means to be a church here today. What mission is God summoning us to? What will the distinction between denominations look like in 20 years?”

It may look pretty good if St. Andrew’s is any example. Since the 1970s, ecumenical spirit has brought St. Andrew’s together with St. Francis of Assisi, St. Lambert United and St. Barnabas Anglican to create, first, Maison Desaulniers, a red – brick Victorian building housing activities of the city’s Council of Seniors, and then the volunteer – based Ecumenical Community Services.

“ECS provides three distinct services,” Mack explains. “A food cupboard delivers assistance throughout the year, transportation’s provided to seniors, and our Christmas Basket Project, now 32 years old, took food and toys to 217 families last year.”

The key person at St. Andrew’s, Mack adds, is Betty Grant, a retired phys – ed teacher.

“St. Lambert’s a tight – knit community,” she says. “You keep bumping into the same people, whether in sports, politics or business. The majority of our Christmas Basket recipients and volunteers are francophones. We get donations from all—food, cheques, drivers. Many take a day off work to help out. Some never go to church, others dropped out years ago but keep coming back to help at Christmas. We had the Champlain College basketball team and students from the high school last year.”

So enthusiastic is the campaign that the local CLSC, a provincial government community clinic, protested that ECS baskets were too big and should be standardized. Grant doesn’t comment, but her expression says it all. Fat chance.

One interdenominational project, with zoning, legal and financial challenges that added many a gray hair, is Heritage Gardens, a 93 – unit full – service retirement residence built on land of a former Lutheran church. Among activities for autonomous residents are weekly Lutheran and Catholic services.

St. Andrew’s remains a strong proponent of Camp d’action biblique, a Presbyterian summer camp, in which Église Reformée du Québec remains active despite breaking from the PCC in 1988 over ordination issues.
The Protestants and Catholics co – operate to offer ecumenical lenten lunches with offerings going to relief organizations and charities.

Barry Mack leaves a visitor with St. Andrew’s annual calendar which has a dozen ecumenical services and events highlighted plus a note about outdoor ecumenical services during St. Lambert Days each August.
We may be beginning to see the face of the future church on Montreal’s South Shore.