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If you wish to see something published in this newsletter, please either fill out the Communication Request Form (click to be redirected to the Cathedral website) or email your edited and proofed text to newsletters@thecathedral.ca by Tuesday at Noon. If you have any questions, please email us at newsletters@thecathedral.ca.

Please note that these are the only two communication channels used in the creation of this newsletter.

If you attend in person on Sundays, a special parking rate is available at the Park Place Parkade. The parking code for 2025 is 20254630. Rate details are available here.

You can watch past live-streamed services on our YouTube channel — click to watch the ones you missed or rewatch the ones you enjoyed!

We were delighted to welcome a long-time Maundy Café supporter to the Cathedral today.

Along with the other directors, Mr. Terry Salman has faithfully supported the Cathedral’s food ministry through the Essential Needs Foundation. 

Vanessa Ho, Sr. Finance Administrator, invited Mr. Salman and his assistant, Aya Yuhara, to witness the Maundy Café first-hand. They enjoyed the hot lunch while connecting with Maundy Café guests and volunteers.

The Maundy Café attempts to foster health, belonging and reconciliation in Vancouver’s downtown core by making hot, nutritious meals accessible to anyone in need.

We wish to thank Mr. Salman and the other directors of the Essential Needs Foundation for their contribution towards making this commitment possible. Thank you!

Since beginning in 2007, the Earth Hour Organization has been advocating for people across the globe to turn off their lights for one hour. The goal is to bring awareness to the environmental issues we are facing and to help protect our planet. The difference we can all make by taking part in this one small action is astounding.

This hour is timely as it in keeping with CATS Lenten Pledge "CONSUME LESS, TURN DOWN THE HEAT."  In addition to turning down the heat, we can also include turning off lights, or any electronics, not just for the hour, but at any time. 

Please join CATS on Saturday, March 22, from 8:30pm to 9:30pm and turn off your lights.

Dear Friends in Christ,

As we journey deeper into Lent, we are called to cultivate greater self-awareness and attentiveness to God’s presence in our daily lives. One powerful spiritual discipline to help us in this is the Daily Examen—a prayerful reflection on the events of the day to discern God’s presence and our responses to God's grace.

Rooted in the wisdom of St. Ignatius of Loyola, this practice is deeply in line with the Orthodox understanding of watchfulness (nepsis)—an inner attentiveness that helps us remain awake to God’s movements in our lives. The Examen invites us to pause, reflect, and realign ourselves with God’s will each day.

How to Practice the Daily Examen

Set aside 10–15 minutes at the end of your day. Find a quiet place, take a deep breath, and begin:

Please note that there will not be a Praying with the Psalms group study next week (March 25th).

Join us again on Tuesday, April 1st, as we return to our Lenten study of the Book of Psalms.

~ Lauren Artress, founder of Veriditas

To usher in Spring, Christ Church Cathedral’s labyrinth will be open this month, during the week of Monday, March 17 to Friday, March 21st from 10am to 4pm. We invite people of all faiths and spiritual disciplines to experience a time for centering, contemplation, reflection and meditation.

A special evening event, “Music of the Labyrinth”, will take place on Friday, March 21^st, featuring Vancouver cellist-singer Byron Hanson, who, with looped cello and voice based on and inspired by plainchant, will be accompanying “pilgrims” as they journey in the serene setting of Christ Church Cathedral’s sanctuary. Music begins at 7:30pm.

Event:        Music of the Labyrinth

Date:          Friday, March 21^st, 2025

Time:         7:30pm – 9:00pm

Location:    Christ Church Cathedral, 690 Burrard Street (at Georgia)

Admission: By Donation

Join Rev. Areeta and parishioner, Liz McCausland, to celebrate and learn more about women in the Christian tradition in this multi-part series to celebrate women’s history month. All are welcome! 

Upcoming forums: 

Sun March 23 (9.15am): Join parishioner, Liz McCausland, and Rev. Areeta to explore various women's contributions to prayer and spirituality. 

Previous forums in the series: 

Sun March 2: A facilitated conversation about women and the church: leadership, challenges to equity, types of feminism and ways in which women have impacted our spiritual lives. 

This week's Sundays@4 series features Holden Evening Prayer, sung by a small ensemble.

All are welcome to join us in-person at the Cathedral. Please note that a livestream is not available for this service.

The full Sundays@4 service schedule is available here.

Are you looking for a way to deepen your spiritual life? Every weekday morning at 9:30am the Cathedral holds Morning Prayer.

We will follow a simple liturgy with a Psalm, a Reading, Prayer and Silence. This form of regular, daily prayer is used in the Anglican Communion and a number of other church denominations. All are welcome to start the day in prayer with us.

Morning Prayer takes place online via Zoom. To join in, please email Morning Prayer for Zoom coordinates.

Reverend Areeta will be away from March 16 to 22nd.

Dean Chris will be on his annual lenten retreat from March 18 to 25th.

It is the time of year the Altar Guild begins its preparations for Easter.

We will be collecting money for our decorations after the 8 and 10:30 services on March 23rd and 30th, and April 6th.

Donations can also be made by phoning the Cathedral office and speaking to Vanessa Ho.

We are delighted to announce a number of new opportunities to sing in a choir or vocal group at the Cathedral, including some that are suited to those with little or no previous choral experience. We now have five choral groups, including a Taizé Choir, the St Brigid's Choir, and of course our beloved Cathedral Choir.

Each group has a different time commitment: the Cathedral Choir meets twice a week or more (and as often as daily during Holy Week); the other choirs have lighter schedules so they may be easier to fit within your routine.

Further information on each of the groups (and how to join) is given on our website.

Come and sing!

After returning to Vancouver and moving into an Independent Senior Living facility, I became horrified at the amount of flexible plastic that was used and then tossed into the garbage cans making its way into landfill and the oceans where it would have long and devastating effects on the environment and marine life.

I began by ...

Volunteering is a wonderful way of deepening your connection with members of our Cathedral Community. Please consider the following opportunities to share your gift of time:

NARTHEX GREETERS - become a part of the weekday team that welcomes visitors from around the world and those who are seeking a prayerful place to connect with the divine.

ALTAR GUILD - members of this ministry have the sacred task of preparing the Cathedral for worship.

If you are interested in finding out more about these ministries, please email the office at reception@thecathedral.ca, and we will connect you with the ministry leader.

“I spend a lot of time immersed in newspaper archives, which are full of extraordinary tales of people of whom no one has heard. One of my great inspirations in life was John Aubrey, whose “Brief Lives” has long been a kind of model for me, and when I find an unknown life that intrigue me enough I write about it, briefly ~ Bill Richardson 

Bill Richardson, writer, raconteur and former CBC radio host, ushers in Spring at Christ Church Cathedral by regaling audiences with some gossipy, quirky stories of the lives of some antiquarian acquaintances he has encountered… including three Elizabth Taylors! 

All are invited to a delightful evening of introductions to some of Bill’s "old friends", whose stories will offer “a little madness in Spring”. It’s happening  on Saturday, March 22nd at 7:30pm. 

Event: Bill Richardson’s “Brief Lives Revisited” 

Date: Saturday, March 22, 2025 

Time: 7:30pm – 9:00pm 

Location: Christ Church Cathedral, 690 Burrard Street (at Georgia)

Admission: By Donation

Join us to celebrate Lent - the preparation season for Easter. This is our third in a series of joint child-centred worship events with St. Andrew's Wesley United Church. 

The service will begin at 3.30pm with gathering for singing and story and then move into creative response centres followed by worship and then supper. We look forward to seeing you there! 

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Parking: There is parking available with a parking pass in St. Andrew's underground parkade. St. Andrew's will have them available when people come into the sanctuary. Please park on P2B or P3A for the passes to be honored.

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For more information, please contact the Rev. Areeta Bridgemohan: areeta@thecathedral.ca | ext. 127.

To RSVP, please email signup@standrewswesley.com

If you are a young-ish adult (however you define it) attending the Cathedral, join us for a coffee/tea and some treats on Sunday March 30th at 12 p.m. in the Park Room (downstairs - if you don't know where that is, please ask a greeter or a friendly face). We'll connect with one another, and share a little bit about our faith journeys.

No registration required, just show up!

Starting on Sun April 6th, during the 10.30am service, we will be slowly starting our children's Sunday school program again. On the first Sunday of the next three months, children are invited to come downstairs, following a prayer in the service, for a Godly Play* lesson. They will come back upstairs and rejoin their parents for communion. 

*Godly Play is a Montessori-informed approach that nurtures children's spirituality as they engage with the stories and sacraments of the church. It was developed by Dr. Jerome Berryman, an American Anglican priest. 

On April 14, 2016, BC declared a public health emergency about the number of opioid-related deaths. At that time the rate of overdose deaths was 20.4 per 100,000 people. In 2023, the rate of overdose deaths was 45.7 per 100,000. Thousands of our family members, friends and neighbours have died. And we are grieving their loss.

On Sunday April 13, 2025 at 4 pm, a Remembrance Service ...

Join the Very Rev. Christopher A. Pappas, Rev. Clare Morgan, Dr. Neil Cockburn, and Jane Dittrich, for a relaxing retreat at the Sorrento Retreat & Conference Centre July 20-26, 2025.

The Rev. Canon Dr. Harold Munn will also be in residence this week to offer his course, "God Talk for Secular Ears".

You won't want to miss Cathedral led activities such as: Theology on Tap, Hymn Sing, and Hike & Pray at Margaret Falls.

Contact Sorrento Retreat & Conference Centre to reserve your place for this wonderful week here.

Upper Zoom Bible Study of Sunday Readings | Thursdays | 7:15 p.m.

Fellowship for Parishioners of African Descent | Last Saturday of each month | 5:00 to 7:00 p.m.

Eat, Pray, Love: an all-ages Lenten gathering | Saturday, March 29, 2025 | 3:30 to 5:30 p.m.

1st Sundays Godly Play | Sunday, April 6 | 10:30 a.m.

Maundy Thursday Easter Dinner | Thursday, April 17 | 5:30 to 6:30 p.m.

The Cathedral office is open Monday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Staff contact information is available here. 

REGULAR SUNDAY SERVICES

Holy Communion | 8:00 a.m.

Choral Eucharist | 10:30 a.m.

Eucharist with St. Brigid’s | 1:30 p.m.

Sundays@4 Choral Service | 4:00 p.m.

Compline | 8:00 p.m.
(to resume on Easter Sunday, April 20, 2025)

WEEKDAY SERVICES

Holy Eucharist | Monday—Friday
12:15 p.m.

Holy Eucharist | Thursday
7:30 a.m. (with breakfast following)

Rite of Reconciliation (Confession) | 4th Wednesday
11:00 a.m.—Noon

Healing Prayers & Anointing | Wednesday
Following the 12:15 p.m. Eucharist

ONLINE

If you wish to worship with us online, click on the button below.

Those seeking prayers for themselves or others may email the Cathedral PrayerLink at prayerlink@thecathedral.ca to have their name added to the list.