On Saturday 20 December beginning at four o’clock in the afternoon, Ginny Schleihauf will be conduct a Blue Christmas service, which will be open to any and all who find Christmas to be a challenging time of year due to loss or other sadness. Further details will be posted in this space once they have been made known, with sincere thanks to Ginny for taking on this important but often overlooked ministry.

When completing your questionnaire, please remember:

• To highlight our parish’s strengths as you see them, especially the things that you hope will never change.
• To share your hopes for the future (these may involve change, continuity, or a blend of both).
• That everyone sees things a little differently and that every perspective is valued and welcomed.
• To write all comments in the spaces provided (there is a generous section at the end for additional thoughts).

Thank you. Your honest and thoughtful responses will help shape our shared future.

On 24 November 2025, Parish Council met to vote upon a Selection Committee. Archdeacon Amanda Longmoore attended this meeting and outlined the process involved in choosing a new rector.

Parish Council prayerfully appointed an eight-member Selection Committee. With only eight places available, Council did its best to draw members from across our predecessor congregations. Care was also taken to choose members who have a strong understanding of the parish’s various ministries–some through direct involvement, others through years of working closely alongside those ministries.

We are grateful for the willingness of the following people to serve: Gord Loeven, Heather Norwood, Katharine Hungerford, Carole James-Airey, Beverly Woods, Susan Memedovich, Moe Carson and Heather Prior.

On Sunday 23 November, right after the main service, members of the congregation from both services assembled in Parish Hall for the much-anticipated vote on the new name of our parish. Although it has been rumoured that there were some who wished to keep the temporary name “New Sarnia Parish”, the great majority of us wanted an actual name and one that means something rather than sounding like something that a bureaucrat would inflict upon us.

After Bishop Todd whittled down our lengthy list of submissions and asked us to choose from five — All Souls’, St Anne’s, St Cecilia’s, St Lawrence’s, and St Michael and All Angels — we were ready to vote. Voting was to be performed by write-in ballot on the successive balloting model, which meant that the name receiving the fewest votes in each round would be eliminated. After the first round, two names — All Souls’ and St Cecilia’s — were tied for last and, therefore, both were eliminated. This left us with three names on the second ballot. It was on that ballot that a name passed the threshold of 50%+1, and that name — St Michael and All Angels Anglican Church — became our new name, with St Anne’s receiving twenty votes and St Lawrence’s receiving three votes.

Archdeacon Amanda informed the Bishop first of the results of the balloting and then informed the congregation. A motion to accept the new name passed and a toast to “St Michael and All Angels” was led by Deputy-Warden Carole.

The Returning Officer would like to thank the team of vote-counters — Anne Denman, Lesley Desotti and Carol Spence — for their hard work, and Archdeacon Amanda for overseeing the process and ensuring that spoiled ballots were carefully examined in order to ensure that every valid vote cast was counted. Deputy-Warden Carole would like to thank the rest of the balloting volunteers who contributed to the success of this event. Deputy-Warden Katharine would like to thank the Intrepid Kitchen Staff™ for coming in with Peter Hungerford on that Saturday morning to make all of the sandwiches for the luncheon. She would also like to thank members of the early congregation for pouring all the beverages.

All in all, it was a wonderful event, thanks to the meticulous planning of those in charge, thanks to all who took on a role in making the event run seamlessly, and thanks to Bishop Todd, who allowed us the opportunity to choose our own name. And thus beginneth a new chapter in our long and storied history.

Once again, our Intrepid Kitchen Staff™ and Warden Heather will be treating us to yet another ultra-scrumptious Christmas Feast. This year, the feast will take place on Saturday 13 December beginning at 6:00 p.m., with the doors opening at 5:30 p.m. Quoth Heather, “The feast will include a fabulous home- (church-) cooked dinner featuring turkey and chicken with a number of enjoyable side dishes. We will have a selection of homemade desserts that remind you of what Christmas feasts are all about. Bring your friends and enjoy a lovely evening with a wonderful meal, some laughs and Christmas music.” The per person fee this year will be twenty-five dollars with tickets being made available through either Warden Heather or Kitchen Superintendent Sandy. The photo below is of some members of our Intrepid Kitchen Staff™, supported by others, preparing for last year’s feast.

Our wonderful Christmas Bazaar has come and gone, and what a truly fun experience it was. Countless thank-yous are offered to those parishioners and friends who spent a busy week preparing our church for this annual extravaganza. Once the doors were opened on Saturday morning, all of the aches and pains of lugging boxes and saleable ware from the dungeon below the church to Parish Hall and beyond were (mostly) forgotten — Voltaren helps — as enthusiastic shoppers swarmed the various tables eagerly snatching up goodies and treasures to take home. Many a shopper was heard to say that this was the best bazaar in the city. Well done, one and all!

Here are a few photos, including one of a proud grandpa with his two belovèd grandchildren, of the crowd that swarmed Parish Hall mere minutes after the doors were opened by a harried but cheerful greeter: