News & Announcements

Keep up to date with news and events happening at Plymouth-Trinity! For upcoming church and community events, please see the Calendar.

Summer camp for kids!

It's time to send the kids to camp! The United Spirit Camp Esprit Uni (the Presbytery summer camp) is for kids aged 8 to 15, and will be held in Richmond, from June 24 to 30. The cost is $375, but there is funding available. Contact Shanna Bernier at shanna.bernier@gmail.com .

Piggery fundraiser

Enjoy country-folk music? Want to support Plymouth-Trinity? Come to The Piggery Theatre on Wednesday, June 27 at 8 p.m. and hear Naomi Bristow, The Yodelin’ Cowgirl.

“Naomi’s love for old tyme traditional country music led her to self-taught yodeling.”

You can check out her style at www.naomibristow.com or on YouTube. Tickets are $20 and available by contacting Janet McBurney at 819-565-9716 after 6 p.m. Proceeds to benefit Plymouth-Trinity’s UCW.

United Church of Canada’s General Council 43

The United Church of Canada’s General Council 43 is coming up in July in Oshawa. The website is at https://generalcouncil43.ca

Pope Francis affirms Catholic Church’s commitment to the ecumenical journey

The thirst for material things blinds human beings to their companions and that indifference abounds in the world’s streets today, Pope Francis said in a homily at the World Council of Churches (WCC) in Geneva today.

At the Ecumenical Centre, Pope Francis spoke about walking towards Christian unity and the pitfalls that we encounter on the journey. “For us as Christians, walking together is not a ploy to strengthen our own positions, but an act of obedience to the Lord and love for our world. Let us ask the Father to help us walk together all the more resolutely in the ways of the Spirit,” said the Pope.

“I wanted to take part personally in the celebrations marking this anniversary of the World Council, not least to reaffirm the commitment of the Catholic Church to the cause of ecumenism and to encourage cooperation with the member churches and with our ecumenical partners.

“Whenever we say ‘Our Father’, we feel an echo within us of our being sons and daughters, but also of our being brothers and sisters. Prayer is the oxygen of ecumenism,” said Francis.

The landmark visit of Pope Francis to the World Council of Churches on 21 June is the cornerstone of the ecumenical commemoration of the WCC's 70th anniversary.

On his arrival from Rome for his one-day visit, the pontiff held a brief private meeting with the President of the Swiss Confederation, Alain Berset, at Geneva’s international airport.

Pope Francis’ day at the WCC began with an ecumenical prayer service in the chapel of the Ecumenical Centre from where he delivered his homily on “walking the ecumenical journey.”

Founded in 1948, the WCC brings together 550 million Christians from Orthodox, Anglican, Methodist, Baptist, Lutheran and Reformed churches.

Although the Roman Catholic Church is not a WCC member it is a member of the WCC’s Faith and Order Commission and the two cooperate on many matters.

“The World Council of Churches was born in service to the ecumenical movement, which itself originated in a powerful summons to mission: for how can Christians proclaim the Gospel if they are divided among themselves?” said the Pope. “The missionary mandate, which is more than diakonia and the promotion of human development, cannot be neglected nor emptied of its content. It determines our very identity.”

Present during the homily were WCC general secretary, Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, Dr Agnes Abuom, the moderator of the WCC’s central committee, and committee vice-moderators Bishop Mary Ann Swenson and Metropolitan Gennadios. They were joined by members of the central committee, one of WCC’s main governing bodies.

Official contacts between the Roman Catholic Church and the WCC date from the early 1960s, following the decision by Pope John XXIII in 1959 to convene the Second Vatican Council.

In his homily delivered in the WCC Chapel, Pope Francis said human beings are constantly on the move, while noting that walking is a discipline needing “patience and exercise, day after day.” He cited the Apostle Paul’s epistle to the Galatians (5:16) saying, “We can either walk in the Spirit along the path opened up by our baptism or else we can ‘gratify the desires of the flesh’.”

Francis said, “Driven by our instincts, we become slaves to unbridled consumerism, and God’s voice is gradually silenced. “Other people, especially those who cannot walk on their own, like children and the elderly, then become nuisances to be cast aside. Creation then comes to have no other purpose than to supply our needs,” he said, speaking the day after World Refugee Day.

Francis noted that in the course of history, divisions between Christians had often arisen because “at their root, in the life of communities, a worldly mindset has seeped in. Ecumenism made us set out in accordance with Christ’s will and it will be able to progress if, following the lead of the Spirit, it constantly refuses to withdraw into itself,” he said.

Visiting the World Council of Churches: Pope arrives in Geneva for “voyage towards unity

By Stephen Brown

Pope Francis has arrived in Geneva on what he has described as a “voyage towards unity” to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the World Council of Churches, which brings together 350 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 550 million Christians in over 120 countries.

Shortly after 10:00 local time on 21 June, the airplane carrying Pope Francis touched down at Geneva airport for the one-day visit. Travelling with the pope in a plane decorated with the papal coat of arms was a 60-strong contingent of journalists, photographers and camera personnel from news agencies, television and radio stations, newspapers and religious media, collectively known as the VAMP or “Vatican Accredited Media Personnel.”

Members of the media travelling to Geneva gathered at Rome’s Fiumicino airport at 05:30 local time for check-in and security, boarding well before the pope. About 35 minutes into the 90 minute flight, Pope Francis appeared in the section of the airplane reserved for journalists where he thanked them for their work and their contribution to the success of the visit.

“It’s a journey toward unity, the desire for unity,” said the pope, speaking in Italian, before greeting the journalists individually.

The meeting of Pope Francis with the WCC is described as an “ecumenical pilgrimage,” with the motto “Walking, praying and working together,” and marks 70 years since the WCC’s founding assembly in 1948 in Amsterdam.

“Pope Francis is coming to Geneva specifically to celebrate this important anniversary for the World Council of Churches,” said Carol Glatz, Rome correspondent for the Catholic News Service and one of the Vatican-accredited journalists travelling with the pope.

It is the third papal visit to the WCC. However, when Pope Paul VI visited in 1969 it was part of a trip to Geneva to mark the 50th anniversary of the International Labour Organization and in 1984 Pope John Paul II was undertaking a pastoral visit to Switzerland.

Nicolas Senèze, the Vatican correspondent of the French daily La Croix, who is also accompanying the pope to Geneva, noted that the pontiff has many platforms available in Geneva where he would have been able to address the issues that are important to him.

These include the World Health Organization for issues of life and the future of health, the International Labour Organization for matters related to the dignity of work, the office of the UN High Commission for Refugees on questions related to refugees and migration, or the United Nations itself on the issue of peace. “But he specifically wanted to dedicate this visit to the World Council of Churches,” said Senèze. “It was a personal choice of the pope who clearly wanted to avoid any other issue eclipsing the ecumenical dimension of this day in Geneva.”

* Stephen Brown, the editor of the quarterly journal of the World Council of Churches, The Ecumenical Review, is travelling on the papal plane with Pope Francis.

For more information, see https://www.oikoumene.org/en/papal-visit

Children at P-T

Join us at Plymouth-Trinity for a family-friendly worship experience. We have a children's corner in the sanctuary with craft supplies and helpful volunteers. Some Sundays there is also a 30-minute children's programme during worship-time for kids of all ages.

French Worship Services

French worship services are offered on Sunday morning at 9:00 AM in the sanctuary.

Items and belongings

In order to reduce clutter and confusion in the building and to ensure your belongings are returned to you (or at least are safe) please label all items you bring to church.

Lost and found: Have you misplaced something in the church? A Lost & Found box can be found in the church hall, right next to the elevator.

Bicycle Path

A reminder to please make sure your car does not cross the yellow lines outlining the bike path in the church parking lot.

News & Announcements

Summer camp for kids!

Piggery fundraiser

United Church of Canada’s General Council 43

Pope Francis affirms Catholic Church’s commitment to the ecumenical journey

Visiting the World Council of Churches: Pope arrives in Geneva for “voyage towards unity

Children at P-T

French Worship Services

Items and belongings

Bicycle Path

Next Sunday

June 24, 2018

News & Events

Summer camp for kids!

Piggery fundraiser

Children at P-T

Bicycle Path