Around Town: Unceded territory, new Catholic HQ, Marpole meals . . .

Mary Charles (right) welcomed Missions Fest to the traditional unceded territory of the Coast Salish First Nations. With her are John Hall and Cheryl Bear.

This is a very welcome move. John Hall, executive director of Missions Fest Vancouver, recently sent out this message:

I want to express my thanks to Mary Charles from the Musqueam First Nation who welcomed Missions Fest to the traditional unceded territory of the Coast Salish First Nations [January 30].

As Christians, we ought to be and are interested in the ongoing process of healing and reconciliation between people groups.

Missions Fest – as a gathering of Christians in Metro Vancouver on the traditional lands of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations – should model ways to build bridges and foster dialogue between our communities so that healing can continue.

Being welcomed to this territory is a form of social license very much like welcoming a guest into your home. We appreciate that a welcome is a beginning and look forward to having further opportunities to share Christ’s love in our future interactions.

Missions Fest takes place every year at Canada Place; this year the event ran from January 30 – February 1.

The City of Vancouver acknowledged last summer that Vancouver has been built on unceded Aboriginal territory. “Underlying all other truths spoken during the Year of Reconciliation is the truth that the modern city of Vancouver was founded on the traditional territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations and that these territories were never ceded through treaty, war or surrender,” reads part of the motion passed unanimously by city councillors.

The city said it would work with representatives from the Aboriginal community to determine “appropriate protocols” for conducting city business.

Langley Mennonite Fellowship has recently taken the same position as Missions Fest. Pastor Henry Krause said (in a Canadian Mennonite article):

We were challenged by hearing Brander McDonald [the indigenous relations coordinator for Mennonite Church BC] . . . challenging us to recognize the territory on which our church lies. We decided that this would be a simple, visible first step in our ongoing intentional journey towards greater understanding of our Indigenous neighbours and the building of relationships, and so we put the following statement in each week’s bulletin and on the homepage of our website: “We at Langley Mennonite Fellowship acknowledge our presence on Stó:lō Kwantlen land and are grateful to our first nation hosts.”

Langley Mennonite Fellowship is the first Mennonite Church BC congregation to take that position.

Catholics on the move

The doors of Vancouver’s new Catholic headquarters will open March 2 near 33rd and Willow.

A recent press release announced that Roman Catholics in Metro Vancouver will have a new headquarters by the beginning of March:

After nearly 60 years in the downtown core, the Archdiocese of Vancouver is moving its administrative offices to the 33rd and Willow area on the site of a ‘Campus of Care’ being developed by Providence Health Care.

The administrative headquarters of the Catholic Church in the Lower Mainland, along with more than 100 full- and part-time employees and the many ministries and services such as the Catholic Independent School Board, Service and Justice, the B.C. Catholic newspaper and Youth Ministry, will take up residence in the new John Paul II Pastoral Centre March 2. The just-completed four-storey building is on a newly named Saint John Paul II Way, southeast of B.C. Children’s and Women’s Hospital.

The former St. Vincent’s Hospital stood on the site for 65 years until it was closed in 2004, its health services relocated to other sites run by Providence Health Care, one of the largest faith-based health-care organizations in Canada.

The Archdiocese has occupied its present Yaletown location, 150 Robson Street, since 1958, when it moved into a converted warehouse formerly owned by Northern Electric Co. Archdiocesan officials said the current building, built in the 1920s, was no longer suitable for use as administrative headquarters for the Archdiocese. In addition to needing a great deal of maintenance, repairs and upgrades, its original warehouse design meant space was inefficiently utilized. Parking in the area also frequently posed a challenge.

Archbishop J. Michael Miller, CSB, said the current structure had out-served its purpose and it was time to find a long-term home elsewhere in Vancouver. “It is important that the Church’s administrative offices remain centrally located in Vancouver, but the existing building can no longer adequately serve the needs of the community or the Archdiocese, ” said the Archbishop.

The new pastoral centre is more central geographically to the rest of the Archdiocese of Vancouver, which has more than 120 churches and schools extending as far east as Hope. In addition to being purpose-built as an office building, it is handicap accessible, something the old building lacked.

The cost of the new pastoral centre is about $25 million, largely paid for through the sale of the old building to Amacon, a Vancouver real estate developer. No plans have been announced for the old pastoral centre, a designated heritage building.

The Archdiocese had hoped to move in just before Christmas, but were delayed by a number of factors, including the discovery of a massive slab of unearthed concrete, having to lay out a system of canals and spill gates to siphon off rain and completing a ‘green roof.’

For more on the move, go here and here.

Another major denomination will be moving this spring. The Diocese of New Westminster plans to move from its current location downtown on Georgia Street to St. John’s Shaughnessy Anglican Church.

Marpole outreach continues at St. Augustine’s

St. Augustine’s hosts Thursday night dinners for the Marpole community.

The Vancouver Courier carried a positive story February 17 about a church supporting community services: