An Invitation from President Jane
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COVID: Outside Legal Counsel Summary – April 26, 2022
COVID POLICIES
from the National Office of The United Church of Canada
With restrictions easing across the country, the United Church sought the advice of outside legal counsel for communities of faith. Excerpts from the legal opinion are provided below. Please note it is based on policies currently in place and the assessment of them as reasonable.
Assuming that the original rule issued by the Church or congregation concerning masking or proof of vaccination status was reasonable, there is nothing about the removal of the various provincial mandates that would make it improper or illegal to continue with a rule that required masking or proof of vaccination status. In fact, pursuant to relevant Occupational Health and Safety legislation,
employers have a duty to take every precaution reasonable in the circumstances to keep workers safe.
For at least some time, we suspect that there is a good argument that a continuation of restrictions, such as masking, (and possibly a vaccination policy, depending on its requirements) is reasonable.
Please note these considerations will depend on the actual vaccination policy that has been implemented, as it could vary. COVID-19 restrictions implemented by congregations and other measures, such as masking, are generally founded on obligations pursuant to relevant Occupational Health and Safety legislation. Accordingly, the Church (and its congregations) continue to be subject to their obligations pursuant to the relevant Occupational Health and Safety legislation in each applicable province…
Any vaccination policies that are currently in place will also have specific considerations, as they often require the disclosure of vaccination status.
These policies will need to be reasonably balanced. Any collection of vaccination status should only be done as part of a reasonable vaccination program that appropriately balances the rights to privacy and bodily integrity of its employee’s and congregant’s legitimate interests and obligations. To continue with a vaccination policy, the congregation would need to ultimately determine that it is reasonable in the circumstances. This will be a contextual analysis that balances the privacy interests of the employees and/or congregants with the actual policy.
Relying on applicable Occupational Health and Safety legislation requires that current measures be supported by current and up to date science in order to support that the policy makes the workplace “safe” and is a “reasonable precaution”, in the words of the Ontario statute vaccination policy requirements…
Depending on how the pandemic and scientific evidence continues to unfold, it may be more challenging to assert they are required though. Masking or other COVID-19 requirements follow a similar analysis. The congregation or Church should be considering whether such requirements are necessary to ensure a safe workplace.
Requiring masking or sanitization are certainly less intrusive measures than requesting vaccination status, so can generally be more easily justified…
We would caution that the requirement to mask should apply equally to all employees and congregants, regardless of their vaccination status… The above noted conclusions could change as scientific evidence and public health guidance evolve. Having said that, the Church can currently proceed with reasonable restrictions. Without a detailed review of vaccination policies/practices in place, it is challenging to opine on whether specific vaccination related restrictions would remain reasonable. However, masking/sanitizing would be a reasonable restriction as of the date of this opinion.
Congregations are reminded to continue to ask people to stay home if unwell or if they have tested positive for COVID.
Cheryl-Ann Stadelbauer-Sampa
Executive Minister
Thank You, Diane Blanchard!
In the summer of 2018, Diane Blanchard accepted the invitation to serve as Minister, Pastoral Relations, for Antler River Watershed, Western Ontario Waterways and Horseshoe Falls Regional Councils starting on January 1, 2019.
As if the structural change was not enough to manage, the church also chose that date to implement a new search and selection system called ChurchHub. Diane shepherded congregations through the ChurchHub process in the early days and still resources them now. She trained Liaisons, new regional council partners with communities of faith that are in search.
Diane also resourced Human Resources Commissions to learn their new role and become confident in their work. While doing all of that, she proved a valuable teammate and advisor to her regional council colleagues.
Some of the strengths Diane brings to this role are her international experiences, long service in pastoral relationships, extensive Presbytery work and skills and training in therapy. We are grateful for the commitment she made to launching our regional councils!!!!
Diane recently communicated her desire to retire as of August 30, 2022. We will celebrate her leadership closer to her leave-taking. Keep checking newsletters for information.
Searching for our next Minister, Pastoral Relations
We hope to offer a one-month overlap with Diane for the person entering this role. To be able to do that and to honour 90 days notice to a community of faith if needed, we need to have this person in place by April 30, 2022.
This is the link to the General Council page where the position will be posted very soon:
https://united-church.ca/opportunities
The deadline for submissions is March 30, 2022. Anyone submitting an application is asked to be available for the interview dates of April 6 and 7. Thank you.
Loneliness & the Spiritual Practice of Belonging: A Study for Ministry Personnel
President Jane’s Sunflower Challenge
Antler River Watershed Regional Council Members
Let Sunflower Seeds of Hope Abound in ARWRC
Sunflowers! The national flower of Ukraine.
When explorers returning home from North America brought sunflower seeds with them, the seeds were planted in the rich dark soil of Ukraine where they flourished. While other fats and oils used for cooking were forbidden by the Orthodox Church during Lent, the oil from sunflower seeds found its way into Ukrainian cooking and culture. Throughout Ukraine’s history the ubiquitous sunflower has been a symbol of peace.
Since late February the sunflower has become a global symbol of resistance and solidarity in support of Ukraine. It is rooted in a news story about a bold, brave and courageous Ukrainian woman who offered sunflower seeds to heavily armed Russian soldiers invading her country. “Take these seeds,” she said, “so that sunflowers grow when you die here.”
Sunflower seeds of hope … hope that good will triumph; hope that through the darkness beauty will grow. Death and resurrection.
On Ash Wednesday, on behalf of the Antler River Watershed Regional Council (ARWRC), I wrote a letter of support to the Ukrainian faith communities located within the region.
Here is an excerpt:
We watch with dismay and disbelief as Russia continues to invade Ukraine. Our hearts ache because of the violence, death, pain, destruction, and the displacement being visited upon Ukraine’s people, many of whom have family members and friends living in Canada.
In a time such as this, we pray that the Spirit of God’s love will provide strength for the people, political leaders and spiritual leaders of Ukraine. We pray for peace.
We are holding and encouraging you as we stand in solidarity with you. support
And now to the Sunflower Challenge!
During Lent, and beyond, I encourage all communities of faith to plant sunflower seeds of hope and to adorn your worship spaces with sunflowers … be they real ones, photographs or made of construction paper. My hope is that the ARWRC will become a field of sunflowers. It will become an expression of our “Voices United” in hope and in solidarity with the people of Ukraine and their loved ones around the world.
Beyond the sunflowers, please also check the UCC website for many more ways to help and show support for Ukraine and its people.
In Faith & Hope,
Rev. Jane Van Patter
President, Antler River Watershed Regional Council
P.I.E. Resources & Ideas for Worship Sunday March 13th, 2022
Dear siblings in Christ,
Ahead of PIE Day 2022 (March 14th), a small group of friends of Horseshoe Falls and Shining Waters Regional Councils came together to talk about the ways Scripture has been used – and misused – to cause harm to 2SLGBTQIA+ people. We talked about ways the United Church perpetuated that harm. We talked about how far we have come as a denomination – and how far we have left to go. We celebrated the progress that has been made and we wondered what we might offer to help communities of faith engage in an important conversation on a day that has been set apart for acknowledging our call to be Public Intentional and Explicit in inclusion of 2SLGBTQIA+ kin.
The result of our conversation is this resource – reflections on lectionary readings for March 13th , 2022 (the Sunday before PIE Day), a litany of persistence and resistance, and even a story for children’s time. We pray this offering will generate meaningful dialogue and creativity about the ways we embrace the wonderful diversity of all God’s people.
Use this resource. Share this resource. Add to this resource.
In love and solidarity,
Diane Matheson-Jimenez, Diane Viney, Geof Thompson, Jeffrey Dale, Kathy Douglas, Michelle Hogman, Michele Petick, and Susie Henderson
A Litany of Persistence and Resistance
By Jennifer Henry and Susie Henderson
We are here
Our voices strong, bodies proud, hearts bold.
We are here
Living testimony to your great diversity
Sign and sacrament of your loving justice
For such a time as this.
R: We rise in love seeking justice.
We acknowledge
The ways in which we have failed
Failed to take in the fulness of your love
To believe the breadth of your grace
To see the rainbow colours of Your hope.
R: We breathe in humility seeking hope.
We repent
From the traditions that constrain Your promise
The use of texts to demean and abuse
Mission that distorted Your radical welcome
R: We turn from hate seeking change.
We celebrate
The unfolding mystery of Your presence
Communities learning and transforming
Movements that of rites and rights that change the world
R: We open in faith seeking transformation.
We pray in the name of the Three in One
God ever in relationship,
Risking daring creation, intimate solidarity, prophetic love.
R: Amen
Children’s Time Story – The Love Story of David and Jonathan
By Deborah Laforet and the children of St. Paul’s United Church, Oakville
The Love Story of David and Jonathan, written by Deborah Laforet and narrated (and illustrated!) by the children of St. Paul’s United Church, Oakville, can be found here:
You are welcome to use the story for children’s time, in Sunday School, or for whatever purpose makes sense in your context.
Scripture Reflections/Sermon Starters for Sunday March 13th, 2022
By Jeffrey Dale
Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18
God’s covenant of Abram comes with devotion and work. As we read through Genesis, we consider the ways in which we have been called in our covenant with God. For some it maybe through the ministry of preaching, pastoral care, education, justice and/or service, while for others it maybe through ensuring church buildings are maintained. We all are called by God in our ministry. In this week of PIE Day, there is a myriad of ways to consider God’s covenant with queer Christians, and the call that God gives to heterosexual Christians to respond to the queer covenant. Consider, as you are reading Genesis, how you are called to be public, intentional, and explicit. Consider how that PIE call feeds your desire to be present in relationships with queer folks throughout this church.
Psalm 27
The psalmist invites us into considering the ways in which God comforts and protects us. For many of us, we see church as a place in which we may seek sanctuary in a world in which being who you are is often not a lived reality. We still experience spaces in which transgender people consistently experience misgendering and erasure, and gay and lesbian people experience homophobia through words and actions, while bisexuals and asexual people experience a barrage of doubt and questions. If we consider what the psalmist writes in verse four as a focal point of this particular psalm, we can acknowledge, that the desire is for us to not only be loved and understood by God, but to also be integral in the living space of God’s house. Consider, if you will, the ways in which your church has been a house of dissent, consider the ways in which your worshiping community of faith continues to be inaccessible to queer people, and then consider the ways in which you can truly work together, as a community of believers, to build God’s house in your community.
Philippians 3: 17 – 21
We live in our bodies, and as Philippians informs us, there will come an experience in which what we know physically today will be manifested in a way that is now a holy mystery to us. Reading Philippians, consider the lives and experiences of Dominque Jackson, January Marie Lapuz, and Raymond Taavel, who experienced physical violence and death because of who they were and whom they loved. Our bodies are vessels on this earth, and we embody both our relationships with one another and our experiences of God. As such, we belong to God fully and wholly. As you read through the Philippians scripture, challenge yourself to consider how the queer experience is an embodiment of God’s presence here on earth.
Luke 13: 31 – 35
It has been a regular occurrence for queer people to experience brutality at the hands of the systems of power, whether they be police, religious, or political, and yet, queer people still continue to exist. Consider for a moment the movements that existed in the United Church of Canada’s history that desired erasure of queer voices in our church, such as the Community of Concern, and yet queer people continued to show up in spaces of spirituality and religion. We have a history in the United Church of Canada where queer existence was desired to be erased, regardless of the work and care that queer people, and often we do not talk about the experiences of the trauma and damage that occurred because of the organizing against queer people in the United Church of Canada? Why? We must wonder. This week, as you are reading this passage from Luke that is about Christ’s continued presence in direct response to adversity, research and ponder, question, the ways in which members, ministry personnel and lay, of the United Church of Canada have worked to erase queer people from this church’s life – and how other members, ministry personnel and lay, fought to ensure that did not happen.
Additional Resources
Horseshoe Falls Regional Council Website – Affirming Ministry tab
https://hfrcucc.ca/affirming/
Shining Waters Regional Council Website – Affirming Communities tab
https://shiningwatersregionalcouncil.ca/about/affirming/
Affirm United/S’affirmer Ensemble and Affirming Connections PIE Day Website
https://pieday.ca/
Affirm United/S’affirmer Ensemble Website:
https://affirmunited.ause.ca/
