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By Lloyd Mackey
The Church of Our Lord (COOL) has two public personas.
It is both a heritage site that traces its roots to the beginnings of the
provincial capital; and a vibrant continuing congregation, drawing strength
from the evangelical, reformed and episcopal strands of Canadian Christianity.
To Sylvia Van Kirk, the church’s heritage coordinator, the two personas are complementary, not contradictory.
And she told BCCN that two “godsends – and I mean that literally,” have confirmed to her the significance of keeping the church’s history as one of the major thrusts in its efforts to serve its community.
One of the godsends was a $20,000 grant from the B.C. 150-Heritage Legacy Fund.
That funding enabled many of the records of the church, the city surrounding it
and the Reformed Episcopal denomination of which it is a part, to be organized,
refurbished and available to researchers. And some of the collections are on
public display for the thousands of people who visit the church each year. The
working archives project was officially recognized and dedicated this past May.
The second godsend, according to Van Kirk, was the discovery of a professional
archivist, Margery Hadley – who, as a volunteer, organized the records, as well as cleaning and stabilizing
some of the most fragile documents.
Among those was a letter written by Mary Cridge, wife of church co-founder
Bishop Edward Cridge, penned when she and her husband were in transit from
Great Britain to the new world. In that letter, she expressed her excitement
about this new phase of her life.
The discovery of the letter – which fell from a dusty book in the collection – was a pleasant surprise, Van Kirk recalled
COOL’s history is entwined with that of early Victoria.
Sir James Douglas, the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) fur trader who founded Fort Victoria in 1843, was a founding
supporter of the church. He supported Cridge – who, as the Anglican dean, experienced differences with his bishop.
Church of Our Lord was the result, along with the soon-arranged affiliation with
the Reformed Episcopal church.
The COOL edifice (built in 1875–6) is the oldest such still in use on Vancouver Island and sitting on its
original site. Located just a few blocks east of the Parliament Buildings and
the Inner Harbour, it is a favourite stopping point for walkabout tourists,
especially history buffs.
Now more than 130 years old, the church has been refurbished, renovated and
added to many times – but still retains its original ‘carpenter Gothic’ appearance. And its pipe organ, an original as well, has been maintained with love. Every
Sunday, the organ is an important part of the 11 am traditional liturgy.
Van Kirk recalled her own pilgrimage into Church of Our Lord. She is a
University of Toronto Canadian history professor emeritus, who took early
retirement in 2004.
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She pioneered courses in women’s history and aboriginal/non-aboriginal relations, and has written widely on
aspects of early western Canadian social history. Her book, Many Tender Ties: The Role of Women in Fur Trade Society in Western Canada
1670-1870 , has become a classic in its field.
Van Kirk’s current research projects focus on the experience of HBC families as they
settled in colonial Victoria in the mid-19th century. That was how she came in
contact with the church.
“I had been a nominal Christian,” she recalled. “But the Church of Our Lord became my place of fellowship . . . and spiritual
family.”
And a spiritual rebirth and development went along with that process. “I came hoping that the walls would talk.”
Talk they did, and that is what makes the heritage aspect and the spiritual
vibrancy “all go together,” she added. “When you are spiritually deepened, everything else you do is deepened.”
In furthering her research on the role of women in the fur trade, Van Kirk began
doing ‘living history’ projects – through which she portrays two early COOL founding members.
One is Catherine, wife of Senator William John Macdonald. The other is ‘Lizzie’ Carr, older sister to artist Emily Carr.
Macdonald, she said, “was instrumental in the founding of the B.C. Protestant Children’s Orphanage in 1873, and was a founding member of Church of Our Lord in 1874.”
Lizzie Carr, along with the rest of her family, attended COOL – and one of the prayer desks in the sanctuary was dedicated to her after her
death in 1936.
Van Kirk sees the historic site/living church aspect of her work as a “double barrelled vision.” It involves a “solid flourishing foundation, with mission outreach to visitors. It is not a
museum, because Church of Our Lord is still us. Because I am a historian, I see
us as needing to be good stewards of the legacy.”
While the regular parishioners number around 200, there are many visitors,
especially to summer services. And the Cridge Club, geared to seniors, is
serving many of the people living around the church – “especially,” she noted, in the new condominiums [springing up] around us.”
September 2009
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