S. Bart’s is an Anglo-Catholic parish whose people cherish the traditional theology of the Catholic Church as expressed in the beautiful liturgical language of the Anglican Book of Common Prayer.
Our worship exemplifies all that is best in the Catholic liturgical tradition, and is characterised by the use of Eucharistic Vestments, incense, and the sanctus and Angelus bells. The Asperges (sprinking of the people with Holy Water) is performed before the Parish Mass each Sunday, and the Angelus (the traditional commemoration of the Incarnation) is sung following the closing hymn (replaced by the Regina Cæli in Eastertide).
Our parish choir sings the ‘ordinary’ of the Mass (the Kyrie Eleison, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei) to various settings, ancient and modern, which vary by the season; the ‘proper’ (the Introit, Gradual, Offertory, and Communion) are sung variously to arrangements by Healy Willan, the ‘authentic Gregorian melodies’ as set in the Plainchant Gradual, and the simplified arrangements of the English Gradual.
On Our Parish Mass is celebrated at 10:30 am each Sunday and is followed by a time of fellowship and hospitality to our neighbours. If you are new to the neighbourhood, or just interested in visiting, please join us, and be assured of a warm welcome.
“We do not think of ourselves as a foreign, alien group on the edge of Anglicanism, but as believing, teaching, and doing those things which the Church herself intends. We do not believe that Roman Catholics are the only Catholics, but that Anglicans are Catholics too.
From that, all those things which puzzle some people – the beauty of our worship, our teaching about the seven sacraments, our love and reverence for our Lord’s Mother and the Saints – all these stem from our conviction that when in the creeds we assert our belief in the Catholic Church, our prayer book means exactly what it says.”
– Father Charles Frederick Pashler, Rector, 1925-1959
Photos below appear courtesy Claus Nabert, Geraldine Watson and Martha Riddell.
