The Church and Congregation of St. Peter the Apostle, Old Fort Bay

St. Peter's Congregation

St. Peter's has the largest baptized Anglican community within the parish, with the entire community claiming the Anglican church to be their spiritual home. The congregation of 110 families has an extremely active ACW.

The congregation meets each Sunday evening at 7:00 PM to celebrate the Eucharist. The congregation enjoys the presence of many children who each week are chosen during the service to serve. Though at first parents were sceptical if their child was "old enough," many of the best servers in the parish are now in Old Fort and under the age of eight. Serving is thus becoming part of their life. The congregation has a very gifted Lay Reader who is a full-time nurse in the municipality of Bonne Esperance.

This historic community was discovered by Cartier in June 1534 (named Breast) and remained until recently a fishing village. This community is now increasingly becoming migratory leaving in the spring and returning in the fall to work in the outfitter camps of Northern Quebec and Western Ontario. Thus the summer is slow in the congregation but in the fall the church has thrown a "Home-Coming Weekend" with lots of fun for all. Later in the year the ACW have Teas, Dinners and a very successful New Years Eve Bash.

As with all of the congregations in this parish the main fundraiser is the weekly bingo, which offers prizes of groceries and home made clothing and bedding. In the late spring through to early fall the bingo is on hold.

The picture is of the Archbishop, the Most Rev'd Bruce Stavert, at his annual visit to the congregation. His Grace wears liturgical white on this Advent Sunday due to a baptism and reception into the Communion. It is a joy to know that for the past three years the Archbishop has had a baptism in St. Peter's.

Below is a picture of the sanctuary during Lent. The building is 5 years old, built on the foundation of the previous church. The banners were made by the ACW as a project requested by myself to brighten up the wall. They now have festal white and will, over the course of the year, complete all liturgical colours.

St. Peter's Congregation