TORONTO — In the dioceses of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, and Qu’Appelle, recent grants from the Anglican Foundation of Canada (AFC) are helping historic cathedral churches respond to the needs of the present while preserving their ministry for the future.
Together, AFC awarded $32,000, including $15,000 to the Cathedral Church of St. John the Evangelist in Saskatoon (Diocese of Saskatoon), $5,000 to St. Alban’s Cathedral in Prince Albert (Diocese of Saskatchewan), and $12,000 to St. Paul’s Cathedral in Regina (Diocese of Qu’Appelle).
Though different in scope, each project reflects the same commitment to sustaining places where faith, community, and diocesan life continue to flourish.
At St. John’s Cathedral in Saskatoon, that work is unfolding on a large scale. The cathedral has served as the cathedral parish of the Diocese of Saskatoon for more than a century. Located in the city’s central business district, it draws worshippers from across the Saskatoon metropolitan area and welcomes a wide range of community groups, support programs, performing arts organizations, and diocesan gatherings.
Its acoustics have also made it a valued cultural venue, while its parish hall and worship space support ministries extending well beyond the Sunday congregation.
The current project forms part of a long-term restoration of the cathedral’s building envelope. After an earlier stage of roof, gutter, insulation, and structural work, the cathedral began the next phase: repointing exterior brick and terracotta, replacing damaged masonry, restoring decorative elements, and carefully cleaning the exterior.
The work is expected to unfold over several years and, once complete, is intended to protect the cathedral exterior for decades with routine maintenance.
“Restoration is never simply about preserving bricks and mortar,” says the Ven. Brody Albers, Archdeacon of Prince Albert, who formerly served on the AFC Board of Directors. “It’s about ensuring these places can continue gathering people in worship, service, and community. Every generation receives that responsibility, adds its own chapter, and then faithfully passes it on.”
In Prince Albert, St. Alban’s Cathedral is undertaking a more modest project, but one rooted in the same responsibility to steward a historic place of worship.
The cathedral stands at the centre of the Diocese of Saskatchewan and serves a congregation shaped by the breadth of northern Saskatchewan. Its life includes worship, diocesan gatherings, community outreach, and relationships with both Indigenous and non-Indigenous members of the diocese.
The AFC grant supports improvements to the cathedral roof and insulation, helping reduce heat loss and improve the building’s long-term energy efficiency.
“Improving the roof may sound like a practical project,” says Bishop Richard Reed, “but it’s really about preserving the place where our diocese gathers to pray, celebrate, mourn, and begin again. Caring for this cathedral is ultimately about caring for the generations of people who will find Christ here long after we are gone.”
At St. Paul’s Cathedral in Regina, stewardship means responding to the realities of downtown ministry. Situated in the heart of the city, the cathedral remains a place of worship, pastoral care, hospitality, and public witness.
At the same time, the parish has faced increasing concerns related to graffiti, property damage, discarded needles, litter, and unsafe waste on the cathedral grounds. Clergy and staff have regularly been required to remove debris and address damage to the property.
The cathedral’s project combines security with renewal. Plans include wrought-iron fencing along two sides of the property, site preparation, sidewalk repairs, drought-tolerant landscaping, and a rainwater collection system. Commonly used entrances will remain open. The intention is not to withdraw from the neighbourhood, but to create a safer and more dignified setting in which welcome can continue.
“Every cathedral has to hold two things together,” says Bishop Helen Kennedy. “We are called to be faithful stewards of what has been entrusted to us while keeping our doors open to the community around us. Those aren’t competing values. They depend on one another.”
Though their projects differ, each cathedral is preparing to hand something forward: a stronger building, a more welcoming space, and a ministry equipped to serve the next generation.
“For AFC these projects reinforce the spiritual nature of stewardship,” says Dr. Scott Brubacher, the AFC’s executive director.
“No cathedral is ever truly finished. Stone by stone, prayer by prayer, generation by generation, each receives what others have built, tends it for a time, and entrusts it to those who come next. The work of stewardship is itself an act of becoming—embodying more fully the place God intends.”
Michelle Hauser is with the Anglican Foundation of Canada.