PRINCE ALBERT — When the minister in the parish of St. David’s in Prince Alert became our new bishop, not only was St. David’s without a minister but Emmanuel, St. Louis and St. Stephen in Macdowall also lost their minister.
When the congregation in the church of St. Alban’s Cathedral said goodbye to their minister not only St. Alban’s lost their minister but so did St. George’s in Prince Albert, St. Andrew’s in Shellbrook and All Saint’s in Leask. As you can see this leaves a big gap in the diocese. Technically, we only lost one priest and gained a bishop, who is now scrambling to provide at least one Sunday Communion service for these vacancies. Each of these congregations have excellent lay readers who are committed to filling the gap.
Members of the parish of Leask/Shellbrook bid farewell to the Rev. David Butorac and his wife Emily and daughter Ava Marie at the end of December. He is moving to Nacogdoches, Texas, as rector of Christ Church. He was appointed priest in charge of St. Andrew’s, Shellbrook and all Saints, Leask in March 2023.
Even though he lived in Prince Albert and was priest for St. Alban’s Cathedral and St. George’s Church, he attended the ministerial meetings in Shellbrook, as well as doing a service at the seniors’ home once a month and participated in many liturgical events in Shellbrook, Canwood and Leask including taking part in the combined VBS program. His last service was Christmas Eve in St. Andrew’s.
The Rev. Tim Morgan was in Shellbrook visiting his friends Bev and Dale Ledding and offered to conduct a Holy Communion service in St. Andrew’s while he was here. At present, he is the minister at St. Oswald’s Parish in Surrey, B.C. He has been an active and devout member of the Anglican Church his whole life and celebrated his 31st anniversary of ordination to the priesthood. Unfortunately, he was only here for a week, but he did promise to come back in the summer.
When a parish has a vacancy the Synod Office for the diocese will assign a priest to cover the position. We were blessed to have the newly elected 13th Bishop of the Diocese of Saskatchewan, the Right Rev. Rick Reed, come to our church on Jan. 14. This was his first visit to St. Andrew’s as their bishop. We look forward to more visits from either the bishop or other available clergy.
Usually, a Holy Communion service would be held the second Sunday of the month. The congregation will still have a communion service once a month but on a “to be announced basis.”
