Holy Trinity Church celebrating its 160th anniversary
JOE BARKOVICH
A city church older than Canada itself will celebrate its 160th anniversary Sunday, Oct. 28.
The significant anniversary and accompanying celebration will bring the bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Niagara to Welland’s Holy Trinity church. Bishop Michael A. Bird will be in attendance for the grand occasion.
Holy Trinity is described as “the oldest church building still in use in Welland.”
The anniversary program opens with celebration of holy eucharist at 4 p.m., appreciation of historical displays at 5 p.m. and a catered dinner in the parish hall at 6 p.m.
It’s the second red-letter date this month for the small but busy parish at 77 Division St. On Sunday, Oct. 15, a service of installation was held for the new rector, Rev. Tom Vaughan.
In an interview during the summer, Vaughan said he was honoured to be at Holy Trinity at this juncture in the church’s long, rich history in Welland. Though in the city only a short time, he was finding Welland and Wellanders warm and welcoming.
Historically, the first Holy Trinity dates back to 1857 with the purchase of an acre of land on Smith Street. The first rector, Rev. John Stannage, purchased the site for $170 by arranging funding from friends in England and Canada.
The original parish church was in the centre of the property with a cemetery around it. The cemetery is still used, but burials are infrequent. One of the gravestones is that of William Charles Douglas, a worker who was killed Aug. 15, 1924, during construction of the fourth Welland Canal, and for his wife.
Demands for a larger building led to construction of the church on Division Street. The first service of worship was held there in 1878. There have been additions to the building in subsequent years.
The church’s first 100 years is beautifully presented in a glossycover compilation rich in historical information and photographs. The book was authored by the late T.N. Morrison, former managing editor of The Tribune and a longtime active member of Holy Trinity with his wife Margaret.
A smaller book published for the 150th anniversary in 2007 provides interesting highlights from the church’s more recent history. During the blizzard of 1977, the parish “was able to shelter and feed numerous people from the community who became stranded for days,” it notes.
In 1990, Holy Trinity was chosen as the site of a mural, on the west wall of its Christian education building. It was able to sell 2,000 bricks in a fundraiser to help defray cost of the 10,000-brick, seven-colour mural titled Man in the New World.
Last week, parish council member Eileen Zarafonitis shared verbal anecdotes from the church’s history and print materials that are part of the church’s collection or of parishioners.
One of the stories was about “the stolen church.” After the move was made to Division Street, the original church on Smith Street was moved to Wellandport. But when the number of members in Wellandport dwindled, a decision was made to move the church to Dain City.
The rest of the story goes like this: “This was met with opposition by the people of Wellandport. The people of Dain City, being known as a resourceful group, and under the cover of darkness attempted to remove the church (on skids) from Wellandport. They were caught 100 feet along the road. The people of Wellandport intervened and stopped the move. However Bishop Clark ruled that the church should be moved to Dain City where it now stands as All Saints Anglican Church …”
Zarafonitis also produced an elderly parishioner’s church bulletin from 1978. It was the 100 Years On Division Street anniversary bulletin, dated Jan. 22, 1978, with a listing of the prayers, readings and hymns for that special day.
One of the announcements in it: “We rejoice this morning in the celebration of 100 years of worship in this house of God. It was dedicated and the first services were held on Jan. 20, 1878.”
Holy Trinity still has an active presence in the community. It operates a monthly hygiene and food pantry, a popular Saturday morning Waffles and More Cafe (soon to close for the season), Wednesday morning prayer group, Wednesday noon service, annual Christmas bazaar and more.