Pastor resumes disrupted street mission
Regulars welcome Anglican clergyman back to Downtown Eastside after hiatus due to pandemic
When Father Matthew Johnson ventured back after a two-month disruption caused by COVID-19 restrictions into the neighbourhood he ministers to, he worried about how his flock in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside would react to his new look.
“Our work is about making contact and I was worried about wearing a mask because I thought it would be a barrier,” said Johnson, who is part of the clergy at St. James Anglican Church on Gore Street and who regularly makes his rounds to his 450 regular contacts in the area.
“I took off my (white) collar and tried wearing a fabric mask and it went really well. Even without the collar and with the mask, everyone knew who I was.”
He said the residents he regularly pastors to in the area welcomed him back and even those who weren’t regulars of his one-on-one conversations called out, “Hey, it’s the priest.”
“That was quite a surprise,” he said.
When COVID-19 arrived in Canada in March, Johnson at first tried to continue his street mission, which he has been involved with for 15 years. It includes the regular rounds, sometimes with a church elder, in-person pastoral counselling, weekday masses, trauma workshops, hearing “fifth steps” for people in recovery from addiction, and inviting people into the church for prayer, quiet time or refreshments.
But he soon realized he was possibly putting himself and the members of the tight-knit community at risk by continuing, and reluctantly stopped his walks along Hastings and Pender streets, between Cambie and Heatley streets and north to Alexander and Railway streets.
He said he hasn’t heard of an outbreak, which is “miraculous,” considering there’s a lot of hugging, sharing of cigarettes and engaging in entrepreneurial activities. Johnson said he has been keeping in touch by phone, text or email with the numbers he has, and more recently has returned to limited street ministry while wearing a mask.
St. James has been offering Sunday mass on Zoom and is beginning to invite parishioners back to a limited service. He said there was also a Christian information session online for about 12 parishioners, on how to deal with anxiety and fear during the pandemic.
And the church has opened up its kitchen facilities for the Watari outreach charity to prepare meals for residents.
Johnson said he and his church are working on ways to increase the opportunities to minister to individuals.
“We are going to find a way to move forward,”