HISTORIC Saint Mary’s University is Canada’s oldest English-speaking Roman Catholic university.
Warm Maritime hospitality will greet about 500 delegates, visitors and staff of the Anglican Church of Canada’s General Synod when they gather for their triennial meeting June 3 to 11 in Halifax.
The meeting of the church’s governing body anticipates a full agenda, but it will also allow participants some time to explore the city’s unique heritage and simply enjoy the welcome of their hosts, the diocese of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.
To celebrate the diocese’s 300 years of continuous worship, a eucharist will be held June 6 at Exhibition Park, the city’s trade show and exhibition centre. Delegates and visitors will be able to worship at the Cathedral Church of All Saints, and at St. Paul’s Halifax, the oldest Anglican church in Canada. They will be also be able to tour and dine at Pier 21, where more than a million immigrants, war brides, displaced people, evacuees and troops began their new lives in Canada between 1928 and 1971.
The host diocese of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island is made up of about 100 urban and rural parishes. Established in 1787, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island is the oldest of seven dioceses forming the Ecclesiastical Province of Canada. On Oct. 10, 300 years since soldiers and their families gathered to celebrate the Holy Eucharist within the British ramparts of Port Royal, a worship service will be celebrated by the diocese near the site.
The province of Nova Scotia is home to the Mi’kmaq people, and has many other distinct cultures, including Acadian, African, Celtic and Gaelic. Its capital city, Halifax, is a vibrant, modern port city steeped in history and tradition. It has a young population: more than half of the greater Halifax population of 390,000 is less than 40 years of age and more than one-quarter is under 20.
General Synod 2010 will be held at Saint Mary’s University, located in Halifax’s historic South End, within walking distance to downtown. The oldest English-speaking Roman Catholic university in Canada, Saint Mary’s was founded in 1802 and is now one of the country’s most international campuses, with about 8,500 full and part-time students from over 90 countries around the world.
Delegates will stay in university residences and have access to campus recreational facilities as well as the Saint Mary’s University Art Gallery, home to a permanent collection of more than 1,500 works.
The meeting will also offer a separate program for companions of delegates and guests. Ω