A message of hope and resurrection

St. Anne was the first time I heard that being Queer was holy.

- ROSIE DIMANNO

Rev. Don Beyers speaks Sunday as St. Anne's Anglican Church holds its first mass, in the parking lot of the adjacent Parish Hall, since a fire destroyed the historic building.

Love notes to St. Anne’s Anglican Church are written and printed on a giant whiteboard in the parking lot of adjacent Parish Hall, where Sunday morning service was held in the open air — a week after the cherished historical church was destroyed by a four-alarm blaze.

It had initially been hoped that the service could be held inside the hall but that wasn’t possible. “We don’t have power yet in the building,” explained church warden Frank Cormier, adding that delivery of a generator was expected Monday. “We’ve been fighting with Hydro.”

Yet it was a lovely morning for a service al fresco. A breeze billowed the religious vestments of presiding celebrants — white, representing birth and resurrection. A plump cat meandered across the potholed pavement, oblivious to encircling police tape, before settling in contentedly behind Rev. Don Beyers.

Rebirth is the immediate objective for raising a new St. Anne’s in the ruins of the old, an undertaking that may take years. Can’t reprise the historical heritage of course, nor the paintings and murals by prominent Canadian artists — including works by three members of the Group of Seven — nor the 21metre-high dome, a glorifying hemispherical canopy that surmounted the Byzantine Revival-style house of worship, a beacon in the Little Portugal neighbourhood.