Homilies

Back to Homilies menu

You have all heard the expression, "It’s a small world." Mount Dennis, the community where this church is situated, can truly be called a small world. Some years ago, when residents of Mount Dennis, both past and present, were attending a reunion in Schomberg, a number of the participants came wearing T-shirts with the inscription, "Where the heck is Mount Dennis?".

There are advantages in being tucked away in an enclave which most Torontonians, especially in this era of megacity, have never heard of. But every once in a while we discover an unexpected connection with the wider world, and that is when we exclaim, in surprise and delight, "It’s a small world!".

That is what happened some weeks ago when Kuinivia ("Queenie") Seiloa and her two daughters, Raihaanah Nele and Ruby Leilani Vainuu, who are to be baptized today, arrived at the Church of the Good Shepherd. Queenie told me that she had an aunt who was in residence at the General Theological Seminary in New York City, where I had taught New Testament from 1973-78.

This connection expanded when I discovered that Queenie’s aunt is a close friend of Mary Elizabeth Loweth, former president of Anglican Church Women, who is with us here today. Mary Elizabeth and her husband Gerry are also friends of me and my wife.

But these personal connections are not the whole story by any means. Queenie’s aunt is an archdeacon and holds the important post of Anglican Observer at the United Nations. She wrote me in an E-mail:

I only wish I could be there for the girls, but duty calls, and I must be in
Monterey, Mexico for the UN International Conference on Financing for
Development. I could not even come for Kuini’s confirmation on April
14 since I w ill be attending the Primates’ meeting in Canterbury next month.

Queenie’s aunt has a long, mellifluous name (Taimalelagi Fagamalama Tuatagaloa-Matalavea) which I will not even attempt to pronounce, but this name reveals that she and Queenie and Queenie’s daughters all come from Samoa. The Archdeacon writes, "I hope that Queenie and her children will be able to offer a Pacific island flavor to the church."

So through Queenie the Church of the Good Shepherd now has a connection not only with the Loweths and General Seminary in New York but also with Samoa, the UN, Mexico, and Canterbury. We rejoice in today’s celebration both for itself and for the personal and ecumenical connections with which it has enriched us, and all this on St. Patrick’s Day!

March 17, 2002

back to top