Slideshow image

The Right Rev. Jim Mathes was formally inducted as Rector of St. Hilda’s, Sechelt on Monday, June 22. Hiwus Calvin Craigan, hereditary chief of the shishalh Nation drummed and sang a prayer song composed by Chief Dan George as the clergy processed into the service. 

Archbishop John Stephens presided at the service and the Rev. Brian E. Fidler, a long time friend of Bishop Mathes, preached. Rev. Fidler reminded the congregation, “for people of faith there is no such thing as coincidence.” He said “much of the story of Jim coming to St. Hilda’s” highlights this. 

The induction service took place on the feast day of St. Alban. Bishop Mathes was ordained to the transitional diaconate on the feast day of St. Alban, 35 years ago. The story of the first British martyr is one of radical hospitality and “radical obedience to Christ’s command to love one another.” St. Alban was a Roman citizen and a pagan. When a persecution of Christians broke out, he gave shelter to a priest. After living with the priest under his roof, and seeing his way of being up close, Alban converted to Christianity. Rev. Fidler said when Roman authorities turned up looking for the priest, Alban put on the priest’s clothes. This gave the priest a chance to get away. Alban was taken away, imprisoned, asked to renounce his faith, and ultimately killed when he would not turn his back on the Christian faith. 

The sermon on the day of Bishop Mathes’ diaconal ordination focused on the Servant Ministry, and it’s call to radical hospitality and obedience to the way of Christ. “I have always known you to be faithful to that charge,” Rev. Fider said to Bishop Mathes. He said the induction of the new rector was not just the rector’s ongoing response to the call to ministry, but “all of you at St. Hilda’s are asking Jim to join you in that promise to help and serve all the children of God, together you will take up the mantle of radical hospitality.”

The service continued with Bishop Mathes reading the oaths and subscriptions and Executive Archdeacon Nick Pang reading and presenting the license to officiate in the diocese. 

Trustees and wardens then presented their new rector with the symbols of ministry. Included in the presentation were a copy of the Truth & Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s Calls to Action, a prayer shawl and stole as a symbol of prayer and pastoral care; a towel and basin for foot washing as a symbol of servant ministry; and a try with a teapot and cups as a symbol of radical welcome and hospitality. 

At the end of the service Bishop Mathes was presented with a gift from the parish: a stole made up of scraps of fabric collected from parishioners. The fabric scraps were used to form leaves on a vine. The design was inspired by the passage “I am the vine, you are the branches.” The parish also presented his spouse, Terri Mathes, with her own prayer shawl as a symbol of her role accompanying the parish’s ministry. 

After putting the stole on, Bishop Mathes thanked parishioners and presented the parish with a gift from him: a print of a painting by John August Swanson known as “Washing of the Feet II.” The original is a mural in the Christ Cathedral Cultural Centre in Garden Grove, California (yes, the former “Crystal Cathedral”).  He said the image spoke to him of his ministry in California and the ministry he knows St. Hilda’s wishes to embody.