The Anglican Church in Vankleek Hill was built in 1854, which means it turns 170-years old this year. That makes it the oldest Church in town, and we have a lot of them… in the olden days, Vankleek Hill was the place to be on Saturday nights and Sunday mornings because we had all the bars and churches.

One of the more ‘prominent’ people in attendance at the Celebration was the Mayor of our little Township, Normand Riopel (in the red floral shirt). He made a little speech, during which he pointed out that the ‘St. John the Apostle Church’ is facing challenges similar to most Churches around here… an aging congregation.

Results from a 2022 study looking into the rise of “spirituality” in Canada and the US, showed that only 27% of Canadians 18 to 34 believe religion is “very important”, and that only 15% of all Canadians attend a church, temple or synagogue at least once a week [link]. The number of Canadians, on the other hand, who identify as ‘atheist’, ‘agnostic’, or having no religious affiliation, sits at 37%. Basically Canadians (the US numbers are close to ours) are turning away from organized religion, and towards “spirituality”… which is not defined in the study, but sounds very ‘new agey’ to me.

…anyways. It was a very nice little Event, with roughly forty people in attendance.

…so if you’re down with it, just click on a photo to get the carousel going. Glory be upon you.