St. Thomas's, Huron Street

Parish_church
name=St. Thomas's Anglican Church


caption=St Thomas Anglican Church
dedication=Thomas the Apostle
denomination=Anglican Church of Canada
tradition=Anglo-Catholic
parish=St Thomas, Huron Street
deanery=Parkdale
archdeaconry/episcopal area=
diocese=Toronto
province=Ontario
rector=Fr. Mark Andrews
asspriest=The Rev. Canon Dr Brian Freeland; the Rev. Robert Ross
website= [http://www.stthomas.on.ca www.stthomas.on.ca]

St. Thomas' Anglican Church is a parish of the Anglican Church of Canada in Toronto, Ontario. It was one of the earliest Anglo-Catholic congregations in Canada. It was established in 1874, moving twice before settling into its present building, in the Annex on the western edge of the University of Toronto's downtown campus.

History

The church is an Arts and crafts building designed in 1893 by architect and parishioner Eden Smith (1858–1949). The building was altered in 1917 to add a baptistry.

Tradition

The church is known for its high standards in music and liturgy, and is nicknamed "Smoky Tom's" for its use of generous quantities of incense. Liturgy at St. Thomas's is more formal and complex than would be encountered in all but a few Canadian Anglican churches today.

St. Thomas’s draws from the English high-church tradition within Anglo-Catholicism, as distinct from the Anglo-Papalist branch, which took its inspiration from contemporary Roman Catholicism. This tradition, as former rector Fr. Roy Hoult explains, [ [http://www.stthomas.on.ca/index.cfm?sectionID=1&articleID=11 Saint Thomas's Anglican Church, Toronto - Home ] ] sought

to rediscover the forms of dress and general tenor of worship that pertained in England prior to their senseless destruction at the time of the Reformation. Saint Thomas's is an example of this second kind of Anglo-Catholicism; its lack of lace and the predominance instead of plain albs and long surplices bear witness to this, as does the traditional Anglican arrangement of the chancel with its choir stalls.

Trinity College

The church has a long relationship with Trinity College, and more recently with Wycliffe College - the present rector, Fr. Mark Andrews, graduated from Wycliffe. As recently as the late 1930s, Wycliffe banned its students from entering St. Thomas's.

Music and liturgy

Parish music director John Tuttle founded and still directs the semi-professional [http://www.exultate.on.ca/ Exultate Chamber Singers] , has previously directed the [http://hhchorus.sa.utoronto.ca/ Hart House Chorus] at the University of Toronto, and has recently become musical director at Trinity College. The famous English accompanist Gerald Moore, who grew up in Toronto, was a sometime assistant organist at St Thomas'.

St. Thomas’s has services [http://www.stthomas.on.ca/index.cfm?sectionID=5#q1 throughout the week] , and in addition to an 8 o'clock Low Mass has three sung services on Sundays:

9:30 a.m.: A contemporary-language Eucharist with the priest facing westward, using the 1985 Book of Alternative Services

11 a.m.: A traditional-language eastward-facing Solemn High Mass, using the 1962 Prayer Book and the Canadian 1938 hymnal

7 p.m.: Solemn Evensong using the 1962 Prayer Book, and Devotions to the Blessed Sacrament.

The weekly service leaflets are posted on the church's website.

Culture

St. Thomas also hosts chapters of the Society of Mary and the Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament. The Canadian branch of Affirming Catholicism is based at St Thomas's.

In 2006, the Parish Vestry requested "the Advisory Board of St Thomas's Church to take under consideration women priests being included in the system of invited priests to celebrate and preach at the services of St Thomas's Church including the 11am mass at the High Altar as well as the appointment of women as assistant priests or honorary priests at the earliest opportunity." [ [http://www.stthomas.on.ca/index.cfm?articleID=59 Saint Thomas's Anglican Church, Toronto - Home ] ] The motion passed by a margin of roughly two to one. However, women priests seldom participate in services as homilists or celebrants. The Rector's last two clerical appointments (of an honourary priest and an associate priest)have been male. A small but strong conservative element in the parish continues to oppose women priests although the Anglican Church of Canada has ordained women priests since 1976.

Many St. Thomas's parishioners are active in the arts as performers and supporters, and the church regularly participates in events like Nuit Blanche and Doors Open.

The parish sponsors an "Out-of-the-Heat" program, supports the Out-of-the-Cold program and operates a "community garden." All are well-supported by volunteers from the parish and the community.

Podcast

In October 2006, the parish podcast [http://www.stthomas.on.ca/index.cfm?sectionID=1&articleID=67/ Smoky Times] was launched. This podcast is published roughly every two weeks.

Further reading

*cite book | first=David A. | last=Kent (General Editor) | authorlink= | coauthors= | year=1993 | title=Household of God: A Parish History of St. Thomas's Church, Toronto | edition= | publisher=St. Thomas's Church, Toronto | location=Toronto | id=ISBN 0-9697802-0-6

Notes

External links

* [http://www.stthomas.on.ca St. Thomas'] Parish site
* [http://www.stthomas.on.ca/rectorsearchprofile.cfm Parish profile (2002)]
* [http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=383+huron+st+toronto&ll=43.668617,-79.400768&spn=0.024089,0.086517&om=1 Location in GoogleMaps]