Brett Thoms
Quyon February 12, 2023
The Quyon and Beechgrove United churches have a new minister, Patricia Power.
Officially, Patricia, who also works full-time for the federal government, is the congregational minister at the Quyon Pastoral Charge, which combines the Quyon United Chuch and the Wesley United Church in Beechgrove. She began the job in September and is slated to be in the Pontiac for two years.
Her duties include putting together weekly Sunday sermons, which rotate between Quyon and Beechgrove, as well as pastoral care, which involves visiting people and following up with community based charity organizations like the food bank or family centre.
Patricia is officially not ordained yet, being she is still a student-minister, studying at the Atlantic School of Theology. This means she needs to be under supervision from a higher clergy person and is not yet allowed to deliver church sacraments. However, she still has years of experience leading church services in Aylmer and various churches in Ottawa.
“The great thing about Quyon is they are kind of specializing in student ministers,” said Patricia. “They have shown great flexibility for new students coming in wanting to try new things and all of that. But on the other hand, their teaching of students is great, because they do know the pitfalls. They understand an awful lot more than some of the churches might. So they’re great for that.”
Patricia was originally born in Montreal to an Irish father and a francophone mother. Her family later moved to Ottawa where she has generally been based since.
“ My connection to the Pontiac is having come up here during summers, I’ve been to people’s houses, people’s cottages, sometimes went camping, etc. I love the Pontiac,” said Patricia.
Though born into a practicing Catholic home, Patricia and her late-sister moved to the United Church 12-years ago.
“The reason I landed in the United Church is because I really love how their theology is based on the Bible, and yet not the Bible literally, but interpreted through the love of Christ. And so that was a big attraction,” she said. “And then why I stayed was because this is a church that’s on a journey, and knows its own journey. And you know, even though churches are getting smaller they are looking for the new things that can happen in this time. Not necessarily just relying on what we’ve always done, although, we’d love to continue that too, but looking for new ways of doing church as well.”
Patricia said as she continues to meet more people she has been overwhelmed with how welcoming the community has been to her.
“It’s just so great to come in here and feel that welcome and feel that support, she said. “ People in Quyon will talk to anybody, they’re really great.
Another thing she finds compelling about the community is the unique relationship between the Quyon and Wesley churches, which merged their congregations 25 years ago.
“It is kind of interesting to look at the relationship,” she said. “They had slightly different church cultures and backgrounds. And yet came together because they were looking for a positive future. To me, that’s often what we miss in the larger world, is that people, if they’re different they don’t see a way necessarily to join together as one to try to build. And I think that this community reflects that.”
Every Sunday Patricia will be delivering a sermon at either the Quyon United or the Beechgrove church.
“I look forward to continuing to grow and to grow with this community in the word of God and in serving the community,” Patricia concluded.
