By E. Maestro (Posted by ReyFort Media)
The little church with a big heart that sits on the corner of East 50th Avenue and Prince Albert Street in the southeast neighbourhood of Vancouver marked 115 years of ministry last August 10. St. Mary’s Day celebrates the church’s “super-centenarian” milestone as a living, growing church. Father Expedito Farinas is the rector of St. Mary the Virgin.
It is popularly known as St. Mary the Virgin South Hill or St. Mary’s South Hill. But the older members of the church remember the church by its more formal name, the Bishop Hills Memorial Church of St. Mary the Virgin. The church is named after Bishop George Hills, the first Bishop and longest serving Bishop in British Columbia and the person to whose memory the church is dedicated.
The Most Reverend John Stephens, Archbishop of the Diocese of New Westminster, Metropolitan of the Ecclesiastical Province of British Columbia and Yukon will be visiting the church on Sunday, September 7th and will be the celebrant and preacher of the Holy Eucharist and Baptismal service.
The church is a busy and growing church, faithfully serving the community since 1910 with events, masses, and gatherings for everyone. St. Mary’s Day also celebrated the 18th birthday of Chloe, one of the youth members of the church. The congregation organized a fundraiser (also as a fun and friend-raiser) for the church’s Project Access (Aug 10). St. Mary’s welcomed into the church Aileen and Jon Carolino who exchanged their wedding vows (July 6) to the delight of their friends and their three children who marched down the aisle with them – Jaja as the coin bearer, JV as the ring bearer, and JL as the flower girl. Bert and Cecile had their new car blessed by Apo Expedito with prayers for safe travels. The annual tri-church picnic (Aug 16) brought together the congregations of St. Mary’s South Hill with Pastor Larry Agbayani and the Jesus the Great I Am Fellowship and Pastor John Thillaiambalam and the New Vision Living Word Ministries, a testament to its open and welcoming outreach. The Sunday school children and the young members and their chaperones went on a wonderful day trip to Camp Artaban (Aug 14) and vowed to return next year!
The super-centenarian church looks forward to more growth as a relevant, diverse and welcoming church. Happy anniversary!
ReyFort Media 
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