Get Involved
Volunteers are key to the life of the cathedral.
There are many ways to be involved with the Cathedral. If you are wondering about getting involved regularly or episodically, please connect with Gillian Doucet Campbell, Engagement Leader. She would be delighted to help you find a meaningful way to utilize your skills, talents, and time in support of the Cathedral Church and the local communities we serve. Gillian can be reached by email here.
It takes many volunteers for the organization and delivery of the various church services and outreach programs. At the Cathedral Church, faith formation is supported by study groups and educational opportunities led by both clergy and volunteers. Another aspect of ministry is the visiting of the sick and members of the congregation who can no longer attend services regularly. Other volunteer areas include different committees that ensure the upkeep of the Cathedral Church as well as its governance.
Where do you see yourself volunteering?
Greeters
Teams of volunteers assist at regular and diocesan services. Greeters welcome parishioners and newcomers, provide assistance and information, and assure the smooth flow of communicants.
Coffee Hour Hosts
Prepare for the Coffee Hour for Sunday services and ensure clean up.
Sunday School
Children are a key part of the congregation. The 9:30 a.m. service begins with the Dean’s children’s talk during which children sit in a circle and are encouraged to talk and think (and often laugh) and then they are welcomed to head off to Sunday School. Sunday school leaders are deeply appreciated!
- Kids aged 5 and under go to The Nursery in a colourful, bright room full of toys with a child-sized washroom. Children say a prayer, receive a short lesson and a snack, may do a craft, and always have lots of playtime. This program runs at both Sunday services, the 9:30 a.m. and the 11:00 am.
- Kids from ages 6 to 9 have Sunday school class in the meeting rooms during the 9:30 a.m. service only.
- The older pre-teen and teen group also meet during the 9:30 am service. They return in time for Communion. This age group also leads two services a year and helps with outreach programs.
- Children and young people are all welcome to participate in the Christmas pageant as there are many volunteer roles, speaking parts, and needs to put on the annual Christmas pageant. Adult volunteers are also appreciated!
Bible Study Groups
Attendance at worship not only fosters a sense of community, of sharing in a common faith journey, but it also seeks to nurture body, soul, and mind. That is a lot to accomplish in one hour once a week! A program of reflection and discussion of the Bible is essential for our growth in understanding as Christians. We currently offer weekly, bi-weekly, and monthly Bible Study and Study Groups. As well, during the seasons of Advent and Lent, a variety of study programs are offered.
If you would like more information, or if you have an idea for a study topic, we would be pleased to hear from you. Just let Gillian Doucet Campbell, Engagement Leader, know where your interest lies.
Outreach
The Gospel spurs us to compassionate service, advocacy, and justice. Approaches to Outreach incorporate utilizing all our resources – our time, talents, skills, connections, passions, abilities, finances, and so forth as we are able. If you would like to be involved with Outreach intitiaves of the Cathedral Church or you have ideas to share please connect with Gillian Doucet Campbell, Engagement Leader. She can be reached by email here.
Some of the ways we engage in community through the Cathedral Church:
- People of all ages prepare meals together (think kitchen party with a task) or individually and then some serve these prepared meals at St. George’s Soup Kitchen - want to join a meal prep team? Contact Deacon Heather MacEachern by email here
- We gather non-perishable food items for St. Mark’s Food Bank and St. George's Pantry
- We gather items needed by people experiencing homelessness and unstable housing or those moving from a shelter to a home and have nothing; we provide these items to Shelter Nova Scotia and Welcome Housing Support Services
- We assemble and deliver gift bags at Christmas to various individuals and families in the local area as well as to frontline workers working in various shelters
- We support refugees in coming to Canada and helping them settle once they arrive. We do this through financial resources, providing needed items to set up a home, and offering our time and skills in helping them to navigate the paperwork once landed as they find schools for their children or themselves, jobs, healthcare, driver’s licence, etc.
- We provide unrestricted financial donations to many of the organizations listed below.
These organizations operate throughout our region and beyond. Each one implements unique mandates in response to the needs of individuals and families. We trust these organizations as the experts that they are and value what they can accomplish with the financial gifts from the Cathedral Church, as well as financial gifts of others, including individuals, foundations, businesses, and various levels of governments. Together we are making a difference in the lives of many people both near and far.
St. Catherine’s Group
This group welcomes all who identify as female for a fellowship of education and service to the Cathedral, the Diocese, and the Community. This group leads special events where members learn together and support one another and others through fellowship, fundraisers, and fun.
Friends of the Cathedral: Supporting the Cathedral Church of All Saints
The Friends of the Cathedral is a Foundation to support the cathedral that is currently in a conceptual phase at the Cathedral Church of All Saints, Halifax, NS. The plan is to have this entity assume, as a major part of its focus, the mandate of the former Cathedral League, an Anglican Church Women group, with diocesan roots, whose mandate was to beautify the Cathedral.
Anglican Church Women
An Anglican Church Woman is any baptized Anglican who identifies as female. Women now serve at the cathedral in every aspect of church life, and their ministry, both lay and ordained, takes many forms. There are organized ministry groups with membership that has historically been all female, but this feature is evolving to be more inclusive of both women and men. These various groups provide a fellowship of spiritual growth, study, and service, both internally to the cathedral and externally to the diocese and the wider community.
Sanctuary Guild
This group welcomes volunteers to help with upkeep, and beautification of the cathedral, including the care of holy vessels, precious metals, and linens, and the arrangement of flowers. Volunteers are always welcomed and appreciated on a weekly, monthly or annual basis. Come when you can, as there is always something to polish, dust, or launder.
In particular we are looking for support with flower arrangements. This committee meets each Saturday morning around 9:30 am for 1.5 to 2 hours. You are welcome to volunteer each week, bi-weekly or once a month - you decide. If you would like to learn more about the Flower Committee, the role, or to set up a Saturday to come and see what the Flower Committee does, please email Sarah here.
The Cathedral Sacristan
Sacristans have the highly detailed, behind-the-scenes task of keeping a church's services running smoothly. They oversee the sacristy - a room where all the church's religious vestments and utensils are stored. Their responsibilities include replenishing supplies from microphones to Communion wafers, dry cleaning vestments, distributing leaflets to clergy, marking the Altar Missals and Gospel Book, and setting out all items needed for the Eucharist.
St. Alban's Servers Guild
Servers assist the clergy at the Holy Eucharist and other services of worship. They perform their duties with reverence, skill, and commitment, and are faithful in their attendance at worship. Servers may take on any of the following roles:
- Crucifer: carries the Cross at specified times in the worship service.
- Acolyte: carries a candle during the Gospel reading.
- Book Bearer: carries the Gospel Book at specified times in the worship service.
- Communion Server: Assists the clergy with the preparation of the altar at the time of the Eucharist. The Cathedral welcomes and will train anyone interested in joining the Server’s Guild.
Cathedral Verger
A Verger is a layperson who assists in the ordering of religious services. Historically Vergers were responsible for the order and upkeep of the house of worship, including the care of the church buildings, its furnishings, and sacred relics, preparations for liturgy, conduct of the laity, and grave-digging responsibilities. During the service itself, a Verger's main duty is ceremonially to precede the religious participants as they move about the church; they do not typically take any speaking part in the service.
Licensed Lay Ministers
Licensed Lay Ministers, formerly known as lay readers, are authorized by a Bishop in the Anglican Communion to lead certain services or parts of services of worship, to preach and to carry out pastoral and teaching functions. They are formally trained and admitted to office, and they remain part of the laity, not of the clergy. Licensed Lay Ministers and Lay Ministers-in-training wear medals held by ribbons to signify their roles. Purple is the colour of a Licensed Lay Minister's ribbon; blue is the colour worn by a Lay Minister-in-training. You can learn more here about this role here.
Prayers of the People
The Prayers of the People provide a time of intercession and public prayer in worship using a well-defined sequence while covering specific content. They are also an initial step in a commitment to action. The movement of the Prayers of the People is from the world and the universal Church to local churches and community, to individual and personal needs.
Should you be interested in leading the Prayers of the People you will be supported in where to find litanies in our liturgical books, to know where to find resources to help develop prayers of the people, be able to understand how to adapt litanies to add original content or write original prayers, and be able to cue congregational responses to prayers of the people.
Some resources will include:
The Cathedral Choir
The Cathedral Choir comprises professional singers, choral scholars, and volunteer singers. The choir sings at the 11:00 AM Choral Eucharist every Sunday, from September through to June, and offers services of Evensong, Lessons & Carols, and Readings & Music regularly, as well as concerts. Our Director of Music, Paul Halley, is always pleased to hear from singers interested in auditioning for the choir. You can reach Paul here.
