by Fr. Grant Schwartz
October 31, 2024
All Saints’ Day: A Day of Two Anniversaries
November 1, All Saints’ Day, the Patronal Festival or Name Day of this parish is the anniversary of a ministry that began in Whitby in 1866.
November 1 is also the anniversary of another ministry that began in Whitby in 1949 and over the years extended across Canada. This year is the seventy-fifth anniversary of full-time publicly-funded hospital chaplaincy in Canada. This ministry began with the appointment of the Rev. Thomas Floyd as chaplain at what was then called The Ontario Hospital – Whitby.
Prior to Chaplain Floyd’s appointment, pastoral care in hospitals was provided only by local churches like St. John’s and All Saints’. In 1949, the responsibility of hospitals to provide for religious and spiritual care was recognized. The Government of Ontario, in cooperation with the churches, decided to appoint civil service chaplains. They began by appointing Chaplain Floyd, a priest of the Anglican Diocese of Toronto, as full time chaplain at what is now called the Whitby Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences. Before long, additional chaplains were appointed at Whitby and other Ontario facilities. Over time the movement spread across Canada.
We in this parish hardly need to be reminded of our own beginning on November 1. This year, the seventy-fifth year of Chaplain Floyd’s appointment, it is appropriate that we also give thanks for the concept of publicly-funded hospital chaplaincies that began in Whitby on the same day.
Prayer:
