"Father Stafff

Remembering George Stavert Tanton, priest

1910 -1987

"Father Staff"

© 1997 Robert Tuck

All rights reserved. Those wishing to reproduce any part of this book,
except for review purposes, are asked to obtain prior written
permission from the publisher. Such requests should be addressed to
Maplewood Books, 90 Maplewood Crescent, Charlottetown, Prince
Edward Island, Canada, CIA 2X6.

Printed by Island Offset, Charlottetown.

ISBN 0-921747-24-1

t-\ D^_      D>~>    '  •

LIBRARY OF U.P.E.L

"Father Staff"

Remembering George Stavert Tanton, priest
1910 -1987

by
Robert C. Tuck

PEI

BX

5620

.T36

T8

1997

Maplewood Books,
Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island

1997



Preface

George Stavert Tanton was born and lived his early
life in Summerside, Prince Edward Island, one of the
twelve children of Jarvis Pope Tanton and Bessie Eleanor
Stavert. He was educated in Summerside schools and at
Mount Allison Academy, Sackville, New Brunswick. He
received his Licentiate in Theology from the University
of King's College, Halifax, in 1938, and his Bachelor of
Arts degree from King's in 1945. During his time as a
student at King's he not only played rugby, managed the
basketball team, presided over the College Missionary
Society, and sat on the student council, he also served
as the first president of the Nova Scotia Diocesan Council
of the Anglican Young People's Association. In 1967
King's honoured him by conferring upon him the degree
of Doctor of Divinity, Honoris Causa. Earlier he had
been made a Canon of All Saints' Cathedral, Halifax,
and had received the Rural Fellowship Award of the
American Episcopal Church. In 1941 he married
Constance Ruby Tufts, who bore him four children: Mary,
Ruth, Ann, and Peter.

This book is in no sense a biography. It is rather a
souvenir, a reminder of a remarkable man, perhaps the
outstanding Anglican priest of his generation in Nova
Scotia and Prince Edward Island.

I first heard of "Staff" Tanton from friends in
newspaper circles in Halifax, who knew him as "The
Tangier Terror". He was the dominant figure on Nova
Scotia's "eastern shore ", a string of mostly small, isolated
seaside communities scattered along the rugged Atlantic
coast east of Halifax, for 14 years.    In Halifax,

at St. Mark's Church in the north end of the city, he
inspired a generation of young men to enter the priesthood.
He then came home to his native province to be Rector
of St. Peter's Cathedral, and Archdeacon of Prince
Edward Island. Although towards the end of his time as
Archdeacon he began to be plagued by the ill health that
eventually forced his retirement, he got the Island clergy
and parishes moving and working together. They began
to develop a strong sense of belonging to each other and
to their own community in ways that promised well for
the future of the Anglican Church in Prince Edward
Island. Unfortunately, this was not always well understood
or appreciated elsewhere, particularly in Halifax where
the Island parishes were seen primarily as elements in
the Diocese of Nova Scotia.

"Staff Tanton was an apostolic man in every way but
one. Although he placed third in one episcopal election
in Nova Scotia, he was never elected bishop. That perhaps
says more about the inadequacy of synods as instruments
of episcopal selection than it does about "Staff" Tanton.
It is impossible to think of him as a compromise candidate,
or as one who might qualify as the second choice of a
sufficient number of electors to be elected. However, it
is worth remembering that through most of the time he
was at Tangier and St. Mark's the Bishop of Nova Scotia
was a man very much like him in both character and
churchmanship, Robert Harold Waterman. That there
was such a man as bishop at that time helped make the
ministry, and the achievements, of "Staff Tanton possible.

Robert C Tuck.

Connie and Staff Tanton early in their
married life at Port Hill, in 1941.

Dr. John B. Hibbetts places the hood of the degree
of Doctor of Divinity on Canon G.S. Tanton at the
1967 Encaenia of the University of King's College.

Citation

The Reverend Canon George Stavert Tanton was born and
received his early education in Prince Edward Island, where he
was a member of St. Mary's Parish, in Summerside. He entered
King's and received his L. Th. in 1938 and his B.A. in 1945. He
was ordained a deacon in 1938 and priest in 1939 in the Diocese
of Nova Scotia. He was curate of Christ Church, Dartmouth,
from 1938 to 1940, Rector of Port Hill, Prince Edward Island,
from 1940 to 1943, a Chaplain in the Royal Canadian Air Force
in 1943 - 44, Rector of Tangier 1944 - 58, Rector of St. Mark's,
Halifax, from 1958 to the present. He was made a Canon of All
Saints Cathedral in 1960 in recognition of his services to the
church in this Diocese and beyond.

This in the barest outline is the career of this dynamic priest.
His rural ministry in Tangier was extraordinary. There he gave
the lead in having a hospital built at Sheet Harbour, this when
others had given up the project as hopeless. He was a leading
figure in the building of the high school at Tangier. This was one
of the first efforts made to consolidate areas where the educational
standard had suffered by the isolation of small rural schools. He
worked tirelessly to maintain the pulp mill at Sheet Harbour and
was Chairman of the group which entered into negotiations with
the Nova Scotia government. He was instrumental in acquiring
property for a Tangier Deanery Church Camp and was for years
the leading spirit behind that camp. It was through his leadership
that the Anglican clergy in the area were able to enter the schools
and teach religion. It was also during this time that he initiated
the drive for funds for the Hackenley Memorial Fund which has
been used for a lectureship at King's on rural work for some ten
years or more. The respect and affection he inspired among the
people of this Diocese caused him, as rector of a rural parish
with a small and scattered population, to stand third in the choice
of Co-adjutor Bishop of Nova Scotia.

Throughout his ministry he has been concerned for education
and for the development of opportunities for young people to
realise their potential. From his rural parish students came to
King's by means he devised to make their education financially
possible. While he has been at St. Mark's this interest has
continued. More Anglican students, in the last academic

year, from this parish than from any other in our two Dioceses.
His concern for his alma mater has been constant and he has
served energetically on the Divinity School Council and the Board
of Governors of the University of King's College.

VI

Contents

Reminiscences..............................................3

Early days and King's College

Port Hill

Tangier

Vocations

St. Mark's

St. Margaret of Scotland

St. Peter's Cathedral

The Diocesan Church Society

H.M. The Queen

Georgetown

St. Andrew's Day Care Centre

Camp Kingston

Retirement

Sermons & Addresses......................................27

A Priest in the Church

A Good Soldier of Jesus Christ

The Visitation of the Sick

Encaenia

The Blessed Virgin Mary

The Duties of a Churchman

Induction of a Rector

Installation of a Regional Dean

What Anglicanism Means to Me

A Sermon for Queen and Country

A Few Tales...............................................65

1. Harry Ploughman and the Archbishop's Letter

2. Toilet Troubles

3. Teething Troubles

4. Staff and the Pickled Treasurer

5.  "I'm Waking Them up!"

6. A "High" Hat

7. Thank God for an Anglican Bootlegger

8. Smoking Them Out

9.  "Big Boom" Is Told Off

10. Elijah's Mantle

11.  "How Did I Do?

REMINISCENCES

On July 10, 1932, St. John's Church, St. Eleanor's, celebrated its 100th birthday
with a visit from the Primate, who was also Archbishop of Nova Scotia, the Most
Reverend Clarendon Lamb Worrell (centre). Others in the picture, left to right, are
the Reverend Dr. Thomas H. Hunt of King's College, the Reverend Percy Cotton,
Rector of Calais, Maine, the Venerable Charles deWolfe White, Rector of St. John's
and Archdeacon of Prince Edward Island, the Reverend Innes Eraser, Rector of
New Glasgow, Nova Scotia, George Stavert Tanton, and the Reverend Canon A.E.
Andrew. M.C.

REMINISCENCES

When Father Tanton retired in 1974 he was interviewed for
Anglican Sunday Family Magazine, a radio program that
aired Sunday mornings on the Charlottetown station CFCY.
The following autobiographical essay is adapted from that
interview.

I suppose my first thoughts would be my experience with Archdeacon
White, who was our rector in Summerside for 26 years. He had a clear
devotion to our Lord, and a great devotion to the Church. Like Timothy, I
grew up under his tutelage, and was inspired by him. I had the privilege of
looking after him in the sense of driving him to St. Eleanor's to Church when
I was a boy of 12 years of age. I taught in the Sunday school, and was
superintendent when I was 17, before I left to go away to Mount Allison
Academy. The men I met in the Church, priests like Dr. Cunningham, Canon
Vroom, Dr. Hunt, Canon Malone, and Archdeacon Harrison, were great
influences on my life, showing me loyalty to our Lord, and their conviction
that the Church was fulfilling the mission of Christ Himself.

I was at Mount Allison Academy one year, and then I went to Mount
Allison University. I felt a vocation to the ministry, so I wrote to Archbishop
Worrell of Nova Scotia , who had episcopal jurisdiction in Prince Edward
Island. He said he would see me in Summerside in July. This would be long
after college had closed. I couldn't wait that long. So I asked him if he would
let me do parish work for the summer. He said. No, that I should be sure of
my vocation first. So I wrote back to him and said that I had been brought
up under his episcopacy, and with his permission I would write to the Bishop
of Fredericton. I got a letter back saying, "I have a parish for you." He sent
me to Liscomb, on the eastern shore of Nova Scotia, which at that time was
pretty isolated. That's where I started my work as a lay reader. I worked all
the time I was in college. I did lay readering work at Conquerall Mills, and
in the parishes of Port Medway and Emmanuel Church in north Dartmouth,
until 1938, when I was made deacon by Archbishop John Hackenley in Christ
Church, Dartmouth. I was priested later at Emmanuel Church.

KING'S COLLEGE

The University of King's College, Halifax, Nova Scotia, as it appeared in the 1930s.

I never seemed to get through King's College! I said 1 was the oldest living
graduate - I was the one who went there the longest! In King's College there
were three men who stood out: Dr. Vroom, Dr. Hunt (who was from St. Eleanor's,
and who had taught at the day school that St. Peter's Cathedral operated in
Charlottetown), and Dr. Samuel Prince. Dr. Prince was a priest from New
Brunswick who was on the staff of Dalhousie and King's universities lecturing
on sociology and pastoral work. These three men had the greatest influence on
me. There was also Dr. Rex Moore, the president of King's. 1 tangled often with
him,* but I admired him a great deal for the stands he took. I think he admired
me for the stands I took! I remember he always used to say, "Never smoke your
pipe going down the street with a lady!" But we saw him out walking with Mrs.
Moore one afternoon while smoking his pipe. We wondered just what the
connotation of that was!

One weekend 1 went to Port Medway, and a big storm came up. I knew I
wasn't going to be able to get back to King's until Wednesday, so 1 thought I
might just as well stay for the next weekend - without permission, of course!
When I got back I found that Dr. Moore had decided to gate me. Soon afterwards
we had a masquerade dance at the College, and I wore a gate. Dr. Moore had
the grace to autograph it!

I remember Fred Moore, an older student who was later ordained, and
served parishes in Nova Scotia (he was no relation to Dr. Moore). One time

we were in Dr. Vroom's class, going through the 39 Articles and talking
about Baptism. Fred asked, "What shall we do with the water that's left in
the font?" Old Dr. Vroom said, "Pour it out on the ground!" Fred said, "O
dear, Mr. Lacey (who was then serving in Ecum Secum) drank it all!" Dr.
Vroom took off his glasses and said, "O dear, O dear!"

I was ordained priest on Palm Sunday, 1939, at North Dartmouth,
and the following September I came over to Port Hill in Prince Edward
Island,   as   rector.   In   August   I   got   married   to   Connie   Tufts.

*See "Harry Ploughman and the Archbishop's Letter" in "A Few Tales",
below.

PORT HILL

One time that winter my horse kicked the dashboard off the sleigh. George
Williams used to say, "When can I make you another sleigh?" I used

Well wrapped in fur, Father Tanton sets out from Port Hill rectory with horse and
sleigh on wintertime pastoral visits.

to put my horse up at his place in Poplar Grove as I was going up to Lot 11.
Our first Christmas midnight mass was at Lot 11, and I stayed with John W.
and Mrs. Palmer and their family. That night (it was the first Christmas that
Connie and I were married) John W. said, "Would you like a little refreshment?"
I said, "Thank you very much!" He brought in a glass of something, and said,
"I couldn't get anything from the vendor's, but this is the best we've got!" I
don't remember going upstairs!



Father Tanton with two companions in front of St. James'
Rectors- at Port Hill.

I went into the Air Force from Port Hill for two years in 1942. I went
to Gander, Newfoundland, for 13 months, then to ADTS, Quebec, Manning
Depot in Lachine, and was discharged from St. Hubert's, Quebec, on request.
The Bishop of Nova Scotia appointed me to Tangier, on the eastern shore
of Nova Scotia.

TANGIER

People were very kind to me in Tangier. I had a very lovely time there,
a wonderful experience. 1 had seven churches to look after, and 320 families
to care for. I took a very active part in school work. We built the first
consolidated school on the eastern shore. Then we built the first hospital that
we had there, in Sheet Harbour. I was very interested in community life, and
tried to get a paper mill for the eastern shore. However, when it did come
eventually, it went to Abercrombie in Pictou County.

In Tangier Parish the people were very generous, very kind and devoted
Church people. We had splendid servers' guilds, wonderful Anglican Church
Women branches, good strong men's clubs. The people loved their Church.
It was an inspiration to any priest to serve in a parish like Tangier.

Father Tanton with his children, Ann, Mary,
Ruth and Peter with Holy Trinity Church,
Tangier, in the background. Where is Connie?
Behind the camera ?

Father Tanton (left) at the altar of Holy Trinity Church, Tangier, with the
Reverend Ron Parsons (right) and two altar servers.

I said I would go there for five years and we stayed for 14. The Bishop
asked me 11 times if I would like to go somewhere else. I asked him, "Do
you want me to go?" He said, "Not particularly." "Well," I said, "you shouldn't
ask me, then."

In my ministry 1 have always felt that I should go where the Bishop wanted
me to go, without any consideration of other factors. Then you arebeing sent.
If you believe in the Apostolic Church you must believe in being one that is
sent by authority. I believe that because I was sent to do my work I was
always happy in the parishes to which I was sent. The people were always
responsive. I think this means 4 great deal, because then there is no picking
and choosing. Our Lord asked us to "go". He did not say, "Make up your
mind whether to go or not." Just GO! I have always thought that this principle
was one of the cardinal things for a priest to follow to be happy in the parish
in which he is.

VOCATIONS

Since the start of my ministry there have been 11 or 12 people whom I have
had the privilege of exposing or encouraging or guiding towards the ministry.

I think every boy should ask himself if he should be a priest - but I don't
think every boy should be a priest. I know of no way better to do this than the

Father Tanton (left) with the Right Reverend Robert Harold
Waterman (third from left), ninth Bishop of Nova Scotia, at
Tangier on the occasion of the ordination to the priesthood of
one of the first of the young men whose vacation he encouraged,
the Reverend Keith Mason (right). The Bishop's Chaplain is the
Reverend H.C. Quartermain.

servers' guild. It offers a great opportunity for boys to become interested in
and to learn about the Church, and to come to love our Lord in the Blessed
Sacrament.

I think this is important in growing up. People are living in a vacuum and
they have got to fill it with something. The true way is not to fill it with some
false religion, but to fill it with our Lord's Presence in the Blessed Sacrament
of the Church. I think this is so important to young people! And they respond.
Our Lord does the work - we just give the opportunity.

My wife always had an open door in our home. The young men could come
in. Sometimes at our house we would have ten people to dinner on a Sunday:
our own family and four or five others would be there. Some would come over
from King's, and some of the servers would come over.

When King's College conferred on me an honorary Doctorate in Divinity
it was a very generous gesture. I am anything but a doctor scholastically. It
was just an honour they gave me for the work I had done as a parish priest. I
think they recognised the importance of the parish priest and his place in the
whole scheme of things, that he is fundamental in the life of the Church. The
parish priest is the man on the beat. There are all kinds of supplementary
ministries, in universities, in chaplaincies of one kind or another. But the
Church depends upon, and must come out of the experience of, the parish priest
among his people in the parish.

The parish priest is the last of the "going" professions - although I don't
like the word "profession" in speaking of priests. I think of "vocation." It was
a psychologist who said that the parish priest is the last of the "going"
professions, going to the people. Now you go to the doctor, the doctor doesn't
(or very seldom) go to you. The parish priest is the last one who goes into the
home. I remember hearing a story from Mushaboom of how the schoolmaster
taught in the homes there before there ever was a school. Now people are
carted away from their homes to go to school. The teacher doesn't see the
home, knows nothing about the home, knows nothing about the environment
from which the child comes, whereas the parish priest has the door open. There
is no other man in the community, with the exception of the doctor, who has
the accessibility to the home that the parish priest has. If he loves his people
he is always welcome and there is always a place for him. He shares in the
most intimate details of their lives. He has a great opportunity to be a counsellor,
and to be used by God for the healing of the souls and lives and bodies of
men.

I think many of the young men who go into the priesthood with the idea of
being do-gooders haven't got their commitment to the Lord right in the first

place, and the willingness to be humble. I think it was Dr. Vroom who said
that the word "humble" comes from "humus", meaning "earth", the willingness
to be used like the earth is used, and even abused. When they get abused, or
used, they want to give up and take something that offers more security, that
is not going to have abuse as part of it. But when you are dealing with human
beings, whether you are a schoolteacher, lawyer, or social worker, you are
going to have to deal with abuse, and the sins of mankind.

ST. MARK'S CHURCH, HALIFAX

Father Tanton at the lectern of St. Mark's Church, Halifax.

In 1958 the Bishop asked me if I would go to St. Mark's in Halifax, and
in April I went. It wasn't my first experience in that end of the city. In 1937
I worked for a year with Dr. Cunningham at the round church, St. George's,
as a student. Dr. Cunningham was a tremendous man, a man of great capacity,
one who inspired you to do great things because he was so loveable, so
sincere, so devoted. Somehow or other priests like Dr. Cunningham, and the
others I have mentioned, got something in their training and upbringing that
made them love our Lord in His Church. They found the Church a vehicle
to express the love they had for our Lord. I don't know if we have lost that
today; but if we have I hope we can soon regain it.

11

Father Tanton at his desk in St. Mark's Church, Halifax.

ST. MARGARET OF SCOTLAND PARISH, HALIFAX

When we were at St. Mark's the north end of Halifax developed
tremendously. At one time the north end of Halifax belonged to St. Paul's
Church. So you got Glebe Street, St. Paul Street, Vestry Street, Rector Street,
in the north end. The property was sold, unfortunately, to some man to pile
pulpwood, and pit-props, for shipment to England. Later, a real estate
development took place, and a piece of land was reserved for a church. But
it was not in a place where the population was going to grow, so we exchanged
that piece of land with the city for another on which to build St. Margaret of Scotland
Church.

We started with services held in Mulberry Park School. Perhaps the leading
person in that congregation was Mrs. Emma Organ, a true "Mother in Israel".
She certainly looked after things, and is a tremendous person. Now in the north

12

end of Halifax St. Margaret's is THE church and is growing. There is going
to be a tremendous housing development in what was called the old infectious
disease hospital property. There will be thousands of people living in that area
where St. Margaret's has been built. The Reverend William Moore, who married
a girl from MacNeill's Mills, Greta MacDonald, is the rector there at the present
time (1974). These Islanders are all over the place, you can't get clear of them.
I don't know what the Nova Scotians would do without them! The Nova
Scotians depend a lot on the Newfoundlanders too; we mustn't forget them.
It is Islanders, one way or another!

ST. PETER'S CATHEDRAL,
CHARLOTTETOWN

In 1967 Bishop William Davis asked me if I would come over to be Rector
of St. Peter's Cathedral and Archdeacon of Prince Edward Island. It was a very
difficult decision to make, but once again I had to follow the principle I had
always followed. Two of our girls were going into university, one to study
nursing and the other to study education. We had such an active parish in St.

13

Mark's, and so many delightful people, and such a response from them,
that it was very difficult to leave. But I felt that if the Bishop wanted
me to go I should. And, of course, it was a great honour to be called
home to our own Province, where I had been brought up as a boy, and
to follow in the steps of Dr. Hunt, Canon Malone, and Canon Simpson.
St. Peter's was certainly a challenge, and an awesome one. I hope that
in some small way we have at least got into some of their steps,
anyhow.

THE DIOCESAN CHURCH SOCIETY

A meeting of the Diocesan Church Society in Kensington, about 1972.

I feel that the Diocesan Church Society of Prince Edward Island
is a great vehicle, and should be developed more and more. We should
get away from the idea of having some of our parishes still thinking
in terms of having just one or two delegates going to the
Diocesan Church Society. Now we have changed the (DCS)
Constitution and have a much larger representation from each parish.
In fact, there can be 17 or 20 from each parish. This is what it should
be, to create a sense of "family" among Anglicans on Prince Edward

14

As Archdeacon of Prince Edward Island Father Tanton dealt with everything from
television producers (John McGreevy, above), to the annual tug of war between
the ladies of St. Mary's Church, Summerside, and those of St. Peter's Cathedral,
at the annual Anglican picnic he initiated at Camp Kingston, Crapaud. The
Charlottetown ladies, being heavier, won this event every time it was held.

Island. Far too often, I found on the Island, that the parish priest and
people were far too parochial-minded. Many of the priests were
chaplains to their own people rather than being Christian missionaries.
I don't like proselytizers, but I do think there are lots of people who
go to no church, who have no religion, who practice nothing except
for burial purposes and marriages, so that the Church has a great need
to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and to show His Church as the
Way of Salvation. I think this is something we must get hold of, and
have a sense of mission. There seems to be little sense of mission on
the part of Anglicans on the Island. They want to sort of just keep the
status quo. Populations are moving in, people detached from any
religious observance. There is great missionary work to be done right
here on the Island.

There is also great need for the Island to extend the missionary
concept beyond the Island. I'm one of the old-fashioned missionaries
who believes that social service is the result of the Gospel, and that
unless the Gospel of Jesus Christ is proclaimed and preached, and the
Sacraments of the Church ministered, our social service becomes
humanism. It's not that it's wrong, but just that it is inadequate to meet
the need of human beings.

So I see the Diocesan Church Society as a great vehicle to build up
the family of Anglicans on the Island, to reach out in the ecumenical
spirit to work with other people in the morals of the community, and
in social service, to help people live a fuller and better life.

H.M. THE QUEEN

It was a tremendous experience in 1973 to preach before the Queen
at a service that was televised nationally. It was a great worry. I
worried and worried and worried. I got up one time at 4 o'clock in the
morning and outlined the sermon I had to preach. But it was a great
pleasure and a great thrill. The Queen was the most delightful person,
much less critical than some of our parishioners! The Prince was
charming. I don't know how we could do without them, really. When
you see the Monarchy up close, there is something, something you
can't put your finger on. Not only was it broadcast nationally (I got
letters from as far away as Victoria asking for copies of the sermon),
but it was rebroadcast in total in England on the BBC. One of our



j?*3,    .                                        ■+*   mi..      v

: t

Father Tanton with H.M. Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip as they visit with
members of the Royal Canadian Legion in Charlottetown in 1973.

own parishioners from St. Peter's. Bronwen Murray (Blyth Murray's daughter)
heard the service on the BBC in London.

The Queen very kindly said in her letter of thanks that the service marked
and set the tenor and tone of her visit to the Island for the Centenary of the
Island's entry into Confederation. I have a very beautiful portrait of the Queen
and Prince Philip given to me by the Queen, and a letter of thanks for preaching
the sermon, and for the service. I think she also sent one to Bishop Spence. It
was such a privilege to share the service with Bishop Spence. It is marvellous
what we can do as Christians without any compromise of principles, or anything
else. As Christian people we can share in our Lord and in His worship. Bishop
Spence gave great leadership in this regard.

GEORGETOWN

One of Father Tan ton's first moves as Archdeacon was to find a resident minister
for Georgetown: Church Army Captain Ronald Walker (above).

I would like to say something about Georgetown, because this has been
one of my joys. Georgetown has had very difficult times, a little parish down
there, and they are now being led by some very faithful people, especially Jim

"8

and Norma Watson. Last year Mr. James Yetman was the layreader there, and
did a tremendous job. I do hope those people will be supported in their witness
for our Lord and His Church, because it is a tremendous opportunity. 1 see it
growing. In plans for the Island there will have to be some redistribution of
parishes, and there will have to be some sharing of the load. I don't know what
pattern it is going to take, but I do hope that there will be provision made for
Georgetown.

Father Tanton and Connie (centre left), with Norma and Jim Watson (right) and
Catherine Tuck (left), at Stephen and Lorna Watson's wedding in 1979.

ST. ANDREW'S DAYCARE CENTRE, INVERNESS

I would also like to say something about the "head-start" work at Inverness.
It has always been a great joy. There was wonderful work done there in the
old St. Andrew's Mission building that we converted into a Daycare Centre
for the deprived children in that neighbourhood, and 1 hope it will be continued.
I know that the Government is withdrawing some of its support; but I hope
they will see the importance of continuing it, and that it makes a worthwhile
contribution to the lives of the people.

19

The St. Andrew's Day Care Centre originated in an idea of Fred Hyndman's that
was developed by the Diocesan Church Society and the provincial government.
The government supplied the teacher and the program, while the Church supplied
the building and its equipment. The Centre was made over from a small mission
church that had failed to attract support from the community and was closed. After
the renovation of the building a generation of children from a depressed area were
prepared for school in daylight hours, and at night St. Andrew's became a community
centre. Meetings were held that led to projects that rehoused many of the inhabitants.
It is said that at one time St. Andrew's had the only bathtub in the district, and
local residents made much use of it. Wakes were also held in the Centre. Yet the
local people preferred to worship in a pentecostal church that had been built just
down the road.

CAMP KINGSTON, CRAPAUD

The third thing I would like to speak of is the work of our Anglican Centre
at Crapaud, and our Anglican youth camps and music camps. I hope these will
grow and develop, but this will require concern and interest on the part of the
people as a whole. It must not be left to a few - although there will always
have to be a few who will spark the activities. It is so easy to be Archdeacon
and have a certain amount of success (I hate that word - but it is a word that
people understand), but it is only possible because of the follow-up and support
and backup you receive. I must say that during my time as Archdeacon on the
Island the backup of our priests and laity has been tremendous.

Photo by Bishop

During Archdeacon Tanton's regime Island Anglicans came together for worship,
service and fellowship as seldom before. The Camp Kingston property at Crapaud
that had been developed on the basis of the vision of an earlier generation of clergy
was centrally located and was used for youth camps, church music camps, picnics
and rallies. In 1973 he persuaded all the parishes to hold their respective parish
picnics together as one at Camp Kingston. The turnout was estimated at more than
500 people (above).

21

In 1974 heavy rain forced the event indoors, but the convenient proximity- of
St. John's Church to the Camp enabled the close to 300 people who braved the
elements to be accommodated (above). In such ways parochial isolation was
broken down and Island Anglicans began to develop a sense of themselves as
belonging together, in a Prince Edward Island Church. After Archdeacon
Tanton'.s departure the city parishes went back to having their own separate
picnics and the event declined in importance. It eventually died out.

Church music camps were held at Camp Kingston in the early 1970s and
attracted large numbers. In the above photograph the Camp Choir, under
the direction of Mark LeRoux, is shown at St. Paul's Church,
Charlottetown. Archdeacon Tanton is fourth on the left.

Island Anglican Sunday School teachers and pupils rallied in the High School
gymnasium in Summerside in 1968 to greet the Primate, Archbishop Howard Clark,
on his return from the Lambeth Conference that year. The same evening Island
Anglicans packed the Confederation Centre Theatre in Charlottetown to hear an
address by the Primate. In the above photograph of the Summerside gathering
Father Tanton is the figure to the right of the lectern. This youth rally was another
of Fred Hyndman's ideas.

RETIREMENT

I am going to retire to Nova Seotia. I have to take a year off. 1 am on a
disability pension now, and I have to take a year off completely free from
parish work in the hope that the "old ticker" will get better. Then I hope that
I will be of some use to somebody somewhere in a part-time capacity, or
otherwise. They want me to write a book, but I don't think anybody would read
it. We arc going to live in Boutilicr's Point in the parish of French Village. We
have a little summer home there that is going to be rebuilt and winterised as
a place for us to live. We are calling it "Bridmote". It means, "brid" is the
Anglo-Saxon word for "bird", and "mote" is the Anglo-Saxon for a "gathering".
So it is a place for the birds to gather. My wife has taken a very keen interest

23

in bird-watching, and we will have lots of birds, some with feathers and some
without. So we thought this would be a good name for it. We hope all the birds
the ones with feathers, and the ones without feathers as well, will come to see us.

Father Staff and Connie enjoyed some happy years at Bridmote, before
moving into Halifax and making an apartment on South Park Street their last
home. In Prince Edward Island the struggle to develop the life and ministry
of the Anglican Church continued, hut it missed his leadership. By 1995 the
St. Andrew's Davcare Centre had long since been closed, Camp Kingston had
been sold, and the Parish of Crapaud had lost its resident priest and been put
under the pastoral care of the rector of Milton. Most of these changes came
after a movement to make the Church on the Island a self-reliant jurisdiction
independent of the Diocese of Nova Scotia had been squelched, despite
widespread support for it in the Cathedral and the rural parishes. Father
Tanton's last intervention in Prince Edward Island Church affairs came before
the plebiscite held to determine the Island Church's future in 1987: he wrote,
"The Church in Prince Edward Island would benefit greatly by having its own
identity just as in political and civic affairs. My stand on this matter has always
been that the Church in Prince Edward Island should be a separate entity with
its own title."

Resurrection window, All Souls' Chapel, St. Peter's Cathedral, Charlottetown.

SERMONS & ADDRESSES

Bishop George Arnold (left). Archdeacon Tanton, and
Gerald Proctor (right) at a Diocesan Church Society
meeting held at the Englewood School, Crapaud.

SERMONS & ADDRESSES

Most of Father Tanton's surviving sermon notes are just that - notes.
They are jotted down on cards, or on the backs of bulletin covers
distributed from Church House in Toronto. They are sometimes typed,
sometimes hand-written, frequently with headings highlighted in red.
Others, like the sermon he prepared for his homiletics class assignment
in seminary, or the sermon he preached before H.M. Queen Elizabeth, are
written out in full. The content of his faith and loyalty to Christ and His Church
is expressed in these notes. Some examples follow.

A Priest in the Church

In February, 1932, G.S. Tanton submitted the following sermon to his Homiletics
II professor at King's College. The pencilled notes of the professor, probably
the legendary Dr. Vroom, are reproduced in brackets.

Text: "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good
tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth
salvation; that saith unto Zion. Thy God reigneth." Isaiah, 52, verse 7.

The prophet of old saw a vision of the exiles returning from their captivity.
He saw that great crowd of people as they were drawing nigh to the beloved
city. The old men with their long white beards who had come so often to the
temple to worship God. There were those with their children, who in their
childhood had played in the shadow of the temple. And there were the youths
who had never known the joy of dwelling in the land of their fathers. The old
men whose souls had thirsted so long for God were now to be satisfied. The
fathers were returning to build homes for their sons in the land they loved. The
youths were to realise their dreams in the land of which they had heard so
much. Is it any wonder that the prophet should exclaim, "How beautiful upon
the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings"? What a great
privilege it was to be able to publish peace and salvation to this eager and
expectant band, and to say to the beloved city, "Thy God reigneth"? And yet
this is the privilege and pleasure that awaits every man who becomes a priest
in the Church.

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Today the great crowd are returning from a self-inflicted exile. In times
of prosperity and pleasure they wandered away from God. Or perhaps it was
in times of carelessness or indifference that they wandered. They and their
children had suffered greater slavery than that of the children of Israel. The
very God within had been made to work the works of Satan (?). Now bent
down with sorrow and disappointment, their souls hungering for God, they
return to the home of their fathers, and it is our great privilege to bring to them
good tidings, peace and salvation. And to say unto thousands who have never
known Him, "Thy God reigneth".

There is a feeling that the peace for which the world is seeking is to be
found outside the Church. People would direct our attention to the progress
that science has made. They claim that science has brought the good tidings
and peace, because it has shown us a more healthy way to live. They claim a
great deal for knowledge, the bringing of truth. This is quite right in so far that
science and knowledge may bring to man the truth of his age, yet there is
something in man that calls for more than physical happiness and intellectual
satisfaction. Man is made up of body, mind and spirit, and it is the spiritual
side of man that longs for good tidings and the assurance of salvation, that
longs to be told that God reigneth. This is (?) the great responsibility and joy
of each man who enters the ministry of the Church.

Today, perhaps more than any time since the Great War, people are looking
to the Church for peace; not a mere satisfaction but a lasting peace and happiness
within. Let me illustrate: a man about middle age came to the rectory one dark
rainy November night. His shabby clothes clung to an undernourished body.
His face was haggard and drawn, and as you looked into the blue eyes there
was a hungry look. His very soul was to be seen in them. He came in and told
his story. He had had friends, lost his money, was forced to steal to keep up
appearances, was caught and imprisoned. His friends forsook him. He went
from bad to worse, no one seemed to care. It was much the usual story. He had
forgotten God and was now afraid to come to Him for help. What a great
privilege it was to pray with him, and in the morning to have him at the early
celebration, and to see the happiness and peace that entered into his soul as he
realised that there was "a Friend that sticketh closer than a brother." He realised
that there was One above all others that cared. The souls of men are longing
for that peace which is the result of communion with God. It is to these many
thousand souls of men and women, who have searched and are still empty,
who have substituted pleasure for peace and are still unsatisfied, that the
ministers of the Church can bring the peace of God that passeth all understanding.

The hearts that are longing for peace, the souls that are athirst for salvation,
and the minds that would see God, all stretch forth their hands asking to be
filled. And this task which lies before the priests of the church is only surpassed
by the joy they find in fulfilling it.

How beauteous are their feet

Who stand on Zion's hill,

Who bring salvation on their tongues.

And words of peace reveal.                   Hymn 487

(The sermon has many good thoughts. The introduction is too long and there
is no proper conclusion, no direct appeal, no personal touch. Indeed, this is
more an essay than a sermon. Ask yourself- what result did I seek in those
who hear this?)

A Good Soldier of Jesus Christ

An early, pre-Second World War, sermon.

St. Paul very often uses a soldier to denote the character of a Christian.
On his way to Rome he saw and admired the Roman soldiers. He admired the
vision, the courage, the self-sacrifice and the will-to-do of the Roman soldier.

Let us consider these characteristics of a good soldier.

The first quality which is necessary in a good soldier is Vision. When the
men enlisted and went to France they had a vision in their minds of their loved
ones at home suffering under a cruel rule. They had a vision of their friends
as slaves. And with this vision before them they were ready to give their lives
for others. It was a vision that drove them to pay that great sacrifice.

The other day I asked a returned man, "Would you go to war if war was
declared?" "Yes," he said, "if I thought that my staying home would cause my
loved ones to suffer."

As we have that vision of the sufferings and cruelty caused by
war, so do we have the vision of suffering and sadness caused by the
greatest of all wars, the war of sin. Sins of all natures. The war that
not only leaves the mortal effect but which also kills the soul, the very
God within us, the sin of greed and dishonesty which keeps so many
people poor and underfed, the sin of intemperance which can only
bring sorrow and suffering in its train, and the sin of fornication which

29

brings so much sorrow and suffering on innocent little children who haven't
the choice. This is the vision of suffering that is caused by the war of sin.

Let us turn the picture over and see the vision that the Church gives us,
Jesus Christ, the hope of all true Christians.

Immediately some people say that it is an impossible realisation, the vision
is but a mirage. What does the Church teach us? She teaches us, with the vision
of the sacrificed Christ before us, to pray that we may be given grace to carry
out that vision.

To carry out this vision we must have Courage. We find that courage was
another of the qualities of a good soldier. (We need courage) to live the vision
of Christ that the Church has given us. We must stand again and again against
ridicule, and the laughter of our friends, and the world. We must have the
courage of our convictions. This brings to my mind the story of St. Hugh of
Lincoln. He refused to give the king Communion because the king would not
forgive his enemy. Think of the courage it took for the bishop to stand there
in the face of the king, who had the power to kill him! When King Richard
saw the Bishop's great courage he forgave his enemy. It is such instances as
this that prove to us if we have the vision, and the courage, God will supply
the rest. Today we need moral courage, not physical courage, with which to
stand up for purity and charity, courage to be a Christian, and live the life of
Christ as revealed for us by His Church.

Loyalty is the third asset of a good soldier, and of a Christian. We joined
the forces of Christ's Church in our baptism. We ratify our faith in Him and
His Church at our Confirmation. But that is not sufficient. We must be loyal
and true to I lim and the Church at all times. We must be ready to serve "from
the rising up of the sun to the going down of the same," from the time we are
children till old age overtakes us. Don't cry down the work the Church is trying
to do. Don't go around discounting the merits of the Church without giving
those merits a try. Rather, go about having tried the teachings of Christ and
His Church, and put them into practice. Be loyal to the cause for which you
have pledged your very life.

The fourth is really two characteristics, those of Self-sacrifice and Obedience.
We must be ready to obey Christ and His Church, to submit to His teachings -
"Not my will but Thine be done" - "In full and glad surrender I give myself
to Thee." Self-sacrifice was the great principle that marked the soldiers who
gave their lives in the Great War for others. And thank God that is a characteristic
that has marked the lives of so many Christians.

Not only does the priest publish peace but also salvation, men who are
priests of the Catholic church have a great heritage. When Christ commissioned
His Church He also gave it a great promise. That promise is fulfilled in all the
sacraments of the Church, and especially in the Holy Communion: "Lo, I am
with you always..." Christ also said, "he that cometh to me I will in no wise
cast out". Like St. Paul, the priest is privileged by his inheritance, the Apostolic
Commission to go forth and proclaim to those who have never known Christ,
to those who have fallen by the wayside, to call to sinners and say, "This is a
true saying and worthy of all men to be received, that Christ Jesus came into
the world to save sinners". The priests of the Church are the messengers of
Him who said, "Come unto me all that travail and are heavy laden, and I will
refresh you."

Today the multitudes are repeating with the Psalmist, "My soul is athirst
for God, yea, even for the living God." What a joy it is to be able to carry the
message of hope to the souls that are restless and cast down, that their thirst
may be quenched and they find their living God.

This brings us to the third part of the prophet's exclamation, "That saith
unto Zion thy God reigneth." Jehovah had gone into captivity with His people
and with His people He returned (Gore). In these days of unemployment and
distress we find many people who doubt greatly whether God reigneth. This
is the result of their own negligence and to some extent the negligence of the
Church. When prosperity flourished men flew from pillar to post in search of
worldly pleasures and happiness. They believed in God. God was their King.
God was their Father. They accepted the creed of the Church, but blindly. As
a result, today, when a great crisis has arrived, instead of having a faith well
matured by study and prayer they have nothing. They rush off to the night club
or some other excitement and for the time being the problem seems to be
solved. But when things continue to go wrong they become discouraged, and
with the fool they say in their heart, "There is no God." It is the greatest joy
of the preacher's life when he can carry to these empty and distracted people
the message that their God reigneth. Many young men looking forward to the
ministry think only of the intellectual side and become discouraged. But the
message that we are to bring is not merely a verbal one. Not only must we tell
of Christ but we must live Christ. Men can go forth proclaiming good tidings,
celebrating the sacraments and leave the people cold and empty. Christ showed
forth God by His life and faith. Was it whereby those last words from the Cross
that made the centurion to glorify God, saying, "Certainly this was a righteous
man?" Rather, I think it was Christ's attitude towards those who were crucifying
Him, and His complete trust in God. The priests of the Church are not only
messengers but also witnesses.

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A splendid example of this was shown by the stewardess of the Stella,
which was wrecked on a rock off The Channel Islands. Just as the boat, in
which she was seated, was pushing off she noticed a passenger still on the
doomed ship and immediately she stepped back on board and gave up her seat.
She was a regular attendant at Church and Holy Communion. She had learned
her lesson of self-sacrifice in the great Sacrifice on Calvary. "If any man wishes
to come after me let him take up his cross daily and follow me." Many Christians
fail   to  realise  that  the  way  of Christ  is  the  way  of the  Cross.

(To be) a good soldier of Jesus Christ is a splendid ideal, but it cannot be
realised without vision, courage, loyalty, obedience and self-sacrifice.

The Visitation of the Sick

These notes, although undated, would seem to predate the 1962 revision of
The Book of Common Prayer because of the title. In the 1962 book it was
changed from "The Visitation of the Sick" to "The Ministry to the Sick."

Pain and Suffering

Introduction.

1.     Call your Doctor, then your Rector.
("The rector never came to see me????")

2.     Holy Communion in extremis'?

(The use of the Reserved Sacrament.)

3.     The question of Confession & Absolution.

4.     Making your will: remember the Church.

A.  The fact of pain.

Not merely a figment of the mind.
Pain in the animal world.
Pain as a danger signal.

B.  The approach to the fact of pain.

If God is love, why pain?
1. It forms character.

(a)  Result of misdeeds.

(b)  "Its forces are able to expand and expend themselves in a positive
direction, elevating, refining, dignifying the character to an infinite degree.
The men of sorrows are the men of influence in every walk of life." Illingworth.

(c) Every human being has need of suffering in one or other of its various
aspects, penal, corrective or preventive.

2.  In the field of Religion.

(a) Belief in a future life.

Craving of human heart for justice, man's own verdict on his sin.

(b) Sacrifice acceptable to God.

The root of sacrifice is self-sacrifice.

Giving the best.

Suffering has a mysterious value.

3. A modern attitude: ignore pain.

(a) The avoidance of the Crucifix.
A gilded Cross.

Easter without Lent.

(b) The idea of a God of love - no pain - neither the example or teaching
of Christ.

(c)  Pain, sorrow - hope, joy, love.

C. The Christian Approach.

1 .Christianity once and for all has put the value before the painfulness in
our thoughts - the Author and Finisher of our Faith. "For the joy that was set
before Him, He endured the cross, despising the shame." And, as St. Paul says,
"Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more
exceeding weight of glory, while we look not at the things which are seen, but
at the things which are unseen."

2. Face our problem of suffering.
Gethsemane faced.

3.The Cross endured.
Offer our affliction to God.
Calvary stands...
Suffering - sorrow - the greatest power in the world.

God is love - and love as we know it must be shown in sacrifice. The way
to God is the way of the Cross.

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Guest Preacher

In the course of his ministry Father Tanton was very much in demand as a
guest preacher and missioner. His widespread reputation throughout Nova
Scotia and beyond as a forceful and dynamic individual whose impact in his
parishes extended well beyond his religious responsibilities into the social and
economic welfare of the community, always guaranteed a good attendance.
Here are some examples of the notes he prepared for several of these occasions.

Encaenia Sermon, King's College

May 12, 1968

As one of King's longest living graduates - that is, 1 probably spent more
time living at King's before I became a graduate than many -1 must thank the
members of the graduating class who have done me the honour of asking me
to preach this sermon.

It is a temptation to make this an occasion for nostalgic memories, and to
become sentimental, to recall great Kingsmen like Dr. Vroom, Dr. Hunt, Dr.
Prince, Dr. Burns Martin, and others, some of whom happily are with us today.
Professor Bennett and Dr. Page, and to recall the great traditions of this, the
oldest English-speaking university in Canada, and the King's way of life. Her
ideals of manhood, learning and gentleness, and the implications of her motto
- Deo, Legi, Regi, Gregi - the initiations of the past, and the pranks we played.
But these are themes for the Haliburton Club, the President's Dinner, and such
like occasions.

This morning we have come to think on this occasion of graduation in a
special way - though not detached from these things just mentioned - and to
pause for a moment of dedication, before leaving King's to go out into the
world or to go on to further study, to think what our vocation in life is.

In January I was struck by the words of the Archbishop of Canterbury (a
graduate of this University, and its Patron) when in his New Year's Message
he said, in part, "There has been much to worry us, war and the misery war
causes in several parts of the world, and here at home our economic frustrations,
our behaviour problems. But the biggest worry is just this: while there is plenty
of unselfish service, and plenty of idealism among young people, we seem to
be caught in a kind of vicious circle and we can't get out of it. We lack as a
people some great purpose to inspire us, and there is a good deal of cynicism.
It is real liberation we need so badly."

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Again, several weeks ago I was challenged by the statement of the Reverend
W. Macleod, who met with the press and representatives of the churches in
Charlottetown to introduce us to "The Canadian Conference on Church and
Society, with the subtitle, "Christian Conscience and Poverty". He reminded
us, as does Pierre Berton in The Smug Minority, that besides the three million
Canadians who are destitute (that is, families of four where total earnings did
not reach $2,000) there are two million more living in poverty, and another
two million living in privation. These statistics tell us that more than seven
million people - more than a third of the nation - live in a state of destitution,
poverty and privation. This is in Canada, with its high standard of living.

He went on to tell us about his experiences in Africa and India, where in
India a man would follow a cow that he might pick up the dung, to dry it to
cook a meal of a mealy porridge, the only meal he would eat in two days. No
wonder these people are listless! And then the startling observation - we have
the know-how, we have the technical ability, we have the resources to feed the
world. But we don't have the will power or the moral drive.

Last week we gathered in Truro at an Ecumenical Conference that included
Anglicans, Baptists, Presbyterians, Lutherans, Roman Catholics and United
churchmen. Here we studied together the document. "Ecumenical Designs",
which is one of the pivotal study documents for "the National Consultation on
the Church in Community Life." Here we learned something of the shape of
the emerging society, the society in which you (graduates) will spend your
life, and make or not make your contribution. We learned that it will be a
society (a) of scientific super-structure, largely as a result of computers and
cybernation replacing manual labour and providing leisure; (b) of urbanisation,
even of rural areas, through television and consolidation; the new community
will not be determined by geography, but by a social pattern; (c) of secularisation,
we shall be the masters of our faith, to live as though God does not exist, and
if He does exist it doesn't make any difference. (In this society) situation ethics
and expediency will be the criterion of conduct.

But the Church's function will be to conserve values, to (guide) a society
which lacks purpose and direction, in which success is gauged by a man's
intelligent self-interest, and to (show) concern for the full unity of the human
family.

The Church, against this background, is called to be herself, the redeeming
society, to do for society that which it cannot do for itself. The Church - who
is the Church? "Ye are the Body of Christ." The Church must call the world -
people - to right priorities. We have gotten our priorities wrong. Jesus said

35

there are two great commandments - to love God - and to love neighbour. He
gave the priorities of Christianity: God first, other people next, self last. But
often we have gotten this the wrong way around. Nations, groups, individuals
in their relations with one another have so often had the order self first, and
God sometimes somewhere. Christians can make no compromise with the
dictum, "Man's intelligent self-interest will solve his problems."

The (Christian's) motivation or concern is:

"Jesus had compassion on the multitudes."
"As my Father has sent me even so send I you."

The dynamic we need is personal commitment to Christ expressed as
oblation of self.

In our generation the most spectacular expression was given in the life
and death of Martin Luther King, Junior - to which many will respond in an
emotional, sentimental way - and then go on their way unchanged.

We must take hold of that faith which Martin Luther King possessed. It
is only when you believe in - not about - Jesus that you can say, with St. Peter,
"Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God." Then, and only then, can you
appropriate to your life the redeeming power of God, and God can use you to
be His Church.

This is your mission!

We must find our dynamic for change in the person of Jesus Christ. He
is our salvation. He is the world's salvation, the only complete answer to man's
cry for light and deliverance.

Go forth in this faith, with the knowledge that Jesus said, "Be of good
cheer, for I have overcome the world."

My prayer for you is "God bless you - and make you a blessing."

The Blessed Virgin Mary

University of King's College Chapel, March 26, 1981.
The Blessed Virgin Mary - who is she?

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Despite the fact of Mariolatry at the time of the Reformation the Anglican
Church has claimed a special place for the Mother of our Lord in the Church's
teaching and liturgy.

In the Church Calendar she has no less than six days. If you have a Prayer
Book near turn to page ix, the Church Calendar. Note February 2, March 25,
July 2, August 15, and September 8.

While you have your Prayer Book in your hands turn to page xlvi, Lessons
proper for Holy Days. Note the terminology used for March 25, "the Annunciation
of Our Lady."

In Everyman's Book of Saints the author says, "Of Mary, the saint to
whom the Church owes a deeper debt of love and devotion than to any other,
we know very little."

St. Luke gives the story for the Annunciation, the Visit to Elizabeth, the
Birth at Bethlehem, the Visit of the Shepherds, the Purification, the Visit to
Jerusalem when Jesus was 12 years old (depicted in the window above the
altar), and the subsequent sojourn at Nazareth.

St. Matthew records the message of the angel to Joseph, the Adoration of
the Wise Men, and the Flight into Egypt.

St. John records her presence at the wedding in Cana (St. John 2: 1).

St. Mark (3:35) and St. Matthew (12:50) record that at Capernaum, "His
mother and his brethren stood without, desiring to speak with him", and He
said, "Who is my mother and my brethren? Whosoever shall do the will of
God, the same is my brother, my sister and my mother."

St. John 19: 18-27 tells us that standing by the cross of Jesus was His
mother - "Son, behold thy mother" to St. John, "Mother, behold thy son," to
St. Mary.

In Acts 1:14 she is mentioned, with "the women...and with his brethren"
as continuing in prayer and supplication with the apostles.

Lady Day

As noted above, the Prayer Book calls March 25 "the Annunciation of our
Lady" - and it is the Feast of the Incarnation of our Lord, the Son of God.

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It is well to note this because people sometimes speak as though the Incarnation
took place on Christmas Day. In fact, it began on Lady Day, nine months
before. What happened on Christmas Day was the Nativity or Birth of Jesus
Christ. He began to share our human nature at the moment of His conception.

The Collect for the Day says, "...As we have known the Incarnation of thy
Son Jesus Christ by the message of an angel..." and the Creed of St. Athanasius
says, "...Furthermore, it is necessary to eternal salvation that we believe faithfully
the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ..."

Nor did the Incarnation end on Christmas Day, for the Collect continues,
"so by his cross and passion we may be brought unto the glory of his resurrection."
The Incarnation continued throughout our Lord's earthly life, including His
death and resurrection, and at His Ascension our manhood to a still higher
dimension of being, a dimension in which we are promised a share in our
baptism.

The event referred to in the words, "Conceived by the Holy Ghost" is
commemorated in the Feast of the Annunciation on March 25, Lady Day.
"Born of the Virgin Mary" is commemorated on the Feast of the Nativity,
Christmas Day, December 25.

But the Incarnation continues with "suffered under Pontius Pilate, was
crucified, dead and buried - rose again - ascended into heaven." In this sense
the Incarnation did not end with the Ascension. Our manhood, now glorified,
is in heaven.

The Virgin Birth

St. Paul tells us in Galatians 4:4, "When the fullness of time was come
God sent forth his Son into the world, born of a woman." God, the eternal, the
everlasting, sent His only begotten Son. begotten before the worlds were made,
to be born of a pure virgin, as the Prayer Book tells us, "of the substance of
Mary His Mother."

Thus was fulfilled the good news foretold in Genesis in the very beginning
of God's revelation - "The seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head."
Father Stanton, of St. Alban's, Holborn, fame notes that "No sooner had the
Fall come than the first Gospel sermon of Redemption is preached." And it is
preached in those very words, the fact which we commemorate today, the seed
of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head.

If you believe that the Blood of the everlasting covenant can save you,
you must believe that Christ is very God as well as very Man. Only God can
save us.

"Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins"
(Matthew 1: 21). He is the Christ of the Old Testament and the Christ of the
New, born of the substance of the Virgin Mary His mother, very God and very
Man, who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven. So we
pray in the Collect, "As we have known the incarnation of thy Son Jesus Christ
by the message of an angel, so by his cross and passion may we be brought
to the glory of his resurrection."

It is worth noting that they who deny the Virgin Birth are the same who
deny the Resurrection of the Son of God. You see how complete the Collect
for today is.

Dr. W. Gilbert Wilson, Dean of Connor, Ireland, in his book. The Faith
of An Anglican, says "The Catechism declaration that 'God the Son became
man' is more fully expressed in the words of the Apostles' Creed that 'he was
conceived of the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary' - a statement intended
to express the belief that Jesus was born of a virgin without the intervention
of a human father." Critics of this doctrine often point to the paucity of Biblical
references to support it. But although the Virgin Birth is alluded to only by St.
Luke (1:34ft) and Matthew (1:18-25), St. Luke explicitly claims to have traced
"all things accurately from the first" so that his reader "might know the truth."
(Luke l:3ff) Dr. Plummer declares that in spite of the severest scrutiny St.
Luke's accuracy can very rarely be impugned.

It is generally agreed among scholars that Luke must have received the
facts which he records in the infancy narratives from Mary herself.

Notice as you read the Holy Gospel for the Annunciation that St. Luke
gives every detail. The name of the angel is given - Gabriel. God sent His angel
to a maiden - the name of the maiden is given - Mary - espoused to Joseph, of
the tribe of Judah. The name of the place is given. Every little particular about
the Incarnation of the Son of God is given.

Dr. J. Patterson-Smyth in his People's Life of Christ says, "The Church
did not believe the Virgin Birth because it was put into these Gospels, but it
was put into these Gospels because the Church believed it." St. Matthew and
St. Luke (in this) have the whole Church behind them.

Conclusion.

"Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word."
As she bowed her head and heard that message Mary became the Mother of
our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Incarnation was accomplished.

39

Mary believed the word of God that it should be accomplished. She believed
the Word and kept it in her heart., and it was accomplished. God's Word never
goes forth in vain. Jeremy Taylor says, "When God would save man He uses
man." God's purpose for the salvation of the world was fulfilled in the Blessed
Virgin Mary.

I would like to leave you with this question: DO YOU BELIEVE GOD'S
WORD WILL BE ACCOMPLISHED IN YOU?

DO YOU BELIEVE GOD MADE YOU?

DO YOU BELIEVE GOD PUT YOU HERE?

DO YOU BELIEVE GOD LOVES YOU?

DO YOU BELIEVE THE BREATH YOU TAKE THIS MOMENT YOU
TAKE FROM GOD'?

DO YOU BELIEVE GOD'S WORD CAN BE ACCOMPLISHED IN
YOU'?

With all your shortcomings, your trials, your pains, your heartaches -just
as you are - will you bow your head and say with the blessed Mother, "Be it
unto me according to thy word"? If so, your life will take on a new purpose
and a new quality, for "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is set
on Thee."

May your prayer be that of the Office Hymn for the Annunciation (English
Hymnal 213):

Jesu 's tender Mother

Make thy supplication
Unto Him who chose thee
At His Incarnation.

That, O matchless Maiden,

Passing meek and lowly.
Thy dear Son may make us

Blameless, chaste and holy.

So, as now we journey

Aid our weak endeavour.
Till we gaze on Jesus

And rejoice forever.

40

The Duties of a Churchman

St.   Paul's  Church,  and St.  Mark's  Church.  Halifax,  Nova Scotia,  Lent  1961

Living the Faith

"I don't go to Church, and I am just as good as those who go." Or this
statement from an article in a recent edition of MacLeans:

"The Church has always meant a lot to me, and so I go whenever nothing
else gets in the way. I like sitting there. I like the singing and the feeling of
closeness and the whole atmosphere. It reminds me of when I was a little girl.
Of course, I never listen to the sermons. I just close my ears to them. They are
almost always silly or dull, and if I don't know how to live a decent life at my
age no sermon is going to teach me."

Behind these two statements lies a misconception of what the Church is,
and what her task or work is.

Some years ago the House of Laity (of the Church Assembly) of the
Church of England in England set up a committee to report on the duties and
obligations involved in membership in the Church of England.

The sort of thing they had in mind was this: "Suppose a young man, bought
up in an irreligious home, becomes converted, or at least begins to make
enquiries about Christianity and the Church of England, what rules and duties
should he be told that he will have to accept? In what ways should it become
manifest to himself and to his friends that he is now a member of the Church
of England, and what should he be told that it should involve for him?

We know that there are people who tell us that if we have the right spirit
we don't need rules. That sounds very well but in actual fact, because of our
very nature, we need rules, and if we are going to "live the Faith" we must
have a Rule of Life.

Perhaps the report to the Church Assembly on "The Spiritual Discipline
of the Laity" caused the revisers of the 1959 (Canadian) Book of Common
Prayer to include in "A Supplementary Instruction" at the end of the Catechism
this admonition:

41

"Every Christian man or woman should from time to time frame for himself
a Rule of Life...."

It is possible that even this guide is a bit too vague for the average Layman.
I think what the Layman wants the Church to say (is), "Here is a simple rule;
start here and build on this your way of living the Faith."

This simple rule consists of six parts or precepts...

1. Attendance at Public Worship and regular Communion.

Why does the Church exist? The Church is not primarily a charitable
organisation nor an educational institution. It is not the Church's first business
to teach people the right way to live, nor to promote social justice, nor to help
the poor and the sick, nor to be the instrument of founding and spreading God's
Kingdom on earth. All these things are secondary to her first business, which
is to worship God, to glorify and praise Him.

The first and chief reason why the Church exists is the worship of God.
Worship is the Church's primary duty, and the activity from which everything
else follows.

It is true that good practising Christians are a leaven in society, but that
is not their "reason for being." The essence of the Christians' religion is that
they have become the Body of Christ and live in Him.

The little child at Baptism is grafted into the Body of Christ. Oh, if our
people could only grasp that fact, we would see then that our first duty is to
be the Body of Christ.

One of the great blessings of the Reformation was the Bible and Prayer
Book in our own language. A study of our liturgy makes it very clear that the
Sunday offering of worship is a joint offering of Priest and Laity. So many of
our people cherish the concept of "The Priesthood of the Laity", yet so few of
them accept its implication, that without the Laity the Church's worship is
imperfect. Every Churchman by his Baptism and Confirmation has a duty to
God to worship Him every Sunday if he possibly can. That is what Sunday
is for.

Bishop R.C. Mortimer, a great moral theologian, says, "To let a whole
Sunday pass without going to Church is a sin. It is the sin of irreligion. It is
comparable in gravity with theft, or malice or fornication. These latter sins are
breaches of our duty to our neighbour. Not going to Church on Sunday when we

42

can is a breach of our duty towards God. It requires a very good excuse indeed
if it is not to be counted a grave sin.

Not only is it our duty to go to Church on Sunday, but Churchmen ought
to make a special effort to go to Church on Christmas Day, Epiphany, Ash
Wednesday, The Feast of the Annunciation, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday,
Ascension Day, and All Saints' Day.

2. Regular Communion.

A second rule or precept is to Communicate regularly, and at least at
Christmas, Easter and Whitsunday.

The rubric in the 1959 Canadian Prayer Book says, "It is the duty of every
confirmed person, after due preparation, to partake of the Holy Communion
frequently, and particularly on the greater Holy Days, of which Easter is the
chief."

Why the Holy Communion? The foundation of all our Christian life is to
obey our Lord's commands, one of which was and is, "Do this in remembrance
of Me."

Both for his own sake and for that of the Church it is the duty of every
Christian to obey our Lord's command, "Do this in remembrance of Me"
because in the Holy Eucharist

(a) The Church and the individual is identified with Christ in His atoning
work on Calvary;

(b) It is the means by which Church and individual may be offered along
with Him to the Father.

(c)  It is a means of renewing and deepening the union with Him.

(d) It is a means of forgiveness and reconciliation.

(e) It is a means of reconsecration to His service.

From the very first days, every Sunday, the Church has obeyed the command
of Her Lord and has celebrated the Holy Communion. It is the duty of all Church

43

people regularly to take part in this service. How often we should communicate
is another question.

The Rule does say we should be regular. That is, there should be a rule.
It is not just a matter of going when we please, or feel like it.

Many Churchmen see it their duty to communicate every Sunday, others
once a month, others less frequently. All these are keeping the Church's rule.
They are to be judged by none but their own consciences.

The rubric in the revised Prayer Book of 1959 needs interpretation and
must be understood in the light of ancient tradition and canon law.

Before the Reformation, by the decrees of the Lateran Council of 1215,
the minimum of three times a year was reduced to once a year, at Easter. At
the Reformation the old rule or canon was restored, which required every lay
person   to   communicate   at   Christmas,   Easter  and   Whitsunday.

We can see from this that at each of these great feasts there should be the
same large number of communicants as at Easter.

Bishop Mortimer says, "There is no question but that the ideal is that on
every Sunday all the members of each local Church should be in their places
at this service. The whole Church should be one in this supreme act of worship
and union with the Master. The separation of the offering of the Eucharist from
the Communion of the people is a decline from the primitive practice which
the English Reformers sought to correct."

The offering of the Eucharist has properly to be consummated by the
people offering themselves in Communion, and in the act of receiving back
into themselves the Lord's atoning, hallowing life.

We should come regularly to the Holy Communion not because we are
worthy but because he bids us come. It is in this spirit that we accept the rule
to communicate regularly.

3. Fasting

(a) The fact of fasting in the experience of man:

Cruden's Concordance tells us that "Fasting has, in all ages, and among
all nations, been an exercise much in use in times of mourning, sorrow and
affliction. The sense of it is in some sort inspired by nature.

44

All great religions teach fasting. Therefore (it is to be seen as)
(i.) An innate religious duty;

(ii) Something necessary to the spiritual life. Did not Jesus say, after He had
healed the lunatic son, "Howbeit, this kind goeth not out but by prayer and
fasting" (St. Matthew 17:21)?

(b)  What does the Bible teach about fasting?

There are many examples of fasting in the Old Testament. It is presumed
by many that Abraham fasted in his mourning for Sarah (Genesis 23: 2) and
Jacob for his son Joseph (Genesis 37: 34). Moses fasted forty days on Mount
Horeb (Exodus 34: 28). Elijah fasted forty days (1 Kings 19:8). Also we read
of many one-day fasts.

Our Lord fasted forty days - which we recall in our Lenten observance.

All these were not regular or usual fasts.

Our Lord in no place set stated or directed fasting. Yet in the Sermon on
the Mount He set forth how or in what spirit we should fast. (St. Matthew 6:
16). He implied that fasting was associated with mourning: "When the bridegroom
shall be taken away from them" (St. Luke 5: 33 - 35) "then shall they fast in
those days."

In the Early Church (Acts 13: 2) "as they ministered to the Lord and
fasted"; and in the sending forth of Barnabas and Saul (Acts 13: 3) "when they
had fasted and prayed...."; and St. Paul (2 Corinthians 6: 4, 5) "....but in all
things approving ourselves as the ministers of God...in fastings" and (2
Corinthians 11: 27) "....in weariness and painfulness...in fastings often."

(c) Does our Prayer Book teach fasting?

See the Revised Prayer Book page 72 and page xiii.

(d)  Why do we fast?

We should first note that fasting is only a token, generally a token of our
sorrow for sin.

In the Bible persons fasted before special Communion with God. Fasting
was also an expression of grief over the death of a friend. Fasting was an
expression of sorrow for sin. Fasting was an expression of humility.

In the experience of the Church fasting is a symbol of love, and it helps to
identify ourselves with our Blessed Lord: "Shall not we thy trial share and from

45

earthly joys abstain, fasting with unceasing prayer, strong with thee to suffer
pain?"

Fasting is a discipline. We deny ourselves legitimate things that we may
be able to say No to unlawful things.

Fasting is a witness to our faith. We abstain from meat on Fridays. There
is a value in all Christians marking Friday, witnessing to their faith by this
simple act. It reminds us of our Lord's saving death upon the Cross.

The Lenten fast from harmless pleasures gives us an opportunity to have
more time for prayer and Bible reading. It gives us an opportunity to make a
special self-denial offering.

(e) Why fast at a particular time?

Because we are a family in the Church, and there is less opportunity and
tendency for show or ostentation. We are better able to follow the spirit of
fasting as set forth in the Sermon on the Mount.

Fasting, then is:

A token of our penitence and love;

It will take the form of curtailment of pleasures;

It will strengthen self-discipline;

It will recall us, in the face of the distraction of ordinary life, to the
seriousness of our Christian calling;

It will provide more time for prayer and worship.

4. Dues & Almsgiving.

Our duty is "to contribute fairly to the expenses of the Church and to give
generously to the need of others" - or, as the new Prayer Book says, "the
offering of money according to his means for the support of the Church and
home and overseas."

Archbishop Joost de Blank of Capetown once said, "There are two main
groupings of Christians: those who use the Church in any way it can serve them,

46

and those who serve the Church in any way it can use them." Some Christians
are militant and some are passengers. Some are Getters and some are Givers.

In nothing is this more evident than in the financial support of the Church.

Our talk today falls under two general headings, Alms and Dues.

What are Dues?

To contribute fairly to the expenses of the Church.

Dues are a matter of justice. How unreal the Getters are in their approach
to the Church and her ministrations, e.g. The young couple who want their
baby baptised; the young couple who want to get married: priest, organist,
sexton, lights, heat; the people who want their loved ones buried.

There would be no Church if God had to depend upon people like these.

Dues and Tithes are looked upon for the parish only. But the parish is not
the unit of the Church. That is the Diocese. (And there is also the) Province.

We receive the sacraments at the hands of a Bishop or Priest who has been
commissioned by and acts in the name of the whole Church by virtue of his
ordination.

The motive of our giving is a matter of justice. Yet it is, all the same, a
direct giving to God, and the real motive which ought to impel us to discharge
this duty is the love of God.

What are Aims'?

In addition to the duty to maintain the Church there is the duty of Almsgiving.
Lent means Prayer. Fasting, Almsgiving.

Almsgiving is not a matter of justice but of love.

(It has been said) "The motive of Almsgiving is derived from the duty of
imitating the divine compassion."

Almsgiving is to obey the command to love thy neighbour as thyself.

It is giving to those who can make no return.

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Mark this text! Ephesians 4: 28: "...But rather let him labour, working
with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that
needeth." Most of us work that we may have to give to ourselves or our own.

How should 1 give?

Contribute fairly... according to....means.

"Now concerning the collection for the saints. ...Upon the first day of the
week let every one of you lay by him in store as God has prospered him." (1
Corinthians 16: 1,2) Yes, I know you have heard that before - but the Widow's
Mite was accepted because it was sacrificial: "She has given all that she hath."

The spirit of sacrifice is asked for each of the duties to which Church
members are called, and in no instance is this more evident than in their giving
of money.

Why should I give?

Because justice demands it.

Because love demands it.

Because of recognition of God as Creator. We are living under judgement.
We are stewards. We are not our own: "We give thee but thine own, Whate'er
the gift may be; All that we have is thine alone, A trust, O Lord, from thee."

us.

(It is) the response of a loving heart: "We love Him because He first loved

Induction of a Rector

The following sermon was preached initially a I the Induction of the Reverend
Bruce Howe (one of Father Tanton's "hoys" from St. Mark's Parish, Halifax) as
Rector of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, on February 17,1980, and again on October
26 of the same year at the Induction of the Reverend Keith Ham/in* (another of
his "boys") as Rector of the parish of Antigonish - Bayfield, Nova Scotia. It was
preached a third time on July 13, 1982, when Canon Robert Tuck was inducted
by the man who replaced him as archdeacon in Prince Edward Island, the Reverend
Robert Power, as Rector of the parish of Holy Trinity Church, Georgetown, "after
seven years as priest-in-charge" (as Father Tanton notes on his manuscript).

*See "Elijah's Mantle", in the section A Few Tales.

48

Introduction

1.  A personal note: A faithful, loyal, intelligent altar boy with a family
background of devotion and loyalty to the Church.

2. The Purpose of the Service: To emphasize the relation between the Rector
and People as (between) Shepherd and Flock, "to outline before him his duties
and responsibilities, and to put before the whole congregation their share in
this ministry of Christ and His Church."

3. The General Question of Priesthood and Ministry:

(i) When your Rector was ordained he was asked the following question
by the Bishop, "Do you think in your heart that you be truly called, according
to the will of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the order of this Church, to the order
and ministry of priesthood?" Answer: "I think it." The work and life of the
Rector lies in his calling to the ministry of priesthood.

(ii) There is great confusion in the popular mind respecting this order in
the Church, confusion in using the terms "minister" and "priest." This confusion
is intensified when we use the terms interchangeably - for a priest is always
a minister, but a minister is not always a priest. E.g. The selection of the seven
deacons (Acts 6: 3ff) for ministerial works. Tonight I want to talk about the
priesthood, and in particular the priest in the parish, or the parish priest.

Does mankind need a priest?

We are told that the Hebrews gave the world our religion, and right at the
beginning of their recorded experience is the realisation of man's rebellion
against God... Adam and Eve... Cain and Abel.

(a)  The biblical idea of sin, which permeates our self-understanding when it
is truly Christian, sees man as self-centred, self-serving, self-destructive,
alienated from God, and contaminated in His presence. Many people are afraid
of this radical realism in the Christian doctrine of man. They can only bear to
speak about man as created in the image of God, and to think of our way to
God as simply a matter of our own initiative and our innate good impulses.

(b) Classic Christian belief has always insisted that we have to have someone
between, a mediator, uniting man to God in himself because he did something
powerful and sacrificial.

(c)  The powerful and sacrificial thing, the Cross and the Resurrection, both
seen together as one act of God, reveal Christ to be the Priest of the Cosmos,
the Word, the Logos, the conquering Light who lightens every man, so that
"the new and living way" back to God through Jesus Christ our Lord is at the
heart of the Universe.

God has given us a Priest - Mediator,

(a) for St. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5: 18 - 19, "And all things are of God,
who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given us the
ministry of reconciliation, to wit, that God was in Christ reconciling the world
to himself."

49

(b) Hear the words of the Epistle to the Hebrews, chapter 3: 1, a most powerful
expression of the unique priesthood of Christ, "the Apostle and High Priest of
our profession, Jesus Christ."

(c) Again in Chapter 4: 14, "Seeing then that we have a great High Priest that
has passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.
For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feelings of
our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin."

(d)  He is made priest by God himself, who declares both, "Thou art my son,
today I have begotten thee" (Psalm 2: 7 and Hebrews 5: 5), and also, "Thou
art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek."

(e)  Jesus is the end of all other priesthoods. The priesthood of Christ is the
termination, but also the fulfillment, of the priesthood of the Old Covenant.

(f) His priesthood is absolutely new, and comes from God's own act establishing
the New Covenant through Christ's self-sacrifice, for again the writer to the
Hebrews points out, "he has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices
daily, first for his own sin and then for those of the people, he did this once
for all when he offered up himself (Hebrews 7: 27).

(g) There is only one priest, Jesus Christ. He, and He alone, can bond God and
man because of what He did for us, and because of what He is as the incarnate
unity of God and man. This is well expressed in the hymn by Canon William
Bright: "Look Father, look, on his anointed face. And only look on us as found
in him...."

Christ sends His Priesthood into the world.

(a) Christianity differs from other world religions in that its Founder left behind
Him nothing save a group of men. But they were not merely teachers and
examples   but   extensions   of  Himself and   His   divine   mission.

(b) Jesus commissions His Apostles:

St. Matthew 10:40 - "He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that
receiveth me receiveth him that sent me."

St. John 20: 21 - 23, "Then said Jesus to them again. Peace be unto you:
as my Father has sent me, even so send I you. And when he had said this, he
breathed on them, and said unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: whosoever
sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whosoever sins ye retain they
are retained." (See the Prayer Book, page 655.)

St. Matthew 28: 18 - 20: "And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying,
All power is given unto me in heaven and earth. Go ye therefore and teach all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the
Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded
you; and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world."

They were ordained and sent to do even as Jesus Himself had done,

To teach God's truth...
To preach God's Word...

To administer God's Sacraments...

To declare God's forgiveness of sins...
To guide God's holy family...
This Ministry of Priesthood was given to your Rector.
(Prayer Book, page 655)

The aim of the service tonight:

It might be called in our modern jargon a "job description" of the ministry
of priesthood and the ministry of reconciliation. This ministry can be summarised
under what has been called the Three P's - Presence, Proclamation, and
Persuasion.

(i) Presence. The Lord's first word of commission was not "preach" but "go";
and going into the world means presence. This is the vision the Parish Priest
must catch today. Jesus said, "I will make you fishers of men" - not keepers
of an aquarium. The fisherman goes where the fish are!

Note the words of the regional dean on the service form: "It will be
necessary for the rector to visit among his people, to know them, and to share
their life, so that he may be trusted by them."

(2)  Proclamation. Proclaiming the Good News of the mighty acts of God in
Jesus, not good humanistic advice or political theories, but the Gospel of Jesus
Christ. Bishop Terwilliger says, "Preaching is not just the ministerial talking
in Church; preaching is the meeting between God and His people with the
preacher in between. Jesus said, "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will
draw all men unto me" (St. John 11: 32). Jesus proclaimed, in Word and
Sacrament! The Church must recover the sense of Presence in preaching.

(3)  Persuasion. The priest must "so present Christ Jesus in the power of the
Holy Spirit that men may be persuaded to come to Him in penitence." The
greatest force for persuasion is the example and demeanour of the priest. The
people took note of the Apostles - "Now when they saw the boldness of Peter
and John...took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus" (Acts 14:
13). As he celebrates the sacraments and preaches the Word, the priest will
persuade people by his acts, his attitude, and in his face, far more than by what
he says.

He will persuade if first he himself is absorbed and awed by being a priest
of God and the Church, if he realizes the responsibility of the call to be the
celebrant of the Divine Mysteries and the preacher of the Word, to perform
the ministry of reconciliation.

51

Conclusion.

I want to leave you with one picture. It is found at Exodus 17. It is the story
of Moses being helped by two men, Aaron and Hur, during the battle between
the Israelites and Amalek. "And it came to pass when Moses held up his hands
that Israel prevailed; and when he let down his hands Amalek prevailed. But
Moses' hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he
sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on one side, and
the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of
the sun."

With the help of each other they were able to lead the Israelites to victory.
And so the priest and people are needed today to fight the battles of Christ,
and they need the support each of the other in their actions.
Aaron and Hur didn't supplant the ministry of Moses, but they supplemented
it. The Seven Deacons in Acts didn't supplant the ministry of the Apostles,
they supplemented it.

Tonight I challenge the people of Saint John's, Lunenburg, to hold up the
hands of their new Rector by their several ministries, so that the forces of God
may prevail in this place, and so that the kingdoms of this town may become
the   kingdom   of our  Lord   and   His   Christ   (Revelation   11:   15).

Installation of a Regional Dean

On April 23, 1980, the Reverend Edward L.H. Tuck, then rector of the Parish

of Chester, Nova Scotia, was installed as the dean of the St. Margaret's Region
in the Diocese of Nova Scotia. Canon Tanton. who had retired and was living
at Bridmote in the Region, was the preacher.

Introduction:

(a)  Section 5(a) of Canon 9 says, "The Bishop shall appoint a priest resident

within each region, to be known as the Regional Dean of.......Region, according

to the procedure set forth in Section 6 of this Canon."

(b)  Regional Dean, Rural Dean, the Dean of Nova Scotia - a dean in theory
is one of or over ten.

(c) Appointed by the Bishop on nomination by the Clergy and Lay representatives
of the Region.

(d)  His duties - see Canon 9, Section 5, b,c,d,e,g,

(e) The need for organisation and order in carrying out the Church's work. In
the New Testament: appointment of 7 deacons; ordained elders in every church
(Acts 14:23).

(f)  But we must ever be on guard to distinguish between the work of the
Church and the workings of the Church. We can have the best organisation
in the world but without the dynamic of the Spirit it is useless. A valuable
watch  set  in  diamonds  which  does  not  tell  the  time  is  useless.

What is the Work of the Church?

St. Matthew 28: 19 - 20: "Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptising them
in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them
to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you
always, even unto the end of the world. Amen." The Duke of Wellington
called this text the Marching Orders of the Church.

First, let us think of the world into which we are sent.

(a) It is not dissimilar to that of the early Christians, especially if we compare
conditions of today with those described by St. Paul in the Epistles to the
Corinthians.

(b) Christianity in our own land is no longer the standard for belief and practice.
Today many leaders if not actually anti-Christian are indifferent to Christ's
teaching on man and morals, even leaders elected to public office.

(c) As population increases in the world we find the actual number of Christians
each succeeding year is a smaller percentage of the total world population.
Only in Africa can we find membership outstripping population growth.

(d) Christian influence in our own Region and local communities is a minority
influence.

How do we react?

(a)  Are we shaped by fashion and fad rather than by our faith? Do we adapt
to secular culture? Are we conformed to this world, or are we transformed by
the Gospel of Jesus Christ?

(b)  When we see the indifference and hostility do we panic - throw up our
hands, discouraged - think the Church has failed and is outmoded?

(c)  The Church may be tempted to grow in upon itself, the parish become a
holy huddle, a church club, go into its shell, become a closed community, and
long for the good old days.

(d) The rise of cults and strange sects and a growing pluralistic society. People
inadequately grounded in the Christian Faith say there is more than one way
to God, and they slip into the heretical position where Jesus becomes but one
of many possible saviours, and ceases to be the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

The Mission of the Church is to hear witness to the uniqueness of Christ.

Go - teach - "Who do men say that I am? Thou art the Christ, the Son of the
Living God." This is the Church's message - the strong Christ of the Creeds.
No watered down doctrine of Christ will win the world,
(a) The first sermon in the Apostolic Church was that of St. Peter on the death
and resurrection of Christ. Lord Ramsey of Canterbury writes, "Easter tells us
both of a mighty deed and of a continuing presence. Christians rejoice in
both and find in both a focus of faith and hope. The deed is of God's sovereign
power; Christians are, in St. Paul's words, "believers in Him who raised up

53

Jesus from the dead," and their God, in St. Peter's words, is one "who raised
up Jesus from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope might
be in God."

(b) the Christian God is the God of Easter. Long after the event our faith still
has at its centre the mighty act which happened once, and Jesus is always with
us. This is the Gospel!

(c) Easter does not mean that Good Friday is left behind. We must pass through
the Cross to the Easter victory. The divine event includes both death and
resurrection. The victorious Christ could say to St. Thomas, "reach hither thy
finger, and behold my hands; reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side;
and be not faithless, but believing."

The story of Jesus is not the tale of an inspired prophet.

(a) The heart of the Gospel is as Christians believe that "in the birth, life, death,
resurrection and ascension of Jesus God was giving His own self in becoming
man, and sharing utterly in man's life. St. John says, "The Word was made
flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory." His gospel goes on to
show us how the glory shone in the self-giving of His Passion and Resurrection.

(b)  Bishop Ramsey says, "Good Friday and Easter are thus the key to the
Christian belief about God and about Jesus, and the key also to the Christian
life. This is the Gospel we have to witness to, to proclaim. The death and
resurrection were the theme of the earliest Christian preaching, even before
the records of His birth, and life, and teachings. Christians do not always
remember how cross-centred is the Christian faith and the Christian life.

(c) Our mission is to proclaim the Gospel of dying and living, sorrowful and
rejoicing. That is the Christian way. Nowhere is this double aspect of the
Christian life more vividly present than in the Eucharist. Tonight, in the
Eucharist, we share in heaven's own worship with the angels and saints, and
at the same time know that the Risen Jesus who feeds us with the bread of
heaven is also the Jesus who suffers in the world around us, and bids us find
Him and serve Him there. If you can't find Jesus in the children of the slums
you won't find Him in the tabernacle on your altars!

Conclusion: This is the Church's Work, the Church's Mission: to know
Christ and to make Him known. How shall we respond?

(a) St. Paul reports: "First, they gave themselves."

(b) God has given to every man and woman the measure of faith. We will first
witness by being, then proclaiming.

(c) We will look about and see that here in our Region the fields are white unto
the harvest.

(d)  We will study our Bibles and our Prayer Books that we may "be ready
always to give an answer to every man that asketh a reason of the hope that
is in you with meekness and fear." 1 Peter 3: 15.

(e) We will love and hold fast to our Mother the Church:

"Church of the living God,
Pillar and ground of truth;
Keep the old paths thy fathers trod
54                                          In thy illumined youth."

What Anglicanism Means To Me

On November J9th, 1975, Father Tanton addressed what he calls the "King's
Divinity Students" at The Atlantic School of Theology. His notes for this talk
are in outline form on cards. They are reproduced here verbatim, and are
typical of the notes he carried with him into pulpits and other places where
he was invited to speak

Thanks for the kind invitation to speak.

Have brought some notes & books, The little boy who said of the preacher
reading his notes, "If he can't remember what he is going to say how does he
expect us to."

"WHAT ANGLICANISM MEANS TO ME" or 'WHY I AM AN ANGLICAN."

The man at the political meeting, My father was a Liberal, my grandfather
was a Liberal, so I am a Liberal. The excited drunk replied, My father was a
bachelor, my grandfather was a bachelor, so I am a bachelor.

"WHY I AM AN ANGLICAN"

I am an Anglican by birth, upbringing and training, and continue to be an
Anglican by conviction.

THE ROUTE BY WHICH I HAVE COME.

Influence of home. Father an Anglican, pro-British. Raised on the St. Paul
Catechisms, in which emphasis is on the Historic Catholic reformed position
of the Church, and Biblical foundation.

Mother - a combination of Presbyterian - Methodist background. She
learned Catechism with her children in Church (after 20 years).

Influence of Parish Priest. Archdeacon White, rector for 26 years. The
little things. Religion caught not taught. The candles and crucifix in the vestry.
Tensions in the deanery. LOYALTY TO THE CHURCH. Canon Malone an
indirect influence. Years at College and influence of various persons. Mount
Allison - Rector of Sackville and the AYPA.

KING'S COLLEGE. In 1930 at Liscomb - Norman Swain, a Public
accountant, introduced me to the Anglo-Catholic movement (lived with the
Swains after hospital in 1931).

The literature of the Anglo-Catholic movement. The emphasis on the
Liturgy. The monastic orders, especially Father Palmer and the Cowley fathers.
Holy Cross, the Benedictines of Nashdom and Three Rivers, the Sisters of the
Church, SSJE and Orders in the USA. Anglo-Catholicism and Social Concerns.

Recall that this was the time of the Depression and the fear of Communism

-  which by the way carried over a long time after (Feast of the Purification
incident*). Anglo-Catholics were the leaders - Kingsley, F.D. Maurice, Basil
Jellicoe, Father Wainwright of St. Peter's, London Docks, William Temple,
Bishop Gore. The emphasis on the INCARNATION - that Jesus came to save
the whole man - whole faith - for the whole man for the whole world - this
was their mission.

LITURGY - the expression of that mission. The appeal to the senses. The
eye-gate - the beauty of holiness. Fr. Ellis - Dean Whalley at All Saints'
Cathedral. Archbishop Roper's visit to Halifax. His talk to the members of
The Canadian Church Union at St. Stephen's Chapel.

Rev. A. LeDrew Gardner - Bible student. Saint Paul's Mission & The Church
Army. George Bickley - Dr. Savary. St. George's, Halifax, & Dr. Cunningham

-  Pastor of Souls. Teachers at King's, and the College Chapel.

THESE ARE SOME OF THE FACTORS THAT MADE ME AN ANGLICAN.

"WHAT DOES ANGLICANISM MEAN TO ME?"

Often others can "verbalise" your feelings and convictions better than you
can do yourself.

Archbishop Fisher, after his world tour, said, "Wc have no Anglican Faith
per se, but we hold the Catholic Faith of the Creeds, we have the Catholic
sacraments, and the Catholic ministry of Bishops, Priests, and Deacons. Bishop
Montefiore says, "...I am grateful because I owe to her (the Anglican Church)
my knowledge of the "giveness" of revelation, the objectiveness of worship,
the balance of word and sacrament, the simple dignity of public prayer, all that
is best in Catholic tradition. Evangelical piety and Catholic discipline are at
hand to guide and help me, but I have to stand on my own feet."

Emmanuel Amand de Mendieta, a converted R.C. Benedictine, says,
"Historically, doctrinally, in moral teaching and in liturgy, she continues the
life of the Church of the Middle Ages, and is the one fully Catholic Church
of this land (England). She remains faithful to the universal tradition of the
Church of our Lord, and conforms to this in the spirit of St. Augustine's words:
"In necessities unity, in doubtful things liberty, in all things charity." In the

essential dogmas of historic Christianity her voice is unanimous, but she
imposes no excessive burdens upon the intellectual or personal liberty of her
members. She maintains the essential constitution of an ecclesiastical hierarchy
(Bishops, Priests and Deacons) and, in conformity with the Council of Nicaea
(325) does not impose compulsory celibacy upon her clergy. And the sacraments,
of which Baptism and the Eucharist are the chief, are properly and duly
celebrated. She is Catholic because she is so essentially a Biblical Church, and
she wisely puts both the Scripture and the Liturgy in the hands of her people
in their own language."

In other words, she holds dear the four principles of The Lambeth-Chicago
Quadrilateral (1880) which, long before, Jeremy Taylor (1613- 1667) described
as follows: "We have the Word of God, the faith of the Apostles, the Creeds
of the primitive Church, the articles of the four first General Councils, a holy
liturgy, excellent prayers, perfect sacraments, faith and repentance, the Ten
Commandments, and the sermons of Christ, and all the precepts and counsels
of the Gospel... Our priests absolve the penitent. Our Bishops ordain Priests,
and confirm and baptise persons, and bless their people and intercede for them.
AND WHAT COULD THERE BE WANTING FOR SALVATION?"

WHAT ANGLICANISM MEANS TO ME: - THE PRAYER BOOK AND
THE MASS.

In this age of sensitivity training and navel-gazing we need the corrective
the Prayer Book provides in its balance of "subjectivity" and "objectivity" in
the practice of religion.

* On February 2. 1949, The Feast of the Purification, six priests who formed
the nucleus of "The Anglican Fellowship for Social Action" in the Diocese of
Nova Scotia - a group that included Stavert Tanton - were summoned by
Archbishop George Frederick Kingston to meet with him, and his new coadjutor
Bishop. Robert Harold Waterman, at King's College, to hear complaints and
accusations levelled against them by a group of laymen to the effect that they
were "trouble-making, destructive, anarchic and communistic." The meeting
ended when one of the group asked the Archbishop if any of the six would be
among the ten best parish priests in the diocese. The Archbishop replied that
all six would be included in such a list (See The Briefcase Boys, by Russell
Elliott, Lancelot Press, page 126).

57

A Sermon for Queen and
Country

On Sunday, July 1, 1973, a Service of Thanksgiving, with HM Queen Elizabeth
present, was held in Victoria Park, Charlottetown, to mark Prince Edward
Island's Centennial in Confederation. The preacher was Father Tanton, chosen
not because he was the ranking Prince Edward Island Anglican dignitary -
that in the view of the Anglican Church was the Bishop of Nova Scotia, because
the Bishop of Nova Scotia exercises episcopal jurisdiction over the Island -
but because he was the chairman that year of the Charlottetown Ministerial
Association. An unfortunate incident occurred in the course of the Royal Visit
when the Bishop of Nova Scotia, the Right Reverend William Davis, with Mrs.
Davis, turned up at Government House in Charlottetown to attend a formal
dinner in honour of the Queen and Prince Philip, and was refused admittance.
In the view of the government authorities he was, as the Bishop of Nova Scotia,
from "away", and therefore not an eligible participant in an Island event.

One hundred years ago today, Prince Edward Island became a part of the
Dominion of Canada. This was a political move, and because it was and is
political there will always be differences of opinion as to the value of the move.
Let that be as it may - one thing is certain, that something more important than
political tactics makes a people great.

Today, at the pivotal point in our Centennial celebrations, we gather with
our Queen and Her Royal Consort for an Act of Worship. The Scripture read
by His Royal Highness is one of our Lord's dissertations on prayer. It contains
the Our Father. This prayer has become the heart of all Christian prayer life,
both public and private.

Our Lord, when asked by His disciples, "teach us to pray", did not say,
"If ye pray", but "When ye pray...." Prayer is as natural to conscious man as
breathing, and as universal as humanity itself. In all the living religions of the
world, prayer and meditation have a central place.

Let us look at three aspects of the Lord's prayer - our model prayer - the
prayer that acknowledges:

(1) Our Father - God is.

(2) Give us this day - bread - man's needs.

(3)  Forgive us our trespasses - man's responsibility.

58

The Most Reverend Francis Spence (left), the Roman Catholic Bishop of
Charlottetown, and Father Tanton, lead H.M. Queen Elizabeth and Prince
Philip into Victoria Park, Charlottetown, on Dominion Day, 1973, for a Service
of Thanksgiving on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Prince Edward
Island's entry- into the Confederation.

Our Father - God is

As prayer is a universal human activity, so too is belief in God. The Bible
does not debate the existence of God - "in the beginning God made...." It is
interesting to note that when Confederation first came into being and the
founding fathers were searching for a name for Confederation, it was Leonard
Tilley who turned to the Bible and from the 72nd Psalm found a name which
suited so glorious a venture - "Let his Dominion be from sea to sea, and from
the river unto the world's end." verse 8.

Natural theology comes readily to a man as understanding of his world,
and his place in it - "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament
showeth his handiwork." Psalm 19: 1,2

Philosophically, man has often found himself in an agnostic state, like the
Athenians of St. Paul's time who raised an altar to the "unknown god", to
whom St. Paul was able to say, "...whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him
I declare unto you". Acts 17:23

Judaeo-Christian theology comes to us through the Old and New Testaments,
from Abraham, the prophets, our Lord Himself, and the holy apostles.

Our faith in God is a response to the revelation God has given to us. We
cannot on our own reach the full knowledge of God. This is what the people
of Babel thought they could do, so they tried to build a tower to reach the gods.

Austin Farrar points out in A Celebration of Faith that more blessed was
Abraham to whom God revealed Himself in the form of a traveller. This
traveller ate at his table and called Abraham friend. Exodus 33: 11. Yet God
identifies Himself unrestrictedly with every one of His creatures. He thinks
them and knows them from within. His creative thought is expressed in their
very being . God becomes human in man: He is met in our neighbour: "For
inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of one of these my brethren, ye have
done it unto me". Matthew 25:40. Our belief in God is man's response to the
revelation of Himself- in Nature, in thought, and in human relationships.

"Give us this day our daily bread..." man's needs

A second thought from the Our Father is that man is not self-sufficient.
Perhaps the greatest delusion we suffer from in this scientific and technological
age is that we conceive of man's need as being only material, intellectual or
aesthetic. We think, "When we know enough we will be free, we will be able
to answer man's needs."

60

The first temptation came to Jesus when He was tempted to turn stones
into bread. "Man shall not live by bread alone." Matthew 4: 4. Man does live by
bread, yet there is a greater dimension to life. Still, we are all tempted to worship
material success - but "for what shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world

and lose his own SOUl?" Mark 8: 36

The people in the time of Deuteronomy had to be reminded, for there

would come a time when they would have eaten and been full, with herds and

flocks and gold multiplied, and they would say in their heart, "My power and

the might of mine hand has gotten me this wealth. But thou shalt remember

the Lord thy God. for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth."
Deuteronomy 8: 17, 18

Man's need is for bread but for more than bread.

We may be the best fed, the best clothed, the best housed, the best
entertained, have the biggest gross national product, and yet be morally, ethically
and spiritually starved. The great fallacy of political Utopias is that they leave
out man's real need as a spiritual being, reformation. Reformation, Renewal,
Repentance. This need, brought home to us from time to time by some national
or personal scandal, reminds us of the frailty of man. It is not what man has
but what he is that decides the fate of peoples and nations. Man shall not live
by bread alone.

The late Archbishop of Canterbury, William Temple, astounded a conference
discussing economic problems when he said that the world could be saved by
one thing only - worship. This is humanity's real need. He went on to say, "To
worship is to quicken the conscience by the holiness of God; to purge the
imagination by the beauty of God; to open the heart to the love of God; to
devote the will to the purpose of God." Man needs more than bread.

"Forgive us our trespasses..." - man's responsibility.

This suggests that we are living under judgment. Man is not a free agent.
The fact of his accountability is what makes him human. No other of God's
creation is accountable for his behaviour, or for the use of his life. And we are
responsible not only to our Creator, but to each other. We are responsible not
only for things, but for people. The Scripture reminds us of this in the story
of Cain and Abel. The Lord said to Cain, "Where is your brother?" Cain said,
"Am I my brother's keeper?" Genesis 4:9. Jesus said, "Inasmuch as ye have done
it unto the least of one of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me."

Matthew 25: 40.

61

Our history and our years in Confederation have not all been glorious.
There have been times of religious intolerance, as well as great Christian
charity; times of economic and moral exploitation, as well as times of sharing
our best; times of raping the earth and polluting our natural resources, as well
as times of conservation. Our development has not always been to the glory
of God and the good of mankind.

The need for a sense of responsibility was well set forth by the Queen in
one of her Christmas messages, when she said:

"It is not the new inventions which are the difficulty. The trouble is
caused by unthinking people who carelessly throw away ageless ideals
as if they were old and outworn machinery. They would have religion
thrown aside, morality in personal and public life made meaningless,
honesty counted as foolishness, and self-interest set up in place of self-
restraint. "

As we enter upon our second century in Confederation we must cherish,
and in many cases, restore the eternal values. Our religion on the one hand
must reach out and up to touch the face of God, and on the other hand must
reach down and around to salve and serve the aching heart of man.

As we enter upon our second century, let the cry of every heart be,

"Lord, teach us to pray!"

62

A FEW TALES

The Hon. F. Walter Hyndman andArchdeaconTanton

A Few Tales

Stavert Tanton enjoyed being an Anglican Christian, and a priest. His
conversation was full of Biblical quotations and references, usually employed
in a humorous way. He was steeped in the Scriptures. Although he did not
claim to be a scholar his wit was quick, and he had an ability to go to the heart
of an issue and simplify it. He was a born leader, who achieved his goals by
inspiring people to do what he considered right rather than by controlling or
manipulating them. As he aged he mellowed, and became more tolerant of
those who did things of which he disapproved, like holding weddings in Lent.
Many tales might be told in illustration of what he was like; the few that follow
are representative.

1. Harry Ploughman and the Archbishop's Letter.

One of Staffs great friends at King's was Harry Ploughman. Harry let it
be known to all and sundry that he intended to live a celibate life, and he
showed little interest in the girls until his last year in college. Then, much to
the surprise of his colleagues, he began spending most of his evenings at
Sherriff Hall, the Dalhousie University women's residence. The attraction was
a young lady named Philippa Thygesen. Staff and Bill Maclntyre, a law student,
knowing that Harry was expecting to hear from the Archbishop of Fredericton
about his appointment to a parish in the spring, thought they would play a trick
on Harry. They acquired a couple of pages of the Archbishop's letterhead and
matching envelope, apparently through Bill's mother, who was the Archbishop's
secretary. In any event, they wrote a letter to Harry, and forged the signature
of the Archbishop. In the letter Harry's anxiety to know what parish he would
be sent to after he was priestcd was acknowledged, and the Archbishop stated
that he had just the right parish for a person who felt called to a celibate life -
the Mission Church of St. John the Baptist in Saint John. It would soon be
vacant, and had always been served by an unmarried priest, for that was all it
could afford. The letter went on to state that the Archbishop would be visiting
King's shortly, and that he would be able to supply Harry with further details
at that time.

Staff, Bill, and Karl Tufts took the letter over to the Dalhousie Post Office
and had it duly stamped. Then they placed it in the mail at King's College. A
group was on hand the next day across from Harry's room when the mail

65

arrived, and they heard his loud exclamation when he opened the letter. Then,
to their dismay, he took the letter to Dr. Rex Moore, the president of the
College. He accepted the letter as being genuine, at first. Of course, word of
Harry's appointment to the Mission Church soon got around, and Carmino
deCatanzaro (later first bishop of the Anglican Catholic Church of Canada)
felt that in going to such a "high" Church Harry must have a biretta, and he
stood by the entrance to the dining room asking students to give what they
could for such a gift. The amount necessary was over subscribed, and "deCat"
went down town and bought a biretta.

All went well until Dr. Moore asked Harry to bring the letter for him to
study again. The result was that Dr. Moore decided that the letter was a put-
up job, and that a student or students had committed a very grave error, for
which they would pay. Dr. Moore told the student body that the Archbishop
was to come to King's the next week, and at that time the matter would be
settled. Even Staff began to be worried about what the final outcome of the
prank might be.

However, when the Archbishop did arrive and a meeting was called, the
Archbishop surprised everybody by complementing Dr. Moore on his having
been so astute as to recognise that some of the phrases used in the letter were
not his style. This, of course, pleased the president. Seeing this, the Archbishop
said that he felt the whole matter could be dismissed, even while acknowledging
that it could have had serious consequences. Needless to say, Staff and the
guilty parties were greatly relieved.

(Contributed by Canon Karl Tufts, Stavert Tanton's brother-in-law, with
an assist to Philippa Ploughman, who remembers Harry talking about joining
the Cowley fathers,  and she wondering if she could go with him!)

2. Toilet Troubles.

Staff Tanton's first parish was Port Hill, Prince Edward Island, in the late
1930s. He was not married at that time, and had a very nice middle-aged lady
as his housekeeper. Just up the road, in the nearby village of Tyne Valley, the
oldest boy in a large family living in a small house was having difficulty finding
enough privacy at home to study for his final high school examinations, and
Staff let the lad live in the Rectory for a while. When Bishop John Hackenley,
making his rounds on an episcopal visitation, was expected to arrive in Port
Hill from the adjoining parish of Alberton, Staff set out in his horse and buggy
for the store in the nearby village of Tyne Valley to buy some supplies. Before
he left, Staff said to the housekeeper and the lad, "If the Bishop comes before
I return don't let him into the bathroom, I have to get a plunger to loosen it
up!"

Our story reverts to Alberton, where I was the rector. The day before
Bishop Hackenley arrived at our rectory the float in the toilet in our bathroom
broke. We had to tie it up with twine. The Alberton store keeper said he would
have to send to Summerside for a replacement, which meant a delay of several
days. So we had to tell the Bishop, "Please, sir, don't flush the toilet, we'll look
after it!"

Now, a day later, when Staff returned from Tyne Valley, he saw the
Bishop's car was in his yard. The young lad met Staff, who said, with his big
laugh, "I see the Bishop got here ahead of me!"

The lad said, "Taint funny, Magee - the Bishop's in the bathroom!"

Panic! Staff rushed up the stairs and banged on the bathroom door.

"Yes?" came from the Bishop inside in his loud voice (he was famous for
shouting in the pulpit).

Staff said, "Please, sir, don't flush the toilet!"

"My God," groaned the Bishop, "What's wrong with you clergy here in
Prince Edward Island? I came all the way from Alberton for this!"

(Contributed by Canon S.J.P. Davies)

3. Teething Troubles

One time, when Staff was at Port Hill, about forty young people from the
Anglican Young Peoples' Association groups on the Island, along with a few
clergy, gathered at George DeBlois's summer cottage at Stanhope for a week-
end.

Staff Tanton was among them. Staff loved to swim, and in his black
bathing suit and black bathing cap, he looked like an enormous seal. He dashed
down the beach ahead of all of us, calling out, "Come on," and plunged into
the water. But as he got up he began to thrash around and look into the water
and sputter. We thought he had suffered some kind of an attack! But as we got
closer he pointed to his mouth, and then to the water, and we realised that his
headlong plunge into the waves, and his shout "Come on," had dislodged his
false teeth, which now rested in an unknown location on the bottom.

Such a mishap would be unfortunate at any time. But that evening his girl
friend, Connie Tufts, was due to arrive in Port Hill for a visit.

67

Well, talk about a wasted afternoon! With all good intentions the whole
gang scoured the sandy bottom for hours in the hope of finding Staffs teeth,
but to no avail. We finally had to admit defeat!

But the story has a not altogether unhappy ending, for on the way home
to Port Hill Staff found a kindly dentist in Summerside who fixed him up with
a temporary set of teeth. He must have presented a satisfactory appearance to
Connie, for they were soon married, and had a long and happy life together.

Another story in which Staff, marriage, and false teeth were involved
comes out of a wedding Staff solemnised at St. James's Church, Port Hill. The
ceremony was proceeding smoothly until Staff put the question to the groom,
"Wilt thou have this woman..." whereupon the groom sneezed. His teeth shot
from his mouth and landed on the mat. Fortunately, it was an old type of cork
matting, and the teeth made a soft landing.

In a flash the best man whipped out his handkerchief, bent over, and with
one motion got the teeth back in the groom's mouth just in time for him to say,
"I will."

(Also contributed by Canon S.J.P. Davies)

4. Staff and the Pickled Treasurer.

One Sunday morning, in one of the parishes where Staff was the priest,
he and Connie were on their way to Church in their car. As they came around
a corner they saw the parish treasurer and a pal walking ahead of them, and
realised that the two men were not on their way to Church, but were on their
way home from a party where they had a little too much of what Ted deWolfe
used to call "canned heat." Staff debated whether or not he should pick up the
men and give them a ride, but Connie said it would be best to drive them to
their respective homes. Once the men were in the car not a word was said by
anybody. They were safely delivered to their homes, and Staff and Connie
proceeded on their way to Church.

Near the end of Staffs homily the treasurer came into the Church, and sat
down right up at the front under the pulpit.. From time to time he was heard
to say out loud, "a fine good Samaritan you are!" Staff accepted what he said,
and only replied that perhaps he was mistaken. Then the man got up and went
out of the Church. Just as the service was about to end, when Staff was about
to pronounce the Blessing, he returned, carrying in his arms three pickle bottles
filled with the Church money - one for local expenses, one for allotment to the
diocese, and the other for some other fund. He made his way to the chancel
steps, where he reverently deposited the bottles, and announced in no uncertain
terms that he was resigning as Church treasurer. Staff accepted the bottles, and
the ex-treasurer departed.

Staff waited several days, and then took the bottles baek to the man's
house. He was not at home, and Staff told his wife that her husband had
mistakenly left the Church money in the Church, and that he knew that he
would be relieved to know it had been found. The parishioner served many
more years as treasurer in the parish.

(Contributed by Canon Karl Tufts.)

5. "I'm waking them up!"

Staff Tanton was, truly, one of God's special saints! Many of the saints,
we are told, were often a bit difficult to live with and, sometimes, hard to
understand, but are, or were, always faithful, always concerned for the welfare
of others, particularly the needy, and always forthright and prompt in their
work and life. Staff Tanton was all of that! And more, much more!

If any action occurred to demean or belittle the life, stature or welfare of
another innocent person. Staff Tanton could always be counted on to jump
into the fray, come quickly to the rescue of the underdog, or, like the youthful
King David, as a shepherd-boy, throw the rock from his sling toward the head
of the Goliath facing him, defiantly. Staff also usually won the battle!

The Reverend George Stavert Tanton - "Staff to his friends, far and wide
- "Father Tanton" to most others - served the Lord in the Parish of Tangier for
14 years. They were tumultuous years, not because Staff Tanton caused the
tumult, but because he had the unique ability, blessed and endowed by God,
to organise, mobilise, and sometimes even galvanise people in such a way that
they (we!) became excited, expectant and aroused to sudden and sustained
action through the vision projected by this boisterous, wonderfully saintly man
of God!

Staff Tanton was, above all, a priest, faithful in the conduct of the various
services of worship which are the life of every priest. He was most faithful at
the regular Sunday and weekday celebrations of the Holy Eucharist in any one
of the seven churches (the seventh added during his time) in that rural Parish
of Tangier, which stretches for miles along the Eastern Shore, from Murphy's
Cove in the southwest, to Sheet Harbour in the northeast, and toward the centre
of the province, to Mooseland.

Next, Staff Tanton was a pastor. He knew his people and they knew him;
most loved him. His pastoral calls/visits in the homes of parishioners and others
in that vast parish usually produced results. The family, or some of them,
invariably were in Church on Sunday. All of the seven congregations increased
in numbers over the course of his years as rector of Tangier.

69

Many, many people, older and younger, also grew spiritually as is indicated
by the number of young men and women from the parish who felt called by
God, either to ordained ministry, or to missionary work in various isolated
areas of Canada, or simply to serve in the local parish as workers in innumerable
efforts.

Staff Tanton was also a modern Isaiah, travelling the hills and valleys of
the Israel of Tangier Parish. He drove the miles over those country roads, in
the course of his parish work, night and day, summer and winter. I travelled
with him each Sunday for a number of years; as an acolyte/server, and as a lay
reader, conducting from time to time Morning Prayer or Evening Prayer. On
one occasion, as we were journeying to Mooseland for the Sunday morning
Eucharist tragedy was averted a number of times only by the skill of our
reverend driver. It was a snowy, icy day in January. The car was all over the
road on the ice - no such thing as salt on the road was even thought of in those
days. And there were no chains. A number of times we were travelling "on a
wing and a prayer", truly! We travelled sideways; we even went part of the
way backwards! We eventually arrived at the church in Mooseland to find only
a dozen people, who had not really expected us to make it. But they had just
lit the fire in the wood stove, in case. As they attempted to warm the building
Father Tanton brushed the snow off the altar (it had come in through a broken
window) and proceeded to set things up for the Eucharist. And we did have
the Eucharist, all of it, including hymns and sermon.

On many occasions while driving from one end of the parish to the other,
Father Tanton would toot loudly on the car horn as we passed the homes of
parishioners. When I finally mustered the courage to inquire as to why he
sounded a loud horn so often at 7 to 7:30 in the morning he replied, "I'm waking
them up so they will be in Church on my way back for their later service."
Indeed, they were there!

Finally, Staff Tanton was the prophet who woke up the whole of the eastern
Shore of Nova Scotia with his demands for service for and care of those who
could not care for themselves. Almost single-handedly he pushed, pulled,
coaxed, shamed and persuaded local and provincial authorities that a hospital
was urgently needed for the Eastern Shore area. The nearest hospital at that
time was in Halifax, some 60 miles distant, over treacherous, 25-to-30 miles
per hour, dirt and gravel roads. The cottage hospital was constructed within
a few years, and has served that widespead population with distinction for
almost 50 years. My eldest sister, Verna Mason, RN, FRAHA, eldest of 16 of
us, children of James and Myrtle Mason of Tangier, former teacher and

70

former nurse, who worked closely also with Father Tanton, was the hospital
administrator for many of those years. The highway from Dartmouth, along
the entire length of the Eastern Shore, was rebuilt and paved, making it an
excellent highway for all local, provincial and tourist traffic. I rather suspect
that Father Tanton had a hand also in convincing the province, and the premier,
that the new highway was long overdue.

During his fourteen years in the lively, faithful Parish of Tangier, Father
Tanton was responsible for many renovations in the Parish Church at Tangier,
in the chapel-churches, and in the rectory. When he arrived in the parish,
following his wartime service as Padre in the Royal Canadian Air Force (his
brother, an Armed Forces doctor, was killed in the war), he realised that many
of the families who attended the Eucharist regularly at Mushaboom, Spry
Harbour and Spry Bay were actually from the town of Sheet Harbour, where
there was no Anglican Church. Before he left the parish, the largest Anglican
church building in the area was up and going in Sheet Harbour, vigorously,
with a vibrant congregation of faithful Christian worshippers. Again he had,
almost single-handedly, provided the impetus, set forth the vision, drew up
the basic plans, raised much of the funding, and arranged for the new St.
Michael's Church to be constructed and become a spiritual home on the hill,
overlooking the town.

St. Michael's and All Angels Anglican Church
Sheet Harbour, N.S.

71

There are many jolly stories about the life and work of George Stavert
Tanton, an incredible human being and a most faithful saint and soldier of
Christ. One that I recall, as told me by a close friend of Father Tanton, is of a
funeral he conducted in one of his parishes. The widow of the elderly gentleman
who had died became extremely distraught and loud at the graveside. She not
only cried, she screamed continuously. Father Tanton waited patiently for her
to calm down as she was comforted by family and relatives. As she became
quiet he proceeded once again with the Committal, only to be interrupted once
more by the ear-piercing screams and loud wailing of the distraught widow.
"Oh, take me with him! Let me get in the casket with him! Bury me with him!
Bury me with him!" she cried over and over, and none could console her. After
some protracted minutes, in a moment of calm, Father Tanton, exasperated,
having lost all patience, raised his voice as loudly as he could and said over
the voice of the grieving widow, "Well, lady, jump in! I have to get on with
the funeral!"

From the time Father Tanton arrived in the Parish of Tangier, after World
War II, until I was ordained deacon, then priest, serving in the Parish of Saint
Paul's, Rawdon, Nova Scotia, until I left to become curate at Saint Augustine's,
Lethbridge, Alberta, in 1952,1 had a very close association with him. He helped
to mold my life, spiritually. With Father Ted DeWolf of the Parish of
Musquodobit, Father Tanton was my mentor and guide in the early spiritual
formation of my life. I shall always be grateful to those two men. They assumed
a task, for me and for my future, that was begun, of course, by my father and
mother - and by my older brother. Lieutenant Cashman Mason, RCNVR, who
studied theology at the University of King's College in preparation for ordination,
but was lost at sea during the war in the torpedoing and sinking of H.M.C.S.
Valleyfield in 1944.

Staff Tanton and Ted DeWolf were my true "Fathers-in-God" for many
years, Staff in Tangier, and Ted in Musquodobit, while I was a teenage school-
master, teaching in a public school in his parish. Staff Tanton was a bright,
disciplining and shining light in my early years, and I was always proud and
grateful to be known as one of "Staff Tanton's boys."

(Contribution by the Reverend Keith Mason)

6. A "High" Hat

Since all but one of the families that constituted the fishing village of
Mushaboom on Nova Scotia's eastern shore were Anglican the local school
board had no problem in allowing one hour a week in school time for religious
education. Sometimes this job was the responsibility of some local woman,
notably Mrs. Charles Power or Mrs. Mattie Boutilier in the "little room" in the
two room schoolhouse, or me, Jim Humphries, in the "big room". At other
72

times the hour was spent in Church at a "Family Eucharist", or Father Tanton
himself would come into either schoolroom and take over the alloted hour of
religious instruction.

One one particular occasion, unknown to anyone, Father Tanton entered
the "big room" wearing for the first time a new biretta. The scholars, thinking
this strange hat was the priest's idea of a joke, burst into gales of laughter.
Father Tanton looked dismayed; but, after a moment, and with all the aplomb
he could muster, he took off the biretta, held it at arm's length, studied it up
and down, and declared, "Yes, it is a funny thing, isn't it?"

In time this head covering was accepted as suited to him - although 1 never
heard of it being laughed at anywhere else but Mushaboom.

(Contributed by Jim Humphries)

7. Thank God for an Anglican Bootlegger.

The people of Mushaboom were very much aware of the need to have a
minister of the Faith present at the hour of death, and they expected him to
give the individual about to depart this life Holy Communion. This held true
even for many who seldom darkened the Church door.

One Christmas holiday, just as Father Tanton and I settled down for some
discussion at the Rectory in Tangier, he was summoned to Mushaboom to
give Communion to an aged parishioner whose death was seemingly imminent.
Without delay both of us set out for the home in question. We arrived, and
Father Tanton began to set up for Communion only to discover that in the haste
of our departure he had left the wine behind in the Rectory. Nothing daunted,
he gave me a dollar on the sly, telling mc to get myself to the local bootlegger
nearby and purchase a bottle of wine.

The bootlegger (who was a devoted churchgoer) laughed when I told her
that the wine was needed for a private Communion. She gave me the bottle for
nothing, saying "Wish old Tanton a Happy Christmas!" It was no secret in the
Parish that the Rector was fond of a nip!

(Contributed by Jim Humphries)

8. Smoking Them Out.

One Sunday an extreme "high church" visitor came along with Father
Tanton to Mushaboom to attend a celebration of the Eucharist.

Unknown to anyone, including the Rector himself, the visitor had with

him a thurible made out of rabbit wire and a cleaned out soup tin with holes
punched in it to facilitate the circulation of air. It contained small bits of carbon
that the visitor set alight shortly before the commencement of the service. At
the Consecration and Elevation of the Elements the visitor stepped out of his
pew, sprinkling some incense on the burning carbon as he did so. Before long
the perfumed smoke filled the air in the small Mushaboom St. Paul's Church.
There was a stirring among the parishioners. Some thought a fire had started
in the basement. Father Tanton, with his usual coolness, and without serious
interruption of the service, said to the visitor, "Now I know what you're up to!
Please take that incense outside and shake it at the sea-gulls!"

Presently the service concluded, and in the discussion that followed the
people in the pews were assured that while the use of the incense might be
acceptable to God, it was not an essential element in the worship of the parish.

(Contributed by Jim Humphries)

9. "Big Boom" is told off.

When I was accepted by the Bishop of Nova Scotia in 1959 to study
theology at King's College in Halifax he told me that I would be under the
direction of the Rector of St. Mark's Church in Halifax, Father George Stavert
Tanton. When I was speaking with Bishop Ernest Reed (the Bishop of Ottawa)
a few days before departing for "Bluenose Country" I told him I was to be
under the direction of a Father Tanton. Bishop Reed's reply is just as clear in
my mind today as it was then. "One thing you can be certain of, Dick, is that
Staff Tanton will either make you or break you." I hope and pray that he made
me! One Sunday our beloved Father, who was lovingly referred to by the
members of the Servers' Guild as "Big Boom" (you had to know Staff to
understand that one), was in a very sour mood. The Bishop had called the night
before to say he was going to visit St. Mark's for Confirmation on Palm Sunday.
Palm Sunday was always a big day at St. Mark's, and our dear Father said,
"The Bishop has no right coming to my Church on Palm Sunday!" At that point
"big mouth" (guess who?) said something like, "It's his Church, isn't it? You
know - 'accept this charge which is mine and thine'!" Later, when I went over
to the Rectory for breakfast Mrs. Tanton asked me what had gone on in the
Church. Apparently Father Staff had stormed into the Rectory a few minutes
earlier muttering something like, "I have been told off and there is nothing I
can do about it, because he is right!"

(Contributed by the Reverend Richard Mowry.)

Connie Tanton, flanked by Ramona Tanton (left) and Helen MacKinnon (right)
pours tea at a Diocesan Church Society event in Prince Edward Island.

10. Elijah's Mantle.

I was second generation in St. Athanasius Servers Guild at St. Mark's
Church, and thus there was a layer of seniors (Jim Purchase, Dave Boston,
Glen Kent, Bruce Howe, etc.) between me and "the old man". Nevertheless,
I do recall a few anecdotes involving the priest who was very much the "father
figure" for this fatherless latch-key kid (i.e. me!).

First of all, I recall the 7 a.m. Eucharists on Wednesday and Fridays, often
necessitating a two-mile walk, before dawn, before breakfast, on stormy, snowy
mornings. We all took a turn, and often one (or two) of us servers would be
the only attendees (or, as he put it - "the two of you, plus the seraphim, cherubim,
all the hosts of heaven, old Mrs. Jones, and me." There was deep reverence
throughout. I recall feeling an incredible sense of the honour of being allowed
to participate in such a gentle mystery with such a man. I still remember the
hymn verse he quoted softly after agnus del: "Look, Father, look, on his anointed
face... " And then, "Jcsu, my Lord, I thee adore; O help me love thee more and
more."

Father Tanton was instrumental in getting me started at organ lessons and
arranging for me to practice at St. Mark's. A rather domineering church warden
was just as determined to save the electric power expense and prevent any risk
of damage to the instrument. Staff put an end to the problem with the words,
"I am Rector here!"

75

I was to hear those words again some years later. While visiting him in
Charlottetown, I pointed out that he had just sailed through a stop sign in his
car without stopping. Again - "I'm Rector here!"

At St. Mark's he let his boys have the run of the Church and the parish
hall. No questions were asked. He just gave us the keys and let us play.
Somehow he kept the vestry satisfied, despite the odd broken chair or window.
He trusted us. Is it any wonder so many of us followed him?

The servers occasionally hosted, and were delegated to police, fund-raising
dances in the parish hall at St. Mark's. These could be quite violent affairs,
often becoming the site for rumbles between the racial gangs from the north
and west ends of the City. I was terrified in the resulting punch-ups. One night,
I went over to the Rectory near the start of one of these events to report on the
horrible things that were starting to happen. "Go back and play the man", 1 was
told. So I went back, and in the course of one tussle had my shirt torn right up
my backside. I returned to the Rectory, and in front of the rather genteel
company being entertained by rector and wife, proceeded to display the damage.
I forget what he growled at me, but I remember the twinkle in his eye as he
did so.

That growl! It was always, "Hamlin, you moron!" The more he cuffed us
(verbally) the more we loved it - and him. For we knew that he loved us.

There was one time when I was 'larking' as the procession formed up
before the main Sunday morning service. I found myself being seized by the
ear, ordered to take off my server's vestments, and banished to sit with my
mother in the nave. The embarrassment hurt, but it gave me a lifelong reverence
for the house of the Lord that is sadly lacking these days. Fie apologised to me
at the end of the service, and it was a long time before I forgave him. But I
learned a valuable lesson.

The time came for me to be made deacon. Father Tanton was anchoring
the pew immediately behind the two candidates (the other was Michael Boyd).
As Mel French (Staffs successor as rector of St. Mark's) delivered one of his
excellent and impassioned social-action sermons, there was a steady, and
clearly audible rumble of "heresy, heresy!" from behind (Staff was incapable
of speaking sotto voce). I was terrified that a scene might develop between
these two stalwarts of the Church, with each holding such strong, but opposing,
views of the Faith. Bishop George Arnold, who was officiating at the ordination,
seemed oblivious to it all - although he did have a bit of a mischievous smile
playing on his lips. It all passed off quite peaceably in the end.

76

He preached at my induction when I was made rector of Antigonish. The
great voice was slightly garbled by Parkinson's, or a stroke, by that time, and
he expressed his fear that he could no longer get the message across. I told
him, from the heart, that he could tell them that the moon was made of green
cheese, and they'd still love it, and him. Indeed, what he believed and what he
was spoke louder than any words.

He was no intellectual, and certainly no empath. His faith was a simple
trust. 1 remember in a moment of despair telling him that I was tired of "being
half a Catholic." He firmly said, "You're not half a Catholic!" But he had no
words to deal with my underlying angst. It was almost as if he could not sense
what I was feeling. He appeared to have an absolute faith, and perhaps could
not comprehend - or assist - the "doubting thomas" in me. And yet, his faith
was a mountain of inspiration. In the long run, inspired by that faith, I'm still
an Anglican, still "half a Catholic"!

In my teenage "peacenik" stage, in the Vietnam era, I remember challenging
him about his own, and his son's, participation in the armed forces. His reply
again offered no intellectual argument, no attempt to deal with feelings or
angst. He said, "If your mother was being murdered in the street, you'd try to
defend her, wouldn't you?" He would have been the despair of C.A.P.E.
practitioners; but, in retrospect, I prefer his common sense approach any day.

Another time, the Queen Mother was being driven down the street past
St. Mark's, and he had the big front doors flung open wide in the hope that she
might remember her previous visit to the Church in 1939, and come in for a
repeat. I missed seeing her entirely, for he had sent me up into the tower where
I was totally enclosed, swaying on the end of the bell rope. His hope was that
the clamour of the bell ringing would entice her in. It didn't work. But the
Queen Mother more than made up for it some years later at his rectory in
Charlottetown!

Finally, I recall the requiem mass for Father Staff in All Saints' Cathedral:
all his boys carrying the coffin out at the end, clad in traditional funeral garb
- including the black cloak. I didn't have one, so Connie gave me his. Talk
about Elijah's mantle! (And I'm definitely not in Elisha's league.)

The cloak is now old and worn. Its purplish black dye ran over my
previously off-white cassock alb when David Reid and I got drowned "standing
on tradition" at a very wet committal. Father Tanton would never compromise
on tradition: "The place for a committal is in the graveyard", he would say.
No forbearance for inclement weather allowed!

I can't throw that cloak out - and, thanks to him, I can't do indoor committals!

(Contributed by the Reverend Keith Hamlin.)        77

11. "How did I do?"

It was my happy lot to be rural dean during much of Father Tanton's regime
as Archdeacon of Prince Edward Island. He was wonderful to work with. For
almost the first time in my experience in the Church I was working with a
superior who actually encouraged me to be creative and to do things. At the
same time, when I was being hot-headed, he would cool me down with a word
of caution.

On one occasion we were getting ready to welcome Archbishop Ted Scott,
the Primate, who was soon to visit Prince Edward Island. As rural dean I
prepared a colouring sheet for Sunday school pupils across the Island, showing
the Primate at prayer, garbed in his new cope and mitre. The Rector of Milton,
who was "low church", objected to the cope and mitre, and wrote a highly
critical letter to the Diocesan Times newspaper. I was greatly annoyed, and
more than prepared to do battle with him. Father Staff told me to simmer down.
After a bit, I produced a revision of the drawing showing the Primate in his
undershorts, the irate critic jumping up and down, and myself at the drawing
board expressing the hope that the new version would satisfy any objections.

"Why the apron, Eddie - is Teen making you help her with the dishe
"Nothing like that, Staff. By the way, your handbag is on fire!"

78

But there were times when he was himself quite forthright in speaking his
mind. There was never anything personal or nasty in how he did it. While he
was at St. Mark's he became quite notorious as a critic of the Masonic Order.
His predecessor at St. Mark's, the Very Reverend E.B.N. Cochran, who had
moved across town to become Dean of All Saints' Cathedral, had been very
prominent in Masonic affairs. Staff did not think that some of the Masonic
rituals could be reconciled with Christian doctrine, and he was not slow to say
so. Undoubtedly it made him unpopular in certain quarters. One time, some
years after his retirement, he attended in Charlottetown the Atlantic Theological
Conference that his successor at St. Peter's Cathedral, Canon Malcolm Westin,
instituted, and listened to me give a paper on the Tractarian Movement in the
Maritime Provinces. When I came to refer to the choice of Robert Harold
Waterman as Coadjutor Bishop of Nova Scotia in 1948 I attributed Bishop
Waterman's election to the familiarity he had gained in the Diocese as chairman
of the post-war Anglican Advance Appeal. Staff disagreed. "They thought
he was a Mason!" he called out from the floor, and the whole assembly collapsed
in laughter.

Many years earlier, when I was a young priest newly come to my first sole
charge as Rector of Canso-Queensport, and Father Staff was still at Tangier,
I told him about the young son of the rector of one of the parishes in the Diocese
who had found employment in Canso, but who was failing to darken the doors
of the Church. Staffs comment was, "Ask him what he's doing wrong!" He
would have too. I didn't.

One time, fairly early on in his time as Archdeacon of Prince Edward
Island, when I was rector of Summerside and rural dean, he called me on the
telephone. "I have threatened to resign!" he said. "Will you support me?" "Of
course," I said, "What is it about?"

It was about his insistence that he be consulted on appointments of clergy
to Island parishes. This the Bishop did not want to do. It was very convenient
for the Bishop to have a place to which to move clergy who, for various reasons,
needed to be moved, but whose reputations were such that they were difficult
to place. For the Bishop to have two civil provinces within his diocese meant
that he could give such individuals a fresh start with less likelihood of them
being handicapped in the new place by having their reputation precede them.
Archdeacon Tanton's purposes, on the other hand, were quite different. He
wanted to build a team of priests in Prince Edward Island that would work
together to build up the Church on the Island. He therefore wanted to have a
say in who he got to work with.

I don't know what exactly came of this threat to resign. But I suspect he
got his way, for there was no resignation.

79

More serious was the decision of a Nova Scotian diocesan committee in
Halifax to discontinue the stationing of a resident priest in Alberton, which
had become vacant with the move of its rector, the Reverend Michael Ness,
to Crapaud, and to place it under the pastoral care of the rector of Port Hill.
This would save the Diocese the money it was shelling out each year to subsidise
the resident priest in Alberton. Father Tanton was determined that there should
be no further "retreat", as he called it, on the part of the Anglican Church in
Prince Edward Island. Moreover, he was still as much committed to the rural
ministry as he had been in Tangier. He felt that it was important to have, and
keep, good priests in rural parishes, and that the Diocese could do no better
thing with its money than to provide them, and support them. The Diocese, on
the other hand, was busy amalgamating rural congregations in order to eliminate,
as far as possible, aided parishes, and free up funds for other purposes.

So he decided to fight the decision. He rounded up the entire body of
Anglican clergy on the Island, and they went over to Halifax and confronted
Archbishop William Davis and his committee with a demand that the priest
in Alberton be retained. The committee backed down, and the Reverend Tom
Mitchell was appointed, and stayed seven years as "priest-in-charge". The
committee saved face by insisting that he not be made rector, so that he could
be removed at the discretion of the Bishop, and he was given some vaguely
defined responsibility for "youth work" across the Island, as if Alberton parish,
with its four churches - two of which were not functioning - did not rate a full-
time priest. Tom Mitchell was succeeded by the Reverend John Ferguson, who,
when he departed after 10 years to go to the parish of Eastern Passage, left
Alberton a self-supporting parish. By his stand Father Tanton won a future for
Alberton that certainly would have been lost if the diocesan committee had
had its way.

Fie was quite fearless. Perhaps the best example of this that I saw was
his performance in the United Church's Epworth Hall in Summerside one
Sunday night during the campaign to merge the Anglican and the United
Churches in the early 1970s. After visits by the Church Union commissioners.
Dr. Craig and Canon Latimer, to Prince Edward Island, a panel was formed
to go about and hold regional meetings to raise consciousness about the issue.
The Anglican representatives on the Prince Edward Island panel were Archdeacon
Tanton and Mr. Bennett Carr. The Summerside meeting was held in Epworth
Hall, and nearly every one of the 25 to 30 people who turned out for it were
United Church members. Very few Anglicans came because they had had the
excitement of a visit by the Primate, Archbishop Scott, in the morning, and
they weren't much for Church Union anyway, because they thought it meant
that they would be swallowed up by the United Church, which, in Summerside,
was much bigger than themselves.

So the meeting took place. Father Tanton, dressed in black, was the
dominating figure on the stage. In the Hall were many people with whom he
had grown up, for Summerside was his home town. They were now leading
citizens, prominent in business and in the service clubs. He lectured them on
the Apostolic Succession, and the necessity of it for valid sacraments, indeed
for a valid church, and how they would have to accept it if they were to have
union with the Anglicans. If any of those present had been thinking of Church
Union as the United Church taking over the Anglican Church, they were very
soon made aware that Staff Tanton did not see it that way. Before long he had
become the focus of attention in the room. The atmosphere became heated.
Some of his old school chums were on their feet shouting at him. He sat there
like the Rock of Gibraltar, speaking his mind in an even voice, and making no
compromise of what he believed. They were disturbed by his display of
conviction, deeply offended by his unwillingness to compromise. I was afraid
that the shouting and the insults that were being hurled at him might trigger a
heart attack. But after a while the meeting ended, and the gathering fell upon
the spread of tea and sandwiches and cakes that usually adorns such occasions
as if nothing had happened. And everybody was friendly again. Staff got a cup
of tea, came over to me, winked, and said, "How did I do?"

(Robert C. Tuck)

Father Tanton relaxed in retirement.

81

184925

Sources & Acknowledgments. The idea for this book first came to me after Father
Tanton's death in 1987, but for various reasons it could not be implemented until
1996, when it took shape, not as the biography I had originally intended, but as
a kind of collage of texts and pictures, linked together by the running commentary
with which the reader is by now familiar. Connie Tanton was interested in the
project, and made available to me for it many of the photographs reproduced in
the book. I wish it had been possible to get it into print before her death. I am
grateful also to Ronald Orton ofCharlottetown, without whose support it is doubtful
the book would even now be in print. I am indebted too to the Reverend Jonathan
Eayrs, to whom Father Tanton entrusted his papers before his death, for the texts
of most of the sermons and addresses included in the book; to those who responded
to my appeals for recollections of Father Tanton, whose contributions are included
in the section titled "A Few Tales"; to Mrs. Courtney Maynard of Port Hill, who
produced a copy of the Citation that accompanied Father Tanton's Doctor of
Divinity degree from King's College, and the photograph of Father Staff and
Connie reproduced in the front of the book. I would also like to thank Canon
Russell Elliott for shedding light on the otherwise puzzling reference to the "Feast
of the Purification incident" in Father Tanton's notes for his "What Anglicanism
means to me" talk given to Anglican students at the Atlantic School of Theology.
Canon Elliott's book, The Briefcase Boys, and Edith Rowlings' The Story of
Emmanuel Church, Dartmouth, N.S. 1871 - 1987 also include important references
to Father Tanton and aspects of his ministry.

Robert C. Tuck, Easter, 1997

82

"Fjltll©r St Jiff**   Remembering

George Stavert
Tanton

On June 25, 1978, four years after his retirement,
Father Tanton returned to Prince Edward Island to
preach at the annual Anglican Rally at Camp Kingston,
Crapaud, where he is shown above (secondfrom left)
with Paul Kays (left), Canon Robert Tuck (his successor
as Archdeacon in 1979) and Clayton Mill (right).

When the University of
King's College conferred an
honorary Doctorate of
Divinity on Canon G.S.
Tanton in 1967 it described
his rural ministry as
"extraordinary", and
referred to the "respect and
affection he inspired in the
people " of the Diocese of
Nova Scotia. In this small
book Canon Robert Tuck
has brought together
photographs, recollections,
anecdotes, and Father
Staffs own sermon notes
and reminiscences to serve
as a souvenir of a man
whom he describes as
"perhaps the outstanding
Anglican priest of his
generation in Nova Scotia
and Prince Edward Island "

ISB-H-0-921747- 24-1

9   i95                   $J!2.0C

FATHER STAFF  SEMEME
TUCK,/?   1 4/04/97

Maplewood Books,
90 Maplewood Crescent,
Charlottetown,
Prince Edward Island,
Canada CIA 2X6

ISBN 0-921747-24-1



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UNIVERSITY OF P.E.I. LIBRARY

3   7348   00550756   1

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