-Parish of the Transfiguration
The Parish of the Transfiguration
is a
Hope-filled,
Energetic,
Caring and
supportive
Anglican Community of Faith.
In other words,
we are a
“HEC” of
a community
-Parish of the Transfiguration Identity Statement
A mission statement? An identity statement? Twitter? A blog? Why, what a cutting edge parish! And there's more, you say?
Photo: Stephen and Ruth Demitroff being badgered by the webmaster into tweeting...
Welcome!
Following the links in the frame to the left (depending on your browser) and/or at the bottom of the page will get you anywhere in the parish you would like to go.
Our Location(s)
The
churches
We
are
Church
of the Advent, Ridgetown
Church
of the Redeemer, Highgate
St
Stephen’s, Thamesville
St
Matthew’s,
St
John’s-in-the-Woods, Aughrim
the
first
four in the Municipality of Chatham-Kent, the final two in the 
of Kent
Deanery and the Diocese of
Huron. Click the links to the left (or at the bottom of the
page) to find out
more about any one of us. Follow the links under Favourite Links,
below, to
find out more about the Anglican Church.
The
halls
are, below, left to right: Thamesville (attached to the church),
Ridgetown
(just down the street),
The
rectories: Thamesville (the former parish offices, currently rented
out),
Ridgetown (the “real” one – as in “home of the rector”) and
A (very)
brief history
We
were six
churches in three parishes until 2002 when we amalgamated. We are now
six
churches in one parish, and great things are happening. We’ve pooled
our ideas
and unique resources to come up with viable solutions, good reasons to
have fun
together, meaningful worship, exciting outreach projects,
and music, music, music…
The
consultations
Once
a
year, almost every year, we get together to determine what is working
and what
is not. Would you like a report on the last consultation series? Send us an email and we’ll send you a copy.
Favourite Links
Diocese of Huron -
There is much
of interest here. Follow the Huron Hunger Fund link on the site, for
instance.
Anglican Church of
Canada -
Find anything you ever wanted to know about
the church in
Congregational Coaching/Fresh Start
- Hear what our coaches have to say.
Refugee
Sponsorship -
Trace an overview of what’s happening in
Huron, our responsibilities.
Bridgehead -
Anglicans drink
coffee and tea – a fair statement. Read how to be “fair” about the
purchase of
the stuff.
The
St Michael
Report – This link gives us the opportunity “to download and
read the
material rather than just comment on it,” says one of our
churchwardens. It
“could influence us strongly.”
Contact
Information
E-mail
addresses
The
Ridgetown office: transfiguration @pppoe.ca
The
Rector:
stephendemitroff @hotmail.com
The
Associate: collins.wongkee @sympatico.ca
The
Webmaster: lawrene.denkers @sympatico.ca
(With
all
of these, close the space before the @ when you write. The explanation
for this
is below under Home Page News.)
Mailing
address
Anglican
Office and
home phones
The
Ridgetown office (open Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 1 pm to
4 pm)
and the Rector (same number): (519) 674-0723
The
Associate at home for emergencies: (519) 882-1418
The
Associate’s cell (messages are cleared at least once per day and there
is no
charge): (519) 384-4620
Current
Projects (see, too, the Announcements
link to the left)
Dinners
Theatre,
dinners, song, dinners, talent
auctions, dinners, yard sales, dinners and other such fun(d)raisers
(did I mention
dinners?)
Refugee sponsorship
(see Announcements link to the left or below for the news). Ever,
Yehesica and
Yeison, to the right, are our webpage poster reps
Quarterly newsletters – contact the office if
you wish a copy of the
latest of these; the Newsletter (the latest) link at the left and below
gives
only now the email update newsletter. Once the quarterly hardcopy
newsletters
start up again, I’ll make them available electronically as before.
Our companion diocese, the Anglican Diocese of
Mthatha, South Africa, and our companion parish, St 
Mary’s
Eastern Cape, South Africa. The covenant
between the Diocese of Huron and the Diocese of Mthatha
includes “mutual prayer, sharing of information, encourages exchanges
and
commits to annual reviews of the companion diocese relationship.” At
right are
the Rev’d Stephen Demitroff, Mrs Ruth Demitroff, the Rev’d Caroline
Nyabaza,
the Rev’d Michelle Collins-Wongkee, the Rev’d ZaZa Roloti, and Mrs
Linda
DeBurger during one such exchange.
Clergy/Administration
The
Reverend Stephen
Demitroff, Rector
The
Reverend
Michelle Collins-Wongkee, Associate
Ms
Bethe
Carnie, Parish Secretary
Mr
Ron
Bolohan, Rector’s Warden
Ms Gaye Hooper, People’s Warden
Ms
Mr
Tom
DeBurger and
Reach
any
of the above by phoning the office or using the office email/snailmail
addresses given.
Special
Services
We hold a few joint services every year. 2010’s:
Sunday,
February 7,
at 10 am in Ridgetown
Friday, April 2, at 10 am in Dresden - Good Friday
Sunday, September 26, at 10 am in Aughrim
Sunday, October 24, 10 am, ecumenical service at Ridgetown College
Sunday,
November 29, at 10 am in a location TBA - first of Advent
There
is a
committee in place that decides upon the service dates, times, music,
transportation, and other important details of the joint services. This
was a
recommendation (that a committee do just this) reached by consensus at
the 2006
Consultation. See your organist, other rep, or phone the office if you
need to
know more.
Home Page News
Submissions
and comments may be sent to Lawrene at lawrene.denkers @sympatico.ca.
(Close
the space between the s and the @. Inserting a space in email addresses
on
websites, we are told, keeps spammers at bay. We shall pray for them,
but
certainly not facilitate their wickedness.)
About what you see to your left (or the links
at the bottom of the page):
Some of the pages you have seen here in the past are gone. Sorry about that, but our web host is picky, picky about file names and the webmaster threw up her hands in surrender. If you are very attached to one of them, or would like to see a brand new page about something exciting, write to the address listed below at "contact us". Something exciting is our new blog. Click on the link at the bottom of this page and take a look.
Aughrim’s
page
has a
relatively complete history in place now – check it over, Aughrim, to
see that
it is accurate, and sorry about the “at night” descriptive and cheesy
ghost,
but, really, have you been there in the dark?
There are more present and former rectors on
the now reasonably organized Our Rectors page, and some dialogue meant to be amusing.
Ghost chapels:
The nature of rural settlement these days has some of us closing. Grace
Church
in Bothwell is an example. Trinity Howard is nearly one. (Nichol’s
Photography
sent in the most recent photo.) These silenced but not forgotten
chapels have a
page of their own (link to the left and below). Do you have a photo or
a
history of a congregation that is no more but was within our
boundaries? I look
forward to hearing from you.
And, finally, Announcements are meant to be read each week, and bring us all closer.
Thanks for the recent feedback. It is most helpful.
One liner for
meetings and other sticky situations:
Statistically, the probability
of any one of us being here is so small that you'd think the mere fact
of
existing would keep us all in a contented dazzlement of surprise.
- Lewis Thomas
Oh,
and here’s another:
The reward for a job well done
is more work.
- Anon
A parishioner wishes us, six churches in one parish, to remember the words of a
twentieth-century
industrialist:
Coming together is a
beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success.
- Henry Ford
And finally:
It is my strong contention that parishioners' underemployed grandsons should be the masters of parish websites.
-The webmaster