|
About our Church
"Rosedale Presbyterian Church," watercolour by Michele Nidenoff
ROSEDALE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH celebrated its 100th year in 2008, and it is appropriate to reflect upon the people and the structure that have defined Rosedale over the years.
We hope that this little summary will acquaint you with some of our history and give you a short tour of the building and its memorial windows and plaques.
Our Members
Worshippers at Rosedale have come from many different backgrounds and while initially most were drawn from the immediate Rosedale area, now children and grandchildren of the original families come from North Toronto, Etobicoke, Scarborough; others may have moved from Toronto proper, but still make the Sunday drive from Ajax and Oshawa.
Rosedale has been the church home for former missionaries; some of our fonner ministers and members have been principals of both Knox College (Toronto) and the Presbyterian College (Montreal). We have also produced several moderators, including the first lay person, of the Presbyterian Church in Canada and one of the first women to be ordained as a minister in the Presbyterian Church in Canada. Members have worked for/serve on the national church and its committees; others have had pivotal roles in the Canadian Council of Churches, the Ecumenical Justice Commissions, and in social housing such as Portland Place and Evangel Hall to name just a few.
From its beginning early in the 20th century, Rosedale has always had a strong commitment to mission. Our current outreach projects include participation in the Out of the Cold Program at St. Andrew's (meals and knitted items), CornShare, Malawi Mosquito Net Project, Satellite 7 (a Christian radio project in the Middle East) as well as the national program of "Presbyterians Sharing." We also respond to emergency appeals of the Presbyterian World Service and Development agency.
History
There were so many "beginnings" for this congregation that we have had to agree on one date for historical purposes. That is January 19, 1908 when the first Sacrament of the Lord's Supper was observed by a congregation named Rosedale Presbyterian.
Earlier in 1907 a small group had gathered and formed a committee to petition the Presbytery of Toronto to form a new congregation. Locations for a building were explored and temporary worship was held at Rosedale Public School. Permission was received in May 1907. Following this a Sunday School was established, a board elected and the first public worship service was held on December 1, 1907. Ninety-two attended this service conducted by the minister of Bloor Street Presbyterian Church. The following Sunday, the congregation celebrated the first baptism of an infant.
In 1908 under the leadership of an interim moderator, Rosedale celebrated the first communion, formed the first session and held its first annual meeting. Plans for the church, designed by Chapman & Griffin, included a large sanctuary located where our present lawn and a large part of Mount Pleasant Road are now. As usual, a fund-raising campaign was undertaken to build the church. The large portion was never built in part because Rosedale interrupted its own building campaign to answer an urgent appeal for financial assistance ($3000) to build a church - later named Rosedale! - in Honan Province in China. Already Rosedale was involved in mission work and the ground had yet to be broken for its own building! (This may have been fortunate as later in 1947 the City of Toronto expropriated a large portion of the original Rosedale Presbyterian property !)
The date in the peak of the sanctuary's exterior wall is 1909. In January of this year our first minister was inducted and the first marriage was performed. The formal dedication of the building was April 17, 1910.
Rosedale continued to grow and to reach out to help others. After World War 1, in 1922, there was a national Presbyterian program called the "Forward Movement" which included within its scope a scheme for hospital units located in remote areas.
These generally were a furnished home for a nurse and a deaconess or two nurses with rooms for several patients. The young women in the church aimed to raise $1000 for a nurse's salary as a gift to the Peace Offering Fund and as a war memorial to those on the honour roll and to relatives of members of the Circle who had died in the Great War. Success was such that the goal was changed to $5000 and the Rosedale War Memorial Hospital was established in Northern Ontario at Matheson on September 14, 1922. From 1920-1924, a total of $10,000.00 was generously donated for this project. The original hospital is now the Rosedale Long -Term Care Centre.
The Presbyterian Church was sorely tried at the time of Church Union. In 1925 Rosedale voted 143 to 125 to remain in the Presbyterian Church. Unfortunately we lost about one-third of our families.
The Depression affected everyone; as did the war that followed in the next decade. As in the Great War, many members of Rosedale's family gave their lives in service. After World War ll, families began to grow and once more to prosper. In 1949 the mortgage was paid off. In later years a manse was purchased.
On September 18, 1955 the Christian Education wing was dedicated. This was a direct result of the determination of one young mother who could not attend church because she had three children to tend. Joined with others in similar circumstancesl a Sunday School was established and built onto the existing sanctuary structure. In 1956 matching front doors were donated in memory of Lt. Col and Mrs. Duncan Donald by their daughter. Also in 1956, the Rosedale Church Library was created in memory of Mrs. Elizabeth Cargill by her daughter. The lovely mural was painted by James B. Francis, the father of one of our current members. We have had major fundraisers for important but unglamorous things such as a new furnace system; but as well we succeeded in purchasing our glorious Karl Wilhelm Organ which was dedicated November 20, 1982 with an inaugural recital by Douglas Bodle, renowned Canadian organist.
Some interesting tidbits: When the carpenter, who was an Anglican, submitted his bid for the pews in the original church, he naturally included "kneelers."
As good Scottish Presbyterians of the time, we chose to keep what we paid for and as far as we know are the only Presbyterian Church that has them!
Why do we have a fireplace in our sanctuary? It is believed that the area of our transept was once the lounge or reception area for the original church building.
Do we have bells? We did have chimes donated to peal from the "tower" but they got disconnected during some renovations or was it too early in the morning for the neighbours; to hear them?
A member of our congregation moved from Montreal several years ago. Actively looking for a church he visited Rosedale to see the window that his grandmother had placed in the church and dedicated to his grandfather who had had an early death. He is still here and sits right under the window with the U of T crest.
Ministers
We were one of the first Presbyterian Churches in Canada to have a repeat: Rev. J.B. Paulin served for six years, then returned a decade later for another 15 years! And then, we did it again with James Smart!
The following have been our ministers at Rosedale Presbyterian Church (photos of past ministers are in the hallway leading to the Upper Hall):
|
|
|
J. Wesley Denyer(Wes) became our minister in 2011.
Windows
Did you know that church windows must be placed in a sanctuary in order of the events in the life of Christ? One cannot really control what a donor wants to depict in a window or when they choose to present it. So you have to leave some spaces and hope! Also, one of the reasons there is so much symbolism in church windows is that when they were first adorning churches and chapels, most of the congregation was illiterate. So they recognized a specific sair* or disciple from clothing or certain objects that were portrayed with him.
One good example of this is our chancel window, presented in 1916 by session and a committee in memory of Mr. Alexander Laird, which depicts Christ and his disciples.
The other windows can be identified as follows:
A Pair of Windows in the main entranceway, donated in 1916 in memory of the Turner Wilson family by the congregation. Turner Wilson was a casualty of the Great War. The windows depict the burning bush and the shield of St. Andrew, both Presbyterian symbols.
The main windows start chronologically at the southwest section of the sanctuary, beginning with the Nativity, donated in 1946 in memory of Mr. and Mrs. J.Y. Murdoch by their son. The next window portrays Jesus the Healer and was presented by Dr. and Mrs. W.J. Bell in 1954. Dr. Bell was a medical doctor and a member of the Senate at the University of Toronto. Next to this is a window donated in 1959 by Mr. R.W. McClain in memory of his mother Mrs. Catherine McClain, one of the founders of the Church Guild.
Crossing over to the east side of the sanctuary, we see the Crucifixion window presented in 1958 anonymously by a son as a memorial to mothers. After his death, it was appropriate to recognize that it was given by Mr. John Rogers. Moving forward we come to the window referred to earlier: The Resurrection. This was donated in 1945 by the wife of Hugh Gall, a renowned football player while at the U of T, who had an early death. The family added his wife's name on her death.
The final window of the series is Jesus Commissioning the Disciples. Mr. Frank Lucas, a former member of Session donated this window in 1954 in memory of his wife, Helen.
In 1961 the choir presented Rosedale with several windows in honour of the former Director of Music, Clare Taylor. The window in the east wall of the chance] depicts musical instruments of biblical times. The four panels in the north wall of the transept depict prayer and the bible and the sacraments of baptism and communion.
Plaques and other Memorials
Other memorials are the plaques to be found mounted on the walls of the church. Near the flags and at the cross aisles are tablets for both wars honouring those who served and remembering those who died. On the South wall of the transept is a plaque in honour of Dr. and Mrs. Andrew S. Grant, presented by their children. Dr. Grant was a physician and a minister who served in the Yukon at the time of the Gold Rush in 1898 - 99. West of this is a plaque in honour of the youth of the church during the Forward Movement.
The baptismal font honours; Jennie L. Risdon and was given by her son. The original pulpit falls, now replaced, were donated by the family of Mrs. Anne Elizabeth Duncanson and dedicated in her memory. The stand for floral arrangements in front of the lectern was given in memory of Arthur Emerson MacGregor and his wife Alice. The new organ was dedicated to those who died in Two World Wars.
Our most recent memorial is the magnificent Iona Cross placed on the communion table and donated in 1984 in memory of Laura Margaret Keith by her family.
This has been a long "tour" but it has covered just our first 100 years. We hope you have been made to feel welcome and that you will come back to worship with us in our second century and take a place under your favourite window.
|
|
