Art Classes at St. Willibrord's

The following art classes are available for adults and children 10 years old and up, starting April 11th.

Drawing Classes

You will learn the basics techniques of drawing, through practical exercises with a creative expression. 

Pencils, charcoals, blood, inks, pastels, are presented like means making it possible to apply the principles of the plastic language namely, composition of a pictorial work by the game of the lines; geometric figures, volumes, shades and light and composition of still nature.

Other topics could be suggested in complement with the personal artistic approach of each student, in order to support the training and to enrich your creativity. (Material Not Included)

Painting Classes
Here, you will explore and learn to work with different art's plastic mediums like pastels, acrylics and ink applying basic techniques (glazing, strokes, blending, spattering, scratching etc) 

The workshop will be develop by  suggested topics: still life, landscapes, portraits, etc.
(Material not included). 

The dates for this session are: April 11 to June 13 2018

The schedule is the same: Wednesdays from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

The costs remain the same too.

Inscriptions: $25 dollars (for the parish)

Classes-10 Weeks: $160

Contact: Lucia Diaz
Tel: 514-845-1602
E-mail: luciadiaz_no1@hotmail.com

Empty Bowls Fundraiser

The Mission is participating in the Empty Bowls fundraiser event organized by Maison d'entraide Saint-Paul-Émard on Saturday, April 7th.

The Mission is providing 200 bread buns to go with the soup and cheese that will be sold at Saint-Jean-de-Matha church.

The fundraiser goes like this: for $25, you buy a bowl made by a local artisan. When you come and pick it up, it's given to you with soup inside. Eat the soup, bring the bowl home. Voilà!

The Maison d'entraide St-Paul & Emard is at 6831 rue d'Aragon. The event takes place there Saturday from 11AM to 3PM.

Good Friday at the Mission

What is so good about Good Friday?

At the bank there was a notice: closed for Good Friday. Please God, I would like to take that day off as well, and change the direction from passion and death to a ‘being anywhere else day’.  What is so good about Good Friday? it is the darkest day of the Christian year. Jesus dies, crucified.

Throughout the Lenten season the invitation to worship has resonated:

Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies,
It remains that and nothing more;
But if it dies it bears a rich harvest. John 12:24

Holy Week, with the turning of the cries of Hosanna to Crucify, is upon us.

The only way to arrive at the Easter Sunday shout of Alleluia is to follow Jesus through these dark days of betrayal, anguish, torture, tears and deep dispair. I am forced to face my own death, ponder the meaning of life and to question the darkness of the cry: Whay have you forsaken me?

Read the story in the Gospels, ponder the characters in the Passion. Where are you in the Passion story?

See Matthew 26-27: 66, Mark 14-15, Luke 22-23, John 18-19.

Follow Jesus in his last days.

Experience the depth of emotions, absence and death.

A traditonal hymn and meditation for Good Friday is this one written by Paul Gerhardt in 1656 (Voices United 145, french words by Henri Capieu, 1974, Nos Voix Unies).

O Sacred head sore wounded,
with grief and shame weighed down;
now scornfully surrounded
with thorns, thine only crown:
how art thou pale with anguish,
with sore abuse and scorn;
how does that visage languish,
which once was bright as morn!

De l'humaine misère
tu t'es fait serviteur;
de chacun de tes frères,
tu portes la douleur.
Seigneur, de nos souffrances
et de nos lendemains,
garde notre espérance
en tes vivantes mains.

May the prayer of the brigand dying at Jesus’ side be ours:
Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. (Luke 22: 42)

- Rev. David

The office will be closed, but as is our tradition, we will have a Good Friday service at the Mission at 11AM on March 30th. Stay afterwards for a simple community lunch. 631 Melrose. All are welcome.

Seedy Saturday/ Fête des semences

Our partners at Grand Potager cordially invite you to their annual Seedy Saturday/ Fête des semences at their headquarters in the Verdun municipal greenhouses. SouthWest will be there with our own kiosk and Chef Léonore will be offering soup. If you can give a hand during the day, let her know: leonore.pion@gmail.com

Verdun Seedy Saturday - an Urban Agriculture Festival!

A free event for the general public. More than 20 kiosks by artisan seed producers, vegetable gardening projects, for tropical plants, ethnic and rare plants and biodiversity in the city! There will be free conferences all day on vegetable gardening, seed starting, and more. You can purchase all your seeds and necessary materials for your flower or vegetable gardening season. 

10:00am to 3:00pm 10th March, 2018 at the Verdun Greenhouses 7000 boul Lasalle. Please visit and share our Facebook event for a detailed schedule of our conferences and more information on our vendors.

Nos partenaires du Grand Potager  vous invitent à la Fête des semences 2018  pour lancer la saison de jardinage aux Serres de Verdun. SouthWest aura sa kiosk et chef Léonore sera sur place pour offrir de la soupe. Si vous pouvez donner un coup de main durant la journée, contactez leonore.pion@gmail.com

Fête des semences de Verdun - un festival d'agriculture urbaine!

Au rendez-vous: Événement gratuit pour le grand public. Plus de 20 kiosques de semenciers artisanaux, l'apiculture, des projets de jardin potager, plantes tropicales, rares et ethniques. Il y aura des conférences gratuites toute la journée sur le jardin potager et la biodiversité en ville! Vous pouvez acheter tous les semences et matériels nécessaires pour commencer votre saison de jardinage.

10h à 15h 10 mars, 2018 aux Serres de Verdun 7000 boul LaSalle. S'il vous plait, visitez et partagez notre événement Facebook pour l'horaire détaillé des conférences, et plus d'information sur nos exposants.

Spring Youth Forum in Sherbrooke

What is Youth Forum?
It is a weekend retreat for high school and CEGEP youth organized by folks from the United Church of Canada (Quebec Presbytery). It is planned by youth, for youth. It has been going on in this region for more than 40 years!

What will we do there?
At Youth Forum you will play games, eat yummy food, make music, learn new things, meet new people, participate in Worship, explore and deepen spirituality and faith. Youth Forum is hard to explain, it is best lived!

Why should I go? I don't go to Church...
Everyone is welcome at Youth Forum. It is organized by a Protestant, Christian Church, however people of all faiths or no faith are always welcome. This is not an event to convert folks, but to explore meaningful relationships and new ideas. We are an open-minded and diverse community. 

The Theme of the upcoming Youth Forum in Sherbrooke in April is Healthy Relations. We will focus on a number of important topics facing our world and our youth today: navigating the tricky territory of relationships, sex, self esteem and consent. In the wake of #metoo it seems more relevant than ever to talk about healthy boundaries and how to create positive and loving friendships and romances. We will also explore how our ideas of sex and relationships have been shaped and affected by the Bible and modern religious culture. By creating a comfortable open and safe space to talk about these big issues, in the company of peers and role models, we can explore trickier topics. Adult leaders have experience working with youth and are all police-checked.

This event costs 50$ - but please do not let that be a barrier, if you cannot afford the registration cost, just speak to Shannna and we can organize a solution.

Cet événement passera principalement en anglais, mais les francophones sont toujours les bienvenus, la plupart des participants sont bilingues et la traduction peut être arrangée.

When: April 13-15, 2018

Where: 
Église Unie Plymouth Trinity United Church
380 Dufferin, Sherbrooke, Quebec J1H 4M7

Contact Shanna Bernier for more info  - shanna.bernier@gmail.com
819-791-1974  

SouthWest Bingo !

March is coming in like a lamb, not a lion this year. That's good news for our monthly Bingo activity, always held on the first Saturday of the month. That's tomorrow, March 3rd! Cost at the door is $5, which gets you your first bingo card and a ticket for the (cash) door prize. Additional bingo cards can be bought for 50 cents. Doors open at 12:00, play begins at 1PM and refreshments are available (donations gratefully accepted). Please note that this is in the basement of the church, at 1445 rue Clemenceau in Crawford Park. Good luck!

Wednesday Lunch Goes Weekly!

Starting the first week of March, our popular lunches, which have been offered every second Wednesday, will become a weekly event!

Our Welcome Wednesday schedule featuring lunch and a mini-market remains the same, but we are adding a lighter lunch on the alternate Wednesdays as well. The first of these light lunches, on March 7th, is special: it will be prepared by a group of 10 to 15-year-olds attending a March Break cooking camp at the Mission. They will be cooking under the supervision of chef cuisinière Léonore.

Lunch is served Wednesday at 12:30. Thank you for your donation to George, the piggybank.

The youngsters in the cooking camp will also prepare a British-style High Tea on Friday, March 9th. Tea, scones, cucumber sandwiches and other delicacies will be offered. 4PM. Also a voluntary contribution.

Hope to see you at SouthWest Mission, 631 Melrose in Verdun, corner Verdun ave.

P.S: A Blog post from January 5th shows the dates of Welcome Wednesdays featuring Mini-markets. 

Mini-Market February 28th

With the mild weather forecast over the next nine days at least, you could almost believe spring is coming! While it's still grey outside, there's always plenty of colour at the Mission on Welcome Wednesdays. Red peppers, green beans, oranges etc. Mini-market has a bright palette of colours, not to mention flavours available at the best prices. And they're loaded with vitamins and iron to give us the boost we need at this time of year. Download the price list for next Wednesday's market below.

The delicious, nutritious community meal offered on the same day is also an excellent pick-me-up. These days, the cooks usually prepare something with meat, but there is always a vegetarian alternative available.

What: Welcome Wednesday

Where? Southwest Mission, 631 Melrose

When? Wed., February 28th: Mini-market 10:30AM to 3:30PM; Community Lunch 12:30.

March Break Cooking Camp

Our community chef, Leonore, is proposing a day camp the week of March 5th to 9th for young cooks age 10 to 15. Don't want them home staring at screens all week? This could be the answer. Youngsters will learn basic skills they can use all their lives. In the course of the week they will help prepare a community meal (Wednesday) and a High tea on the Friday. They are also sure to bring some tasty things home to their families in the course of the week. The camp will be bilingual. 9AM - 4PM Monday to Friday. Cost: $250 per child. For safety reasons, and to ensure one-on-one attention for each camper, there are only five places available. If interested, contact leonore.pion@gmail.com

Welcome Wednesday featuring Mini-Market (Feb. 14)

One thing our chef can reveal about next Wednesday's community lunch: there will be chocolate! It's Valentine's Day after all. The menu will be inspired by the hot sun of Mexico with a main course featuring cerdo con molle (pork with rich dark molle sauce). As always there will be a vegetarian option, and of course, plenty of dessert!
Lunch is served/ le dîner est servi/ El almuerzo está servida @12H30

The mini-market on the same day will feature a variety of fruits and vegetables at affordable prices. Please see the order form attached below. Send it in to Sheila or Maurice ahead of time if you want to be sure to get the produce you want. Market is open from 10:30 AM to 3:30 PM. 

Happy Valentine's Day!