In its long history, Trinity Anglican Church in downtown Barrie has overlooked a village — later a town and then a city — and has evolved along with the changing times.
More than 150 years ago, a ‘new’ English-gothic style church was dedicated just before Christmas in 1864 on a property on the north side of Collier Street, just east of Clapperton. At the time, ‘the church on the hill’ had a soaring spire above the entranceway until it was struck by lightning in 1934 and never replaced.
The church and congregation grew over time: a Sunday school, a new hall and a new structure, aside from the original church, that would eventually become a go-to place for various community groups and special events, and not just for parishioners.
The dedicated flock of almost 80 Sunday churchgoers are keeping Trinity viable — they gathered up more than $120,000 for roof repairs — but Rev. Terry Bennett says the church, and perhaps all churches, can be a special place where everyone can get together, regardless of where they hang their hat on a Sunday.
Trinity is a gathering place throughout the year, Bennett says, adding there have been spaghetti dinners and other get-togethers that bring folks together.
“A lot of people go away in December, so we thought, ‘Why don’t we have a Christmas in November?’ It turned out to be incredible. We had turkey with all the fixings like it would be for Christmas,” he says. “It filled the hall downstairs.”
Visitors to those kinds of events don’t necessarily have to be members of the congregation, although they might have four legs.
As his dog Rosie sits by his desk, it’s clear Bennett has a love of God’s creatures and hence his annual Blessing of the Animals, in recognition of the Patron Saint of Animals, Saint Francis of Assisi.
While the blessing is mostly around dogs and cats (although he recalls a quick story about a beaver while working at another parish), Bennett suggests our animal friends have more of an impact on us than perhaps we know.
“I get a lot of people who are not church people who bring their animals in to be blessed,” he says. “What Francis really taught everybody, and it’s become more and more important, is our DNA is pretty similar. Animals are not just pets; they are who we are. They have their own lives and they can do something emotionally for us as well.”
People helping people is a good part of what churches are about, Bennett adds.
