Mission steeped in past

Guide Page 4

Like an arrow taut on the bow, the pale white steeple of Holy Trinity Church seems to hang in the balance between earth and sky. Framed by evergreens, the lips of the Churchill River lapping a few feet from its front steps, the church stands alone on its rocky point-a place the Cree people of the area call "Amachewespimawin", or "shooting-up place".

In times past, their ancestors used this place to test their prowess with the bow, shooting arrows from their canoes up a nearby cliff along the river. As Stanley Mission grew, it clustered around this spot, chosen in the 1850s by the Anglican missionary Robert Hunt as the place to build his church.

Today, Stanley Mission is on the opposite bank of the river-the combined effect of an epidemic in the 1920s and the development of a Hudson's Bay trading post on the far shore. The stores and homes are there, and even a small chapel where regular Sunday services are held.

Holy Trinity Church is in the care of the provincial Environment department, which keeps it open for curious tourists to visit year-round.

However, the "oldest building in Saskatchewan" is no musty, dusty museum artifact. Weddings, funerals, Christmas Eve services, all are still held at Holy Trinity, with parishioners paddling over in boats or zipping over on snowmobiles, depending on the season.

Despite its age, there is still a living spirit to Holy Trinity, said Rev. Charles Arthurson, the diocese's Cree bishop.

"The people still use it, and they have the strong faith, I believe, in God and in the church," Arthurson said. "It's a very holy place to have a service," he added. "So old, eh? The ghosts of the place, so many people come and gone... [Rev. Hunt] built it over a hundred years ago, and it's still standing."

The fact that the church still stands, in the exact same spot Hunt chose for it in the 1850s, is a testament to both the faith of the people past and present, and to its designer's and builders' skill.

As a recent documentary on Lac La Ronge Provincial Park put it, Holy Trinity is "a church that would not have been out of place in the English countryside of the 19th century. Until you look closely."

Following Rev. Hunt's blueprints, the church took approximately six years to build, and all of the work was done by hand. The boards were whipsawn from local timber, and the original reddish paint came from ochre clays, similar to that used for the rock paintings near Stanley Rapids.

The hardwood, locks, hinges and 1,000 pieces of stained glass for the windows were brought over from England-twice. The first set was lost when the boat capsized in rapids along the Churchill, so a second set had to be ordered.

Although the church was completely restored in the 1980s, with a new foundation and reconstruction of the bell tower, many of the original finishings are still intact. The pews-the same ones on which Hunt's parishioners sat-are still painted pink and blue, and there is local beadwork decorating the pulpit. A small graveyard, still used by residents of Stanley Mission is just outside the church.

While historical records are scanty-"native people don't write," claimed Bishop Arthurson-church members still have vivid memories of Holy Trinity's early years.

Rev. Samuel Charles was an ordained Anglican minister, and before he died a couple of years ago, he reminisced about what it was like to be a child attending Holy Trinity.

"I go with my dad to the church all the time ... just to stay with my dad. I can't play or run around," Charles said in English, a less-used second language. "A lot of women, they had five or six children to look after... and they (the children) would sit on the floor and look around. If they moved... (their mothers) would say, 'Sit still!'"

The church bell would be rung 15 to 20 minutes before services, and with its peal echoing across the water, parishioners would head over to the church. Upon arriving, men would take off their coats and hats and hang tem on a tree outside, Charles recalled.

Even in those earlier years, the church was used primarily in summer, since its parishioners were often out on their traplines all winter.

This actually served Holy Trinity well, because the furs they trapped helped support the church financially.

"The man and his family, they'd pick the best beaver, the best fox... and they'd give the pelts to the clergyman and that would be their offering," Arthurson said.

"They'd pick their best pelts to give to God."

These days, no offering is required of visitors to Holy Trinity, although if you drive up you may need to bring your own boat, or pay for transportation across the river. Ask at the Amachewespimawin Co-op Store in Stanley Mission for directions to a helpful fishing camp. A canoe or a sailboat will also suffice, and if you're a strong swimmer or very devout, so will your own two legs.