A Parish By The Sea

Peter Owen-Jones puts the spotlight on the village church in this diary recalling a year as Rector of three parishes in rural Cambridgeshire. Far from a cosy rural idyll, what he describes is a grinding existence at the beck and call of his parishioners who often have conflicting expectations of the Church, depending on whether its traditional culture is crucial to them or entirely alien. This personal account touches on passions as diverse as environmental issues, how the church runs and promotes itself, what it means to experience God, and the place of Christianity at the turn of the millennium. In it Peter Owen-Jones paints a revelatory picture of a church going through hell, unsure whether and in what form its resurrection might take place.

St. Petersburg High school juniors Dicey Bell, a baseball star, and Jack Chen, who loves science and role-playing games, discover a mutual attraction when paired for a project, but on their first date, a zombie-producing fungus sends them on the run.

A concise, full-colour visitor’s guide to dozens of historical churches scattered throughout Vancouver Island, from humble country chapels to soaring urban cathedrals. For many European settlers who arrived on Vancouver Island in the late nineteenth century, building a church was as important as establishing a homestead or erecting a school. The church was the heart of the community. Today, although demographics have shifted and church attendance has waned, many of those early structures are still standing. Pioneer Churches of Vancouver Island and the Salish Sea features more than forty surviving churches whose construction dates back to the 1800s. It explores the architecture; the local history of the area; and the stories of the builders, worshippers, clergy members, those who are buried in the adjoining graveyards. Divided into geographical sections—Victoria, Esquimalt and the Saanich Peninsula, the Cowichan Valley, Salt Spring Island, Central Vancouver Island, and the North Island—this book is a beautifully photographed, easy-to-follow guide for anyone interested in exploring these architectural treasures and learning more about the history surrounding them.