After 11 years at the Church of the Advent, Rev. Ken Gray is moving on.
The long-time rector, music and art lover, political activist, environmentalist and Colwood resident takes his services to St. Paul’s Cathedral in Kamloops. He’ll be dean for the very church in which he was married almost 30 years ago.
“We will miss many people. It’s been good to be here, but for us it is time to move on,” Gray said. “I am looking forward to new challenges and new opportunities … It was a place I found my experience and interests resonating with folks doing similar work.”
Some of that work was directed to protect the Earth.
Gray is secretary for the Anglican Communion Environment Network, which globally connects church members who have an eye on food security, water, sanitation energy production and other environmental issues. Church of the Advent hosted a week-long environmental justice camp in May 2006, attracting 80 people from across the country to learn and develop strategies for advocacy.
“I’m concerned about the future of the Earth and as a Christian, I believe the Earth has been given to us as a gift and to date we have abused it,” he said. “So, it is a moral imperative for me.”
Despite being visually impaired due to albinism, Gray is also a senior volunteer at the local and national level for the Canadian National Institute for the Blind. Outside his volunteerism and church and community work, his love of the arts has been well nourished on the West Shore, he said. He even runs his own photography business, despite being legally blind.
“In the age of digital camera auto focus and exposure, everything is possible that wasn’t in the 1970s,” he said.
“I tend to see line and shape and colour better than detail … But our motto is, ‘we see what others miss.’”
In addition to shooting on the Island for Legally Blind Photography, he will also miss the Jazz Vespers, an amalgamation of a church service with some of Canada’s best jazz musicians. The last one at which Gray will officiate happens Sunday, March 20, when the Pram Trio from Toronto are welcomed to Colwood.
Church warden Elizabeth Bennett, who began attending the Church of the Advent after her previous one closed down, said the friendly demeanour of Gray and his wife Kathie made her feel at home among the approximately 200 parishioners.
Since Gray is legally blind, Bennett signed up to help drive him to appointments, including visiting patients at hospitals or homes. She said she will miss the learning conversations shared with Gray on route to the different volunteer events.
“I think he has a good balance; (as) a parish priest he must first service his congregation, but depending on the vision of the church the amount of outreach to community can vary,” she said. “He is going to be missed and Kamloops is lucky to be getting him.”
A farewell lunch for the long-time rector goes at 11 a.m. on March 20 followed that evening by the final Jazz Vespers service at 7 p.m. Gray’s last service as rector happens Easter Sunday, March 27 at 10 a.m. at 510 Mount View Ave.
alim@goldstreamgazette.com