Tuesday, December 20th the Annual Senior’s Christmas Eucharist and Luncheon took place at St. Catherine’s in Port Coquitlam.
Organizer’s Stan Horton and Bernie Poitras have been presenting this event for “umpteen years” according to Stan, which after further questioning ends up being in the neighbourhood of 20.There were 55-60 people attending the 10:30am Eucharist Celebrated by St. Catherine’s Incumbent, Rev. Paul Strudwick. Paul said that 15-20% of those attending the service and the lunch were not regular parishioners. He is grateful for Stan’s hard work, getting out into the community and letting people know that they are welcome to attend this event.
Stan’s responsibility is direct hospitality, Bernie’s responsibility is sourcing and preparing the food for the feast. Bernie roasted one 19 pound turkey and two 15 pound commercial turkey rolls for the luncheon.
Part of St. Catherine’s compassionate service ministry is a “soup kitchen” lunch on Wednesdays, so the facility is fully functional and more than capable of putting on meals for 50 to 100 hungry guests. Paul said that there is so much food around at Christmas that the parish’s meal ministry schedules a post-Christmas turkey dinner, this year to be held at 12noon on Saturday, January 14th, 2012. Many of the participants enjoying that meal will be from the Wednesday group.
Images: Top, Stan Horton circulates. Middle right, Bernie applies whipped cream. Below, Serving the guests.