This year we celebrate our 145th Anniversary! Come celebrate with us on Trinity Sunday, June 3rd
The essence of the church's mission and its place in the community has changed little. It is a lively place of music, worship, outreach and education. We would be glad to have you here with us.
Celebrating tradition into the 21st century
In the 19th century Port Credit was surrounded by farms. The lakeside village in Mississauga consisted of a general store, a hotel, a few houses and a market. In the early 1800's Anglicans in the village gathered in each other's homes for Matins and every once in a while the Diocese of York would send out a minister by packet steamer to hold services and then he would proceed to the Streetsville mission church by stagecoach. Between the two services he would reach 200-300 people in one day.
Eventually, St. Peter’s Erindale was established followed by the small stone chapel for what became St. John the Baptist. In 1866, the Reverend Charles Bethune arrived to take over St. Peter’s and was asked by Port Credit residents to hold services here as well. They found a meeting place in a fair-sized room over a livery stable located on the north side of Lakeshore Road east of Stavebank Road.
After a time, it became obvious to Bethune and his flock that it was time to build a church. The owner of the general store, James Hamilton, owned quite a bit of land along the Credit River and gave the land for the church. The young congregation was enthusiastic as all helped financially, as well as builders, to raise the new church. The small white wooden building was soon completed and opened for divine worship in the fall of 1867. The Reverend Charles Bethune writes enthusiastically: “The contributions at the opening services were sufficient to pay off all liabilities and we began free of debt.”
Trinity continued as a mission church along with St. Johns’ of St. Peter’s, Erindale for 47 years. By 1914, the Diocese recognized that Trinity was able to continue on its own and Trinity Port Credit became an independent parish. The minutes of a special Vestry held December 30, 1913 reports the election of Lay delegates and Sidesmen and it was moved and seconded that the minister’s stipend would be $1,000 with a free house.
It was evident right away that if the church was to grow it had to be modernized and enlarged. The church school classes were meeting in teachers’ homes and later in the Orange Hall and there was no space for a proper furnace. The building was raised on a basement foundation and later covered in a brick veneer. To raise money to finance the project, the building committee sold bricks. One parishioner recalled the Reverend Henry Earle calling on families and asking them to buy 500, 1,000 or 2000 bricks depending on their circumstances. He always got his bricks.
By 1926, there were 140 children in the church school. Pastor Earle is asking the congregation to consider a new church so yet another building committee is formed and Trinity, as we know it today, was begun in 1931. First, the entrance porch of the tower and the first unit of the stone nave were built. Children attended Sunday school classes in the basement. It was reported that a few mice attended too. The choir room was at the back and there was a very narrow staircase leading up into the church.
The period from 1931 to 1939 was a time of great community spirit. Perhaps the Depression had something to do with it. Trinity’s choir was well known in the Township and performed concerts in competitions and in operettas in Clarke Hall. This continued until the war took many male members off to join the armed forces. In 1935, St. Margaret’s Guild was founded welcoming women from other churches and denominations. They took their name from a group of nuns, the Sisters of St. Margaret near Bracebridge who did great work among the poor and destitute in that area. Trinity’s group took the same name as they collected used clothing etc. to send to the sisters. Because they were an American order, the nuns left the area when war broke out and Trinity’s St. Margaret’s Guild carried on their work. The Guild also has contributed so much to Trinity Church including the Credence Table to the right of the altar and the Baptistery stained glass window and paneling in memory of their founder, Archdeacon Charles Saddington. Over the years, members have made layettes, packed bales, visited the sick, and supported many causes such as the Mission to Seamen. Many other women’s groups have worked very hard over the years to provide funds for their church as well as others in need, especially in wartime, packing bales to send overseas.
The cornerstone of the present chancel was laid in September 1947 and the completed Sanctuary was dedicated in February 1949. The Reverend John Langstone arrived in 1950 with a fresh outlook and full of energy. By now the conditions in the basement were appalling. Four-footed creatures were reported to come through the holes in the choir room floor where kindergarten classes met. Expansion was desperately needed. The cornerstone for the new nave was laid in October 1954 and the church was completed in April 1955. Those days of construction were a wonderful time of fellowship. All kinds of innovative ways were used to raise funds. There were concerts, rummage sales, auction sales, teas, paper drives - even the sale of 75-lb. bags of potatoes for $1.49!
As Canada celebrated its Centennial in 1967, so did Trinity Church. But the late 60’s saw the beginnings of change not only with Trinity, but other churches as well. In 1968, St. Nicholas, Lakeview, closed after a long struggle to survive. It was dissolved and amalgamated with Trinity. The rector of St. Nicholas, the Reverend Henry Harper became rector of the joined church. He encouraged young people through the Servers’ Guild, the Boy Scout and Girl Guide groups and Core XI, a youth group for teens of any creed or background.
The Rev. Tom Little endeavoured to make the Anglican presence felt in the community, marching down to the harbour with full choir to bless the boats at the beginning of the season, taking the servers dressed in full red cassock and white cotta to the cenotaph on Remembrance Day. He also was a force, together with St. Paul’s- Lorne Park, for the sponsorship of a Vietnamese family who needed care and support by parishioners of both parishes.
The late 1980’s and early 1990’s were years of very little growth though our numbers remained relatively stable. I 1985 the Rev. William Warnica was called to Trinity who encouraged church attendance and in 1989 a large number of parishioners attended the diocesan sesquicentennial where Trinity's choir performed with choirs throughout the diocese. The Warnica family was the last to live in the rectory. It was deemed a liability shortly thereafter and was sold. In 1994, Trinity welcomed its first woman priest, The Reverend Katie Waugh. Numbers gradually climbed and new programs began reaching out to the community such as Gimme a Break - where young mothers, many of them single moms, would gather every two weeks to learn about healthcare, family planning, financial planning, crafts and easy meal preparation.
Trinity recognized the need of barrier-free access to the church, washrooms and an elevator and also realized that the kitchen, located across from the furnace room, was inadequate for not only church use but for groups using our facilities. The church school was in need of a nursery and expanded classrooms. There was a major fund-raising campaign and $500,000 was pledged. Construction began in 1999.
The Reverend Steven Mackison’s ministry was highlighted in 2006 by providing sanctuary for a parishioner in need, originally from Nigeria. Some parishioners immediately provided the necessities to make the Guild room into a temporary home and a committee was organized to look after financial and legal affairs as well as everyday things such as groceries, laundry etc. No regular church funds were used, all expenses were paid by donations. Unfortunately, this period brought a strain on church finances. To offset our financial difficulties, there were a series of parish dinners with entertainment to raise funds as well as our annual bazaar but these were not enough to offset worries about the future.
In February 2010 Bishop Poole felt Trinity Port Credit was a parish worth saving so with a grant from the Diocese of Toronto and the help of our Parish Selection Committee, he appointed the Reverend Judy Herron-Graham as Priest-in-Charge who began in May 2010. Our attendance is up and finances are looking better but, and there’s always a but, there is still a great deal to do. We all must take part to make our church a viable part of our community again.
Margaret Parker 2011