Aurora United Church ground-breaking met with “joy and gratitude”

July 22, 2021 · 0 Comments

After seven long years, it was with “joy and gratitude” that members of the Aurora United Church (AUC) community greeted the formal ground-breaking last week on their new spiritual home on the site of their traditional place of worship, which was destroyed by fire in 2014.

Members of the congregation, Mayor Tom Mrakas, and representatives from Amica Senior Living, gathered at Yonge and Tyler Streets to turn the sod not only on a new home for AUC but an associated seniors’ residence which will be built just to the north of the church.

“It is with great joy and gratitude that we gather here today on the site that has held our collective dreams for seven years now,” said Reverend Lorraine Newton-Comar.

The site has been the home of many dreams over the past 200 years, from its first consecration to the Methodist Church by settler William Tyler in 1818, to two successive buildings, each of which were destroyed in a blaze.

Last week, however, was the start of a new chapter.

“In the realm of mission, which gives our church community purpose, the congregation of Aurora United Church discerned together that our mission could be more deeply realized and made more meaningful by rebuilding our church and reaching out to developers who would work with us in broadening our worship and mission goals,” said Newton-Comar. “We have been blessed by the presence of Succession Development and Amica in this time. We have come a long way together and our appreciation could not be more sincere.”

This gratitude was echoed by Mayor Mrakas who said he was “honoured” to be with the congregation to share in this “important historic moment” not only for them but Aurora’s Downtown Core as a whole.

“This is an emotional day for all of us,” he said. “For me, it is a day of recollection as well as excitement, remembering the past but looking forward to the future.

“On the day of the fire [our Town] changed and a piece of history was lost, but what wasn’t lost was a sense of community, the coming together of Aurora residents. Amid the devastation, Aurorans showed that the church is more than just a physical structure. It is a community and a family. Over the years since the fire, we have seen true resilience, a galvanized and energized community intent on rebuilding what was lost and despite delays in the rebuild, that day has finally come: the official groundbreaking on what will be a stunning new church proudly looking to the future with nods of the past, a place to share with faith and community, and a refuge of peace.

“To the many volunteers here today, the faithful stewards and everyone involved in the church reconstruction effort, place accept my thanks on behalf of Aurora Council. I look forward to the United Church reclaiming its space in the heart of the historic Downtown and to many memories set to be made in the years to come.”

In his remarks, architect Bob Murphy said his organization started working with the United Church of Canada to help evaluate “development potential” for existing congregations across the county and had done about 50 of these evaluations before they got the call from AUC following the fire.

“I met a very dispirited group of people but they were tough and they were resilient and they were faithful,” said Murphy of his first meeting with the group shortly after the blaze. “We have really loved working on this project, working with the church and Amica. It’s a rare opportunity to have a redevelopment project of this scale in an urban setting [and Council] kept our feet to the fire and out of that particular fire I think came a better design than the one we went in with.”

Symbols of the fire have been incorporated into the church design, he added, including a prayer labyrinth on the floor of the sanctuary and a series of stained glass windows salvaged from the debris that will be one of the focal points for people entering the church.

“I’m so glad we have those artefacts to hang our hat on because they really were a visual symbol of the old church,” he continued. “They are now the raison d’etre of the new church. The original building was a bit closed in, you weren’t quite sure what was happening, you had to go up many steps from the street to venture inside. The Committee was adamant that the new design would be open and inviting and at street level.”

A great deal of the rebuild project was led by Brian North, who headed up the committee of church officials steering the new building.

In his remarks, he said many never thought it would take seven years to get to this point, but volunteers have been putting in the leg work and will continue to do so after the new church has opened its doors.

“We’ve been so fortunate to have the support and patience of the congregation,” he said. “I often said if we didn’t have the leadership in our church that we have had through this process I am not sure we would have reached this day. Reverends Andy (Comar) and Lorraine have been so supportive and dedicated to the task at hand and I personally don’t think I could have continued this far if not for their support and dedication.”

Added Newton-Comar in a prayer just before the sod-turning: “We gather here to ask for your blessing on this land. May this continue to be a place of worship and also of caring, of extravagant welcome and sharing, and a place where people experience your presence and love.”

By Brock Weir
Editor
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter