A New, Fresh Face At St. Paul's In Sydenham

Jeff Green | Nov 27, 2013

At just 25 years of age Rev. Giuseppe Gagliano is already making his friendly bearded face known around Sydenham. Rev. Gagliano is the minister at St. Paul’s Anglican Church and he was one of many volunteers who served Sydenham High School students their first free Lunch4Teens meal in the church's basement last week.

Rev. Gagliano took the helm at St. Paul's on July 1. Regarding his age he said, “I'm roughly the same age as John the Baptist was when he started and he did a pretty decent job...but he had a bad ending.... [laughing]. Hopefully it won't come to that for me.” Rev. Gagliano is serving at his Sydenham post as assistant curate (with the Rev. Blair Peever as incumbent) in a shared ministry between the Parish of Christ Church, Cataraqui and the Parish of Lougborough. He said so far he is enjoying the Sydenham community.

He recently graduated from Yale University's Divinity School in May, where he completed a three-year Master of Divinity program along with Anglican studies. His Bachelor's degree was from Queen's University in Kingston where he studied religion and politics.

Gagliano is originally from Alma, Ontario near Guelph and also lived in Fergus. Raised in the Mennonite church, he was baptized as a Roman Catholic. “I guess I began with a kind of broad sense of what religion is, which fueled my own desire to pursue faith and it was when I was at school at Queen's that I came to the Anglican church.” Asked if his congregation seems surprised by his age, he said, “I know that my age has no bearing on the way that I can lead my congregation. I feel that the church has placed this responsibility in my hands and I know that I am capable to carry it out.”

Asked about the challenges of having his first parish he said that falling into the rhythm of parish life poses the greatest challenge. “Especially in the Anglican tradition, parish life has a certain rhythm to it. And because it is my first time through that rhythm, that alone is something to get used to. That and the fact that this is my first time in a new parish makes it doubly challenging.”

Gagliano strikes one as an up beat person with great energy, an easy smile and a sense of humour. Asked how he brings those qualities to his congregation he replied, “I think in this job you just have to be yourself. I have been given the responsibility and the opportunity by my church, my fellow believers, to lead others in their pursuit of God.”

Asked if he could describe his preaching style he laughed, took a moment and then said he had never been asked to articulate that before. “Reverent joy. Always be reverent and always be serious but always remember that life can also be a really funny place.” He thought again, paused and then said, “Be joyful but you've also got to know that life also has some really horrible sides to it. I think that that's where the reverence comes into it.”

Earlier he mused about the idea that the church needn't be a dour place. “The one thing that the church brings to the world is certain facts of life. In the Christian tradition for example the crucifixion is not at all a pleasant thing; it's in fact a horrific thing. So church does have a place for seriousness, for tragedy, for death in a very honest way but that doesn't mean that we have to be dour in a superficially pious sense. There are times when we ought to be very serious and a smile on our face might not be the thing that we bring to the door and that's okay. On the other hand it is the resurrection of Christ that we get excited about and why not share that feeling as well?“

Gagliano says he has been enjoying the people in the community and their willingness to help each other. “It's not a struggle for me to encourage people to want to do that; it seems to come naturally to people in this area.“ He omitted to say that he is leading the way by doing so himself.

There are numerous services happening at St. Paul’s. Traditional services that include a church choir and a children's service are held every Sunday morning at 10am. A weekly contemporary service called The Crossing is held every Saturday evening at 6pm and includes a live modern worship band. A youth group/Bible study takes place on Tuesdays at 5pm, led by the reverend and adult volunteers. Every Thursday at 12:45pm is a simple, contemplative service of morning prayer in the old Anglican tradition. The church also holds a group gathering especially for seniors at the Maple Ridge Apartments in Sydenham every Tuesday at 11am.

St. Paul's Anglican church is located at 4336 Mill Street in Sydenham. Anyone wanting more information can contact Rev. Giuseppe Gagliano at 613-376-3003.