Canada is a tricky country. I discovered this after looking for a church to attend in Quebec. When we planned the trip a year ago, I looked online to verify that Canada’s Lutheran church body had a congregation near where we wanted to stay. I saw one in Montreal — good. I noted down their address but didn’t look any further because it was still a long way off. Then, as the trip approached, I looked at the congregation’s website and felt like an idiot. The whole thing was in French. Of course it was all in French — this is Quebec! I should have realized. What a dummy.
Trevis and I have begun studying French in preparation for a trip to France we are planning for next summer, but our skills are still very beginner-level. I wasn’t excited about the idea of sitting for an hour immersed in a language that still mostly sounds like nonsense to me.
A quick search for English-language church services near the lake house we are renting and found two — one Catholic and one Anglican. I also eventually found an English-language Lutheran congregation in Montreal, sharing the same building as the French-speaking one I’d located a year ago.
We ended up visiting both the Lutheran and Anglican congregations during the course of our month here (the Lutheran because we are Lutheran, the Anglican because it was much closer to our rental.) In visiting both, I was able to observe the different ways that these churches serve the minority English-speaking members of their community.
Trinity
Trinity Church in Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts is a small congregation that exists for the English-speakers of Sainte-Agathe and other nearby communities that have no English church.
Its service was predominantly, but not fully, in English. The service folder had English and French side-by-side to accommodate any French speakers who might be there. They seemed to assume a certain level of French fluency from everyone, though. One of the scripture readings was in French, and after reading it, the lector explained some of the French words used that might not be familiar to everyone. Interesting, I’m sure, if you speak some French.
Ascension
The Lutheran church we attended in Montreal holds two services for two independent congregations: Église Luthérienne de l’Ascension and Ascension Lutheran Church. The French service is at 9:00, and when they’re done they go downstairs for coffee. Then the English-speakers come and use the sanctuary for their service, keeping everything segregated. Two banners at the front of the sanctuary, one in French and the other in English, are the only clue that something unusual is going on.
Each of the two congregations has its own pastor, hymnals, website, etc., but they have the same name and use the same building. I didn’t know I needed to specify English in my initial search, so I didn’t see this. Canada is tricky!
