Chilling with Father Quang

August 26, 2012

Earlier this week, Father Quang from St.Francis Catholic Church (one of two churches in Hall Beach) had welcomed us to Hall Beach at the school and invited us to come to service on any Sunday. I’m not the religious type and definitely not Catholic however I’m always up to experiencing new things so it was intrigued to see how a church service would be in an Inuit community. This Sunday was a special service to teachers, especially the new ones in town, in which Father Quang wanted to officially welcome us to the community and bless us for a good school year. So the whole gang and I all went today. We were told to bring a snack for after service refreshments at the church.

The church is very small outside, but cute. It kind of looked like something you would see in the middle of a small town in the countryside. 

When you walk through the front door, there was a small foyer where people would hang their coats and refreshments would be served after the service. On the left were the doors leading to the church part of the church (not sure what the actually room is called :S). This room was not very big. Maybe there was about 6 rows of chairs. The service began with some singing in Inuktitut. We were given the bible in English and another book of prayers and songs in Inuktitut. Luckily the Inuktitut was written with English letters rather than syllabics.I tried my best to read along. Keep in mind that one word in Inuktitut could be about 20 letters long! Anyways, there were three people on stage giving the service, Father Quang, an Elder, and another gentleman. The service lasted an hour and a half (apparently much longer than usual) and about 20 people attended the service, many of them being children, including a baby who cried almost the whole time. Most of the service was not in English and even Father Quang mostly read in Inuktitut. Father Quang is originally from Vietnam and had spent some time living in different parts of Canada before moving to Hall Beach 3 years ago. Even though at times his English was difficult to understand, I wonder if his Inuktitut was any better. Even so, he’s such a kind hearted person, who you can tell is really passionate about his beliefs and job.

After the service finished, everyone enjoyed some cookies and hot tea/coffee in the front foyer. As the local people started to leave, it was just us teachers left. Now the party begins. Father Quang invited us to his house for lunch...the room to the right of the foyer!  With some thai noodles, spaghetti, green tea, and lots cookies, this was a party. 

(this was our “funny” picture but I’m sure you can tell who was trying. Left to right, Father Quang, Cassandra, me, John, Pat, Jennifer, Ashley)