Harman Patil (Editor)

Church of St. Aidan (Toronto)

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Dedication
  
St. Aidan

Parish
  
Ontario

Province
  
Ontario

Dean
  
Rev'd Barbara Liotscos

Phone
  
+1 416-691-2222

Diocese
  
Diocese of Ontario

Church of St. Aidan (Toronto)

Denomination
  
Anglican Church of Canada

Address
  
70 Silver Birch Ave, Toronto, ON M4E 3K9, Canada

Similar
  
The Beaches, Beach Hebrew Institute, Kew Gardens, Fox Theatre, Ted Reeve Arena

The Church of St. Aidan is an Anglican church in The Beaches neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The church has about 400 members, and around 150 people show up on Sundays. The current priest-in-charge is the Rev'd Lucy Reid.

The church's history begin with Pastor H. Dixon who set up a tent around 1880 to serve the residents of the small village in the area. When the streetcar stretched eastward and the area began to grow rapidly in the 1890s, the church remained housed in a tent, but one large enough to hold 500 people. A permanent church was finally established in 1907, and work on the church building was completed in 1910.

In 2006 the church became the centre of controversy when the congregation under Rev. Stephen Kirkegaard decided to participate in the Out of the Cold program to provide shelter to the homeless during the winter. The program takes place in various religious institutions across the city, and helps provide extra space during the winter months when remaining outside can be deadly. St. Aidan's proposed providing beds for twelve people once a week. This sparked strenuous opposition from neighbours in the expensive Beaches area. Concerns about the homeless bringing crime and reducing property values in the neighbourhood prompted some local residents to try to get a court order to halt the program. Eventually after a meeting was held to allay concerns, and critical publicity began to decry the objections, the program went ahead.

References

Church of St. Aidan (Toronto) Wikipedia