Community of the Cross of Nails

Global Reconciliation Community

The rain cleared and the sun beamed down strongly on June 10th 2019 as the Sorrento Centre celebrated reconciliation and community!

Secwepmc knowledge-holder Kenthen Thomas brought us traditional stories of how Coyote and Bear brought lightness and dark to the world, and how Coyote taught the trees to love. Dean John Witcombe of Coventry Cathedral brought the amazing story of the birth of the Community of the Cross of Nails in the bombed ruins of the Cathedral during bleak days of 1940. Many others shared stories of reconciliation and community, including: Bishop Lynne McNaughton, Diocese of Kootenay; Paul Demenok, Area C Director, Columbia Shuswap Regional District; Melissa Green, Associate Director of the Sorrento Centre; Dawn Dunlop, Executive Director of the Canadian Mental Health Association Shuswap; Dean Ken Gray of St Paul’s Cathedral, Kamloops; Jaime Millar + Caitlin Dean of the Sorrento Centre Youth Leadership Team; and Tanesa Kiso, Co-Manager of the Sorrento Farmers’ Market.

The Sorrento Centre is a gathering place for all, as well as a holy place of transformation for learning, healing and belonging.

The Sorrento Centre is honoured to be welcomed into the global reconciliation community with more than 200 groups centred at Coventry Cathedral in England and called the Community of the Cross of Nails (CCN) The journey of reconciliation is at the heart of our work and we embrace the three-fold mission of CCN: healing the wounds of history, learning to live with difference and celebrate diversity and building a culture of peace. The bulletin for the celebration of community is attached below.

The pictures show Kenthen Thomas / Coyote welcoming the sun; Dean John Witcombe telling the Coventry reconciliation story; and Sorrento Centre Board Chair Bishop James Cowan, Executive Director Michael Shapcott and Associate Director Melissa Green accepting the Cross of Nails from Dean John Witcombe. The Sorrento Centre is grateful for the generous support of the Anglican Foundation of Canada in strengthening our work in reconciliation. For more information about the Anglican Foundation and its work, and an on-line link for donations, click here.