By The Rev. Drew Crowson, St. Paul's in Prosper

Earlier this month, 19 youth and 11 adults from St Paul’s Episcopal Church in Prosper traveled to Quebec City for a different sort of summer mission trip, organized by the clergy of St. Paul’s. Instead of working on service projects, we intentionally put our students in uncomfortable situations in order for them to learn more about themselves, their faith, and what life might be like for people on the margins. Quebec City is largely Francophone and the Christian community is small, for many of our students this was the first time they had been somewhere where they weren’t a part of the majority language or religious group. It was an eye-opening experience for all. The theme of Unity arose throughout the course of the trip as we heard from Christian leaders who implored us to focus on the things we all have in common instead of the small issues that divide us.

Through a connection Bishop Sumner made for us with Bishop Bruce Myers of the Anglican Diocese of Quebec, we were able to stay at the 150 year-old Church House on the grounds of the Anglican Cathedral, the oldest outside of the British Isles. In its 150 year history, it had never housed 30 air mattresses until now. Our itinerary allowed us to tour a mosque where we heard from a leader there about the history of Islam and that community which had been the site of a tragic mass shooting in 2017. Dean of the Cathedral, the Very Rev. Christian Schreiner, organized a tour for our group with Quebecois hip-hop artist Webster, who gave us a “black history” tour of Quebec City. We learned the seldom heard stories of the first black Canadians and saw the legacy of slavery as he walked us to various sites around town. Bishop Bruce introduced us to his close friend the Cardinal Archbishop Gérald Lacroix who had just returned to Quebec City from the Vatican where he had participated in the Papal Conclave. Cardinal Lacroix spend over an hour speaking with and answering questions from our students, and we prayed for Christian unity. There was a spirit of brotherhood and Christian fellowship that was palpable as we sang a hymn together with the Cardinal in his private chapel.

Completely coincidentally, Bishop Myers informed us that his close friend the Most Reverend Sean Rowe, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, was staying with him. Our group was able to meet Bishop Rowe, pray with him, and receive a blessing as we set off on the longest day of our trip—a 20 mile pilgrimage walk from Quebec City to the magnificent Basilica of St. Anne de Beaupre. It’s not every week that you get to meet a Cardinal Archbishop, the Presiding Bishop, and take 43,000 steps in a day, and our youth were gracious, respectful, and deeply impacted by the experience, even when they spent the last night of the trip sleeping on the tile floor of the Quebec City Airport.