Trinity College School - Record Yearbook (Port Hope, Ontario Canada)

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TRINITY COLLEGE SCHOOL RECORD 7 in Algoma. The future archbishop was given a sound and effective education, and his own first charge as a clergyman himself was in the very James Bay area to which he re- turned in the full flight of his later career, in 1943. He worked there for nearly fourteen years, and during that time won his mastery of the Cree and Ojibway languages. He translated hymns and other writings for the Indians, and learned to understand their mind and their way of life. He has always spoken respectfully and affectionately of our Indian fellow-citizens. A broader opportunity came to him in 1912, when he was appointed rector of the Church of the Ascension in Hamilton, where he was to stay for the next fifteen years. During the war, he spent a period overseas as chaplain of a Kingston regiment, but returned to his work in Hamilton when hostilities ceased. In 1927, the challenge of a church in Vancouver was placed before him. He was not long making his mark on that community, and two years later, was appointed Dean of New Westminster. A short time later, he became Bishop of Athabaska, and again the North seemed to beckon. But there was still a challenge in the city, and he came to St. Paul's, Toronto, one of the great churches of his denomination, in 1932. To most Toronto people, during the ensuing eleven years, the powerful ministry of the then Bishop Renison was the mounting apex of a magnificent career. The multitude of talents at the command of this gifted man were placed wholly in the service of his Master and his influence for good was an ever-spreading beneficence. Then, seemingly at the height of success, at the age of sixty-eight, the urge came to go back to the North, and he answered it with a whole heart, as always. His life's unreserved service to his church was recognized two years ago by his election as Archbishop and Metropolitan. Now, after more than ten years in the North, he has yielded the torch to other con- secrated hands, secure in the knowledge that his own service was fulfilled. Such a recital of the bare facts of a man's career does not explain the man, although they tend to illustrate the quality of mind and spirit which he must have possessed to have achieved so much. Those who have followed Arch- bishop Renison's weekly articles in The Globe and Mail for nearly eighteen years, do not need to be told of the mar- vellous eloquence of his language, the breadth of his sym-

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6 TRINITY COLLEGE SOHOOL RECORD Vancouver, Chaplain overseas, Dean of New Westminster, Bishop of Athabaska, Rector of St. Paul's, Toronto, for eleven years Bishop of Moosonee, Metropolitan of Ontario. Truly a giant among men whose deeds and words, char- acter and personality will never be forgotten. It is his humanity and humility which win so many hearts, for truly there never was one in our time who loved his fellowman, saint or sinner, high or low, white or brown, as does the Archbishop. When he passes by, the world smiles and life is more sweet, long may his familiar and beloved figure tread our paths. And in retirement may he have more time for his reading and writing, and for his family. The School will always acclaim him as one of its three or four most distinguished men. The following tribute appeared in the Globe Sz Mail on September 8: Part of the history of Northern Ontario came to an end today with the retirement, on his seventy-ninth birthday, of the Mast Reverend Robert J. Renison, Archbishop of Moonsonee and Metropolitan of the Ecclesiastical Province of Ontario in the Anglican Church. It is an occasion at once sad and triumphant. Those who know him, and that includes a very large proportion of the readers of this newspaper, are aware that only the onrushing tide of the years could have torn this great heart from its labors. But the restrain- ing touch of time has not come before mighty works have been done and a lifetime of accomplishment rarely achieved. Archbishop Renison's life has by no means been wholly spent in the North, but there is little doubt that the North, with its primitive challenges, its wilderness beauty and the simplicity and integrity of character of the Indian inhab- itants, has entered into his very soul. There, through all the changing fortunes of his life, he has been happiest. As a young man, and in his later years, when most ordinary men would have been thinking of easing up, he has ranged the woods and the rivers, in camp and settlement, bringing the message of the Christian Gospel to the people who made their homes beyond the frontier. He came by this predilection naturally. As a boy, his father brought him from his birthplace in Tipperary, Ireland, to the North when the father became an Anglican missionary

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8 TRINITY COLLEGE SCHOOL RECORD pathies, the supreme spiritual devotion of his soul. Week by week, in this larger ministry, he has touched the lives of untold thousands in subtle ways, always for the better. It is particularly gratifying to us on this newspaper that retirement will not mean the suspension of these superb contributions. We hope they will continue for a long time. Archbishop Renison is a man of vast learning, lightly borne. It shines through in the illumination of sermon and essay by an infinite resource of illustration. He is a per- fect master of words, in the way of his Irish forebears, and they burn with passion, lift with inspiration, gladden with the glancing light of wit or soothe with the solemn assur- ances of the faith. To hear him read the Holy Scripture is an experience to be treasured. Rarely indeed are the majesty of the language, the soaring music of the poetry, the im- mortal message of the Word, more movingly and nobly de- livered. For once, the spoken word and the written word are perfectly matched. It is not surprising, therefore, that the poetry of the ages has absorbed his interest throughout his life. In imagery, in quotation, in phrasing, poetry comes from the lips of this gifted man like water Welling from a spring. It is a wonderful aptitude, when memory holds such varied beauty at instant command. And no tribute would be com- plete without reference to the human sympathy which marks every aspect of his personality. With all his great gifts, he has kept in touch with people: he knows their trials, their temptations, their hopes and their sorrows. His whole life has been dedicated to bringing the comfort of the Holy Spirit to all among whom he ministered. We speak not only for ourselves but for the whole com- munity in celebrating this day the magniiicent achievement of a great life. By chance, it is also a birthday, and we again bespeak the old birthday greeting of Many Happy Returns. And for all the years that are left to him, may he find the bread cast upon the waters over these fifty- seven years of service an ever-present sustenance and grace.