Creston Valley's new Anglican priest, Rev. Rick Paulin, was inducted on June 8th. The service, before a packed congregation of parishioners and guests in Christ Church was conducted by Bishop of Kootenay John Privett. Creston Valley's new Anglican priest, Rev. Rick Paulin, was inducted on June 8th. The service, before a packed congregation of parishioners and guests in Christ Church was conducted by Bishop of Kootenay John Privett.
Paulin's new parish also includes St Anselm's Church in Boswell, Harrison Memorial Church in Crawford Bay and Riondel Community Church. Several members of the combined congregation participated in the induction service.
The son of a Royal Canadian Air Force member, Rick, as he likes to be called, was born at North Bay, Ontario, and grew up across Canada
-- on bases from Goose Bay, Labrador, to Victoria. However, his family did stay long enough at Clinton, Ontario, for him to get his teenage schooling. Post high school, he attended Royal Military College in Kingston, Ontario, graduating as an aerospace engineer officer (AERE).
After four years leave without pay for seminary studies, he served in the Canadian Air Force for five years as a Roman Catholic chaplain. His first post was boot camp chaplain in Cornwallis, Nova Scotia.
Subsequently, as a chaplain until 1985 and therafter as a civilian priest, he served on Vancouver Island for ten years, in Invermere for five, and Kelowna for six. More recently he was based in Fort Simpson, NWT, where for two years he covered seven communities.
Paulin comes here from Kelowna, where he spent six months in training as an Anglican priest. He brings to his new parish a determination to praise and worship the loving God within the Anglican community; to journey with the parishioners in faith; and to reach and celebrate the faith.
He will be seen pursuing his calling around the valley in his 1990 Miata sports car. He calls it his four-wheeled motorbike, remembering with some nostalgia the vehicle he once rode -- on one occasion from Victoria to St Jean sur le Richelieu, Quebec -- to attend a retreat
And in his spare moments, or when relaxing with friends, he may be heard strumming his guitar and singing the old songs.