Series STA-05 - Property Records

The St. Augustine Parish was established as a result of the post-war housing boom in St. John’s. In the mid-1950s the Anglican School Board of St. John’s had constructed an elementary school, Brinton Memorial, in the newly developed Churchill Park residential area. The nearest parish to Churchill Park was the Cathedral Parish of St. John the Baptist in downtown St. John’s. By early 1957 arrangements had been made for a Sunday school to be held at Brinton Memorial, which was more readily accessible on foot. An extract from the Cathedral Vestry minutes of March 6, 1957 indicates that a Sunday school was already in place and that plans were being made to hold regular church services at Brinton during Lent. An unfinished room at the school was completed for use as a chapel and dedicated on January 6, 1958 by Bishop Meadon as the Chapel of the Epiphany. Regular Sunday services were conducted from that date, and by April 1959 an Altar Guild had been established to serve the new chapel.
The Mission Parish of St. Augustine was established in 1963. The first service in the newly constituted parish was held on August 4, and on September 17 the new parish officially came into being with the first parish meeting.
Meetings and services for the Mission Parish of St. Augustine continued to be held in Brinton Memorial School, first in the basement chapel and then in a new auditorium constructed for the purpose and opened in 1965. Meanwhile, negotiations for a permanent home for the congregation continued, culminating in the acquisition of a parcel of land on Elizabeth Avenue. Construction of the new church began in June of 1968 and the building was dedicated on March 2 1969. According to Synod regulations, construction debts on the church building had to be paid before it could be consecrated: this was accomplished and the St. Augustine Parish was consecrated on May 31, 1981.

Administrative structure:
The principal administrative body of the Anglican Church of Canada at the parish level is the Vestry. St. Augustine’s Parish Vestry is made up of up to 12 members elected by the congregation. Additional ex officio members must include the rector, the curate if there is one, and any other full time church employees. The churchwardens, the secretary, the treasurer and the parishes lay representatives to Synod are also ex officio members of Vestry. Vestry’s function is similar to that of a board of directors for parish business. Documentation of the activities of the Vestry is available at the series and sub series level.
Over the course of its forty-year history the formal administrative structure of St. Augustine’s has changed very little. The minutes of Vestry indicate that attempts were made from time to time, notably in the late 1960s, to overlay a committee structure onto the basic Vestry system. In many cases these committees did not produce formal minutes and reports after the first year or two of their existence, but their activities are apparent in Vestry minutes and correspondence. In practice, informal committees evolved in response to the practical needs of the church, and their activities are documented in Vestry minutes and correspondence. Documentation of existing committee materials is available at the series and sub series level.