Saint John's Cathedral Boys' School

Last updated

Saint John's Cathedral Boys' School
Location
Saint John's Cathedral Boys' School
Winnipeg, Manitoba

Canada
Coordinates 50°19′57.4″N96°50′18.1″W / 50.332611°N 96.838361°W / 50.332611; -96.838361
Information
TypeBoarding school
Religious affiliation(s)Anglican
EstablishedEarly 1960s
ClosedEarly 1990s
GenderBoys

Saint John's Cathedral School (SJCS) was a private Anglican boarding school for boys named for the Saint John's Cathedral in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, out of whose youth program it had emerged". [1] It was the first in a series of schools, operated from 1958 until 2008, by an Anglican lay religious order called the Company of the Cross.

Contents

History

The school was founded in the early 1960s by Ted Byfield and Frank Wiens, who became the school's director.

They started an Anglican lay order called the Company of the Cross, based on the writings of Christian apologists, such as Dorothy L. Sayers, C.S. Lewis, and G. K. Chesterton. [2] Originally, the Company of the Cross was under the authority of the resident bishop in Winnipeg, officially called the Diocese of Rupert's Land.

Ted Byfield, Frank Wiens, and over a dozen other men—many of them from the St. John's Cathedral choir, formed a cell or group, that shared similar beliefs. They founded a lay Anglican order, affiliated with the Anglican Church of Canada, which they first called the Dynevor Society, after the Dynevor Indian Hospital in Selkirk, north of Winnipeg, a property they had acquired. [2] [3] They believed that the education of boys in public schools was not training them to develop strong character and Christian values. They organized a boys choir at St. John's Cathedral, which first became a club, then a weekend residential school starting in 1957, and finally, in 1962, a full-time "traditionalist" Anglican private boarding schools for boys. [4] [5] The Company of the Cross had acquired the abandoned Dynevor Indian Hospital where they held their weekend schools. The cell officially changed their name from Dynevor to the Company of the Cross under the Manitoba Societies Act. In 1962, Byfield and five other members of the Company [1] opened the first in a series of St. John's full-time boarding schools for boys "dedicated to the reassertion of Christian educational principles"—Saint John's Cathedral Boys' School. [2]

The school operated intentionally on "traditional" methods. They used mathematics textbooks from pre-World War II advancing from "arithmetic to calculus" with constant testing. Ginger Byfield taught French "developed from French-Canadian history." They watched hockey on the French channel. Byfield taught history which required that students read copiously from Thomas Costain to Francis Parkman. [1]

The Company of the Cross teachers and staff were paid $1.00 per day and provided room and board. [6] In 1973, parents paid $1700 a year tuition. [6]

Arduous row-boat trips (called "cutters"), later replaced by canoes, and snowshoeing and dog-sledding were part of the outdoor education program. The school's founders believed that boys should be pushed to what they might believe is their breaking points, and this would "build character". The school was seen by many as a way to help troubled boys, usually from 11 to 14 years of age. [7] Its primary focus was challenging boys from every social stratum to work together in order to grow morally, physically, intellectually and spiritually in the tradition of Victorian "muscular Christianity".[ citation needed ] The 1974 National Film Board Film described the St. John's Cathedral Boys' School as the "most demanding outdoor school in North America." [6] Upon arrival at the school, the new boys, 13- to 15-years old, undertook a 2-week 330 mile canoe trip and in the spring there was a second longer canoe trip covering 900 miles with 55 portages. [6]

Ted Byfield wrote in 1996 that rules were enforced with a "flat stick across the seat of the pants" in the early years of the school. [1] In the article, Byfield defended this practice as acceptable at the time.

The students ran the physical plant of the school, doing all the janitorial work, cooking and serving food, cleaning kennels, making and selling processed meat products door-to-door for fundraising, and raising sled dogs. [8]

Two other schools, Saint John's School of Alberta and Saint John's School of Ontario were founded on the same ideas in later years.

The school closed in the early 1990s, struggling for funds and credibility after a canoeing disaster on Lake Timiskaming where 13 people died of hypothermia. [7]

Incidents

In the fall of 1973, the National Film Board of Canada filmed the two week canoe trip on the Red River and Lake Winnipeg, with the 13- to 15-years old boys who had just arrived at the school. It was part of CBC-TV's series, West [6]

A boy died in the 1970s while on one of the school's lengthy snowshoe hikes. [9]

In 2000, a former teacher, Kenneth Mealey, pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting five students in 1982 and 1983. A Canadian Broadcasting Corporation article on his sentencing said that "St. John's school administrators knew about the assault allegations but chose to fire Mealey instead of calling the authorities". [10]

Bibliography

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anglican Church of Canada</span> Church organization in Canada

The Anglican Church of Canada is the province of the Anglican Communion in Canada. The official French-language name is l'Église anglicane du Canada. In 2022, the Anglican Church counted 294,931 members on parish rolls in 1,978 congregations, organized into 1,498 parishes. The 2021 Canadian census counted 1,134,315 self-identified Anglicans, making the Anglican Church the third-largest Canadian church after the Catholic Church and the United Church of Canada.

The Anglican Church Grammar School (ACGS), formerly the Church of England Grammar School and commonly referred to as Churchie, is an independent, Anglican, day and boarding school for boys, located in East Brisbane, an inner suburb of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Hilda's School</span> School in Australia

St Hilda's School is an independent, Anglican, day and boarding school for girls, located in Southport, a central suburb of the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia.

Eric Linkord Byfield was a Canadian news columnist, author, and politician.

The Alberta Report was a conservative weekly newsmagazine based in Edmonton. It was founded and edited by Ted Byfield, and later run by his son, Link Byfield. It ceased publication in 2003.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Armidale School</span> School in Australia

The Armidale School is an independent Anglican co-educational early learning, primary and secondary day and boarding school, located in Armidale, New South Wales, Australia. Administration of the schools is formalised as a company limited by guarantee that operates under the Corporations Act.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Edmund's School Canterbury</span> Public school in Canterbury, Kent, England

St Edmund's School Canterbury is a private day and boarding school located in Canterbury, Kent, England and established in 1749. The extensive school grounds were acquired in 1855. The school currently caters for girls and boys aged 3–18, including the Choristers of Canterbury Cathedral.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rural Municipality of St. Andrews</span> Rural municipality in Manitoba, Canada

St. Andrews is a rural municipality (RM) in Manitoba, Canada. It lies west of the Red River; its southern border is approximately 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) north of Winnipeg.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Okpik</span> Boy Scouts of America program

Okpik, pronounced as is the Boy Scouts of America cold-weather adventure program created by their Northern Tier High Adventure Bases at the Charles L. Sommers Canoe Base in Ely, Minnesota.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saint John's School of Alberta</span> Residential, boys school in near Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Saint John's School of Alberta (SJSA) was a small private boys' boarding school in Genesee, Alberta, Canada which operated from 1968 to 2008, the second of three such schools founded on conservative Anglican ideas and the notion that children were not challenged by present-day society. It closed in June 2008. Ted Byfield was one of the school's founders.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ted Byfield</span> Canadian journalist and publisher (1928–2021)

Edward Bartlett Byfield was a Canadian conservative journalist, publisher, and author. He founded the Alberta Report, BC Report and Western Report newsmagazines.

<i>Iron Will</i> 1994 film by Charles Haid

Iron Will is a 1994 American adventure film. It is based on the true story of the 1917 dog-sled race from Winnipeg, Manitoba to Saint Paul, Minnesota, a 522-mile-long stretch and part of the "Red River-St. Paul Sports Carnival Derby." The protagonist of the film, Will Stoneman, depicts the story of the 26-year-old American racer, Fred Hartman, although a few elements of the character resemble the 22-year-old Albert Campbell, the Métis man who won the race and whose father had died shortly prior. The film is directed by Charles Haid, and stars Mackenzie Astin, Kevin Spacey, David Ogden Stiers, George Gerdes, Brian Cox, John Terry, Penelope Windust and August Schellenberg.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anglican Diocese of Bunbury</span> Diocese of the Anglican Church of Australia

The Anglican Diocese of Bunbury is a diocese of the Anglican Church of Australia which was founded in 1904 and covers the south of the State of Western Australia. Together with Perth and North West Australia, it is one of the three diocese of the Province of Western Australia. The diocese's cathedral since 1962 is St Boniface Cathedral in Bunbury. The current Bishop of Bunbury, since 3 November 2018, is Ian Coutts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. George's School (Vancouver)</span> Private day and boarding school in British Columbia, Canada

St. George's School is an independent boarding and day university-preparatory school for boys in the Dunbar area of Vancouver, British Columbia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diocese of Rupert's Land</span> Diocese of the Anglican Church in Canada

The Diocese of Rupert's Land is a diocese of the Ecclesiastical Province of the Northern Lights of the Anglican Church of Canada. It is named for the historical British North American territory of Rupert's Land, which was contained within the original diocesan boundaries.

Saint John's School of Ontario (SJSO) was the third of three private Anglican boys' boarding schools in Toronto founded on conservative Anglican ideas and the notion that children were not challenged by present-day society.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cathedral of St. John (Winnipeg)</span> Church in Manitoba, Canada

St. John's Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, which is the cathedral church of the Diocese of Rupert's Land. It is located in the Luxton neighbourhood of north-end Winnipeg on Anderson Avenue near Main Street and the Red River. St. John's Cathedral marks the birthplace of the Anglican Church in western Canada.

The Company of the Cross was a lay religious order which was affiliated with the Anglican Church of Canada when founded in 1957 by Frank Wiems and Ted Byfield. For many years, the Company operated under the authority of the Anglican bishops in Winnipeg, the diocese of Edmonton and the diocese of Toronto On November 17, 1990, the Company of the Cross was unincorporated in Manitoba.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John West (missionary)</span>

John West was the first Anglican priest in Western Canada and a teacher, reformer and author. A missionary of the Church Missionary Society and a chaplain for the Hudson's Bay Company, the chapel he founded in Winnipeg became St John's Cathedral. Among his converts was Henry Budd, the first Native American ordained an Anglican priest.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Byfield, Ted (21 October 1996). "Do our new-found ideas on children maybe explain the fact we can't control them?". Alberta Report . Edmonton. Archived from the original on 7 October 2007.
  2. 1 2 3 "Virginia Byfield". The Edmonton Journal. Obituary. 24 July 2014. Retrieved 29 August 2020.
  3. ↑ Slade, Daryl (8 February 2003). "School sued after 26 years". Calgary Herald.
  4. ↑ Brean, Joseph (30 March 2013). "Ted Byfield completes a modern, right-wing, popular history of Christianity". National Post. Toronto. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
  5. ↑ Cosh, Colby (12 April 2013). "The greatest story Ted Byfield ever told". Maclean's. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 John N. Smith (writer/director) Marrin Canell (assistant director) (1974). New Boys. Archived from the original on 24 October 2011. Retrieved 21 October 2011.
  7. 1 2 Peake, Michael (Summer 2002). "Deep Waters: Courage, Character and the Lake Timiskaming Canoeing Tragedy" (Book review). Journal of Canadian Wilderness Canoeing. Che-Mun. Archived from the original on 17 August 2017. Retrieved 25 October 2018.
  8. ↑ "Abuse claims investigated at boys' school". Anglican Journal. Toronto. January 2000.[ permanent dead link ]
  9. ↑ Slade, Daryl (8 February 2003). "School sued after 26 years". Calgary Herald. Archived from the original on 27 May 2006. Retrieved 8 September 2007.
  10. ↑ "Guilty plea on sex assault charges". CBC News. Toronto. 12 October 2000. Archived from the original on 24 October 2012. Retrieved 14 August 2007.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.