The Worship Centre will be open 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year.

 

How will this space be used?

Every person is welcomed in this sacred space, designed through consultation with representatives of many faiths and beliefs. Intended to facilitate diverse spiritual health practices, it is large enough for  ceremonies and religious services for large groups, e.g. Memorial Services, Roman Catholic Mass and Ecumenical services, and intimate enough to foster personal reflection, meditation and prayer. The labyrinth on the floor provides meditative movement (whether walking or in wheelchair) and the large windows looking out to Creation enable connections with the world of nature. Adjacent to the larger room is a smaller Reservation Room in which the Roman Catholic tabernacle will be placed, accessible for all who wish to pray in this way.

 

What is the significance of some of the features in this room including the labyrinth and water fall?

Labyrinths have been used around the world for thousands of years to enable personal meditation and spiritual health. Whether to balance one's energies, connect you with deep inner sources of resilience, provide a mini pilgrimage, or release stress and tension, the labyrinth has multiple uses depending on what one needs as you enter the opening. The labyrinth in the Worship Centre is a Chartres seven circuit model, widely used in North America and based on the famous labyrinth in Chartres Cathedral, France.

 

A wall of windows looking out toward Lake Ontario, with a doorway out onto the terrace, provides an expansive view that leads ones spirit to connect with the sky, the sun and moon, the lake, the trees, and much more that provides life to us all. For those persons needing to feel there is more to life than the pressures and suffering one is experiencing, connection to God and/or Transcendence is enabled by this wonderful feature.

 

A water feature, in which water flows down a wall panel, provides a soothing presence. One can sit by this feature and let its presence guide meditation.

 

What will this new design mean for staff, patients, clients and visitors?

Providence Care's Mission is to "enhance the quality of life by meeting the physical, emotional, social and spiritual needs of each person", and the Worship Centre will enable holistic care to be realized in many ways for any person who enters this sanctuary. Being open and available at all hours year round, the Worship Centre is a welcoming place for every person, regardless of beliefs, to find and feel "sanctuary" and to experience, whether alone or with others, Providence's compassion.

 

What are you looking forward to the most with this space?

Staff who have been on tours at PCH and have gone into the Worship Centre speak about how they immediately feel calm and captured by the view. I can't wait until clients and patients and their families can also experience the benefits that being in this sacred space afford!