“When I came here to interview for the Iroquois-Matilda pastoral charge, I just felt welcomed,” said the Reverend Valerie Vande Wiele, who took up her duties in her three point pastoral charge on September 22, 2013. We are sitting in her office in Iroquois United Church.
“When I met the people, heard their stories, learned who they were, I knew that I could walk with these people. It felt right.”
Reverend Valerie has been in Canada since 1996.
She was born in Belgium, “in the south, the French part,” (she is fully bilingual) and spent the first 29 years of her life there: then she made the decision to immigrate. To come to Canada alone was an important, life-changing decision for her, and one that was not undertaken lightly.
“Immigrating to North America gave me the chance, I believe, to discover who I really was.”
For several years she had worked in a bank in Belgium, in the position of a debt collector.
“It was tough. I feel I was very green at that point in my life, and I needed to grow up. I needed to learn that the world could be a tough place.
(In my position at the bank) I faced situations, and had to enter into people’s lives as part of dealing with their finances. Confronting the realities of divorce, mental illness, poverty, illiteracy, well, these all made me grow up in a hurry.”
Gradually, these experiences cultivated in her new feelings and attitudes.
“Cemented in my mind was the idea that I wanted to walk with people, to be there for them, rather than extracting money from them.”
She does not regret the time she spent in a difficult job.
“I feel I needed that experience to arrive at where I am today. It taught me compassion and caring and to see there are other points of view. But in that bank position I had to be someone I wasn’t, and that made me unhappy.”
Making a complete break with her old life, and undertaking the “adventure” of immigrating, gave her time to begin the process of finding herself. And as that process continued, what became louder and louder for her was a call to the ministry.
“I settled in Quebec City and studied to be a secretary, working for different companies for five years. But when my last secretarial job ended, I understood that I had just been hesitating, unwilling to make the leap of faith. Losing the job gave me the impetus to start studying for the ministry.”
She earned her bachelor of theology through McGill University, and her Master of Divinity in 2008, from the Montreal School of Theology.
How did the United Church of Canada become her spiritual home?
“I had been raised in the United Protestant Church of Belgium. In Quebec I tried several Protestant denominations, but I ultimately chose the United Church because it was the church, I felt, that allowed me to be who I was. It was the church I felt welcomed me with everything I am, and without judgement.”
She was ordained and served in the Eastern Townships of Quebec, and for five years in Richmond.
Although it was a hard decision to leave her Richmond church, she applied to the Iroquois-Matilda pastoral charge, interviewed and was invited by the congregations of Iroquois, Brinston and Hulbert Valley to become their spiritual leader.
“I am the first minister of this new pastoral combination,” the Rev. Valerie said.
“My view of the ministry is that it is co-operative, minister and parishioners “walking together for the coming of the kingdom.”
I asked her about her hopes for the future.
“We need to cement the new pastoral charge, to build links among the three congregations. Through those links, we can celebrate who we are, respecting our differences. This is a primary goal for me. And we can have fun together,” she added with a laugh.
“A second goal for me is to help people discover and enjoy scripture, to see that scripture is still very relevant today.”
As the Reverend Valerie Vande Wiele settles into her new home, she is very much looking forward to her life in South Dundas.
“I hope to learn from my congregations as I am walking with them. Sometimes, I think, we will walk down some interesting side roads together.”
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