They鈥檙e not a stereotypical couple, so it stands to reason that they wouldn鈥檛 have a stereotypical honeymoon. Archdeacon Alastair McCollum is the English-born, motorcycle-riding, Ozzy Osbourne-loving minister at Victoria鈥檚 St. John the Divine Anglican Church.
Dr. Sabina Singh is a Kamloops-born secular Sikh with a passion for dance, a political science instructor who put her career on hold to run for the NDP in last fall鈥檚 federal election.
The election campaign was one reason the couple didn鈥檛 go on honeymoon right after getting married 鈥� the second time around for each 鈥� last summer. Then came the Christmas season, which filled McCollum鈥檚 calendar.
Finally, a gap opened that would allow them to take off for India after Ash Wednesday, returning four weeks later on April 1, in time for Easter. They weren鈥檛 there long before the coronavirus became a concern. The Victorians dutifully adhered to social distancing, as difficult as that is in a country of 1.3 billion, and cancelled a crowded train trip in favour of a 60-kilometre tuk tuk ride.
St. Patrick鈥檚 Day found them in the Punjab, singing Danny Boy with Singh鈥檚 family there and dancing to the music of Delhi 2 Dublin, streamed from Vancouver.
But then came a call from Sabina鈥檚 brother Arjun Singh, a Kamloops city councillor, with word that sa国际传媒 was closing its borders to foreigners. That was a problem, as McCollum isn鈥檛 yet a permanent resident or citizen. Ottawa later clarified that the immediate family of Canadians would be allowed back in, but the couple didn鈥檛 know if the distinction would reach airline officials in India.
Happily, it did. After scrambling to reach Delhi, then fretting in the airport for several hours, they made the flight home last Friday 鈥� and went straight into quarantine, where they remain today.
McCollum is not necessarily what people 鈥� or at least those who don鈥檛 go to church 鈥� have in mind when they think of a priest (though he would argue that none of the clergy he knows fit the cookie cutter).
He plays guitar, likes heavy metal, rides motorcycles. Before a lifestyle change that saw him drop 120 pounds, he had a passion for real ale. As a vicar in the southwest of England, his efforts to reopen the local pub 鈥� he believed it vital to the village鈥檚 sense of community 鈥� resulted in television cameras recording him pulling pints behind the bar for a reality show called Save Our Boozer. Had he not come to sa国际传媒 in 2013, a television producer planned to make him the focus of another program, Our Father Who Art in Devon.
If the idea of an Anglican minister marrying someone with roots in a different faith tradition seems novel to some, it doesn鈥檛 to him. 鈥淚鈥檓 not one of those who sees Christianity as being the only way of seeing the world.鈥� He says Singh鈥檚 perspective keeps him from becoming insular.
They spend more time dwelling on differences in the kitchen. (鈥淥h good,鈥� she would say when he first began to make her meals, 鈥渁nother overcooked English supper.鈥�) Note that his Save Our Boozer appearance included a curry-making contest in which the judge, a famous Anglo-Indian chef, declared McCollum鈥檚 entry to be the blandest, hottest thing he had ever tasted.
The question now is: What does a non-stereotypical member of the clergy do in non-stereotypical time 鈥� particularly when holed up in a mandatory 14-day quarantine?
鈥淚鈥檝e been surprisingly conformist,鈥� he replies. The thing you have to realize about self-isolation is that it鈥檚 not about you, it鈥檚 about the vulnerable people who need protection.
But then, the vulnerable are also among those who, now more than ever, rely on places of worship. Faith leaders are trying to be creative, to figure out how to go online to reach people.
Maybe, McCollum says, all this will give churches the nudge they need to do things differently. 鈥淲e have become Sunday-based communities.鈥� COVID or not, that can鈥檛 continue.
Still, with in-church services cancelled (when people ask what鈥檚 going to happen on Easter, he reassures them 鈥淛esus will still be risen鈥�) right now the challenge is to give parishioners what they find in the pews. 鈥淲e always say, 鈥楾he church is about people, not buildings,鈥� but then something like this happens and we say, 鈥榃e like the buildings.鈥� 鈥� They provide a place of safety, comfort, community.
Is there another way to achieve that connection? McCollum notes parishioners have volunteered to reach out to the elderly. 鈥淲e鈥檙e doing the good old-fashioned thing of giving them a phone call and saying: 鈥楬ow鈥檚 it going?鈥�
鈥淚鈥檝e had more phone calls in the past week than in the past two years,鈥� he says.
Not the stereotypical way to spend a honeymoon, but a good thing to do anyway. What鈥檚 stopping the rest of us?
