Letter to Council

Re: Society Of Our Lady Saint. Mary

To The Municipal Council of the District of Digby,
And to the Members of the Planning Advisory Committee (PAC).

July 14,2009 (Bastille Day)


Dear Warden, Councilors, and PAC Members:


When it comes to a discussion about The Wind Farm Project for Digby Neck, it is no secret that I am not on the same page as you- or most of you- seem to be. That’s what makes Canada the greatest country in the world in which to truly live: citizens are allowed to think, to question, to oppose, and nonetheless be in solidarity as a nation.

.Differ as we may, I find it hard to believe that we would differ on the work of the Society of Our Lady Saint Mary , better known to us as Bethany Place in Rossway, and the Bethany Bargain Bin in Digby. On August 15th., the Society will celebrate its thirtieth anniversary in the Municipality of the District of Digby. They deserve commendation and praise for that alone. (They are an Anglican Society with many lay members.)

These are no “Fly-By-Nighter Do-Gooders” by any means. Sister Bonnie has been here the full thirty years, and Sister Barbara for two decades or more. In the light of the work they have done and continue to do, they are the greatest gift to the economy of the people that we have in our midst- bar none! Whatever the situation may be, they are there in time of need with a compassionate ear and succor. Our paid institutions are not always so ready and available to respond on such short notice, if indeed at all.

You, perhaps better than I, know their history. When I returned to this place I embraced almost fifty years ago for the first time, they were caring for elderly and handicapped people. They operated a Shuttle Service for those on limited incomes and no transportation on the Neck until, I understand, insurance became cost prohibitive.

Their next caring Ministry began in a house in Conway with the establishment of the Bethany Bargain Bin where we can bring in our no longer needed items of clothing, pots
and pans, furniture and all and any clean and useful household items sparing them from the fate of the landfill, and offering them for minimal prices to all and any who need them.
It wasn’t long before a move to the larger facility was needed, a building which they bought a couple of years ago.

We know their work well. Many young people and not-so-young too, have learned an appreciation for music from Sr. Bonnie who offers piano lessons at her home. We know her dedication to choirs and congregations in area Churches where she offers her skills at the organ and in voice. School concerts, and whenever, she is there.

We know that she and Sister Barbara open their beautiful Chapel to women and men of all faiths and none for Retreats, Spiritual Conferences, Prayer Days, and times of reflection and meditation. We know that they have a small Hermitage on their property in the isolation and solitude of nature. People come from near and far and spend days, weeks, and months at times to stop and listen to God speaking to them in the silence.

The world is a noisy place; our minds are a noisy place; our homes are a noisy place; and the place and world in which we work, a cacophony! The pressure of the times on our lives in relationships ,families, at work, and in the community are ominous! Broken marriages, drug alcohol abuse, addictions, and spousal aberrations loudly testify to that. Respite is a rare commodity indeed!

Bethany Place in Rossway is indeed a haven for many. A place of spirituality and prayer, it draws men and women of all faiths and none to come and be alone with their God – a place to quell the noise a while and to come in touch Him/Her. The gift is the silence.
There are few if any places like it in our midst where one can participate in a directed
Spiritual retreat alone or with the many, or can experience the hermitage life style for a bit and wander the woodlands, or take to the orchards to the south on to St.Mary’s Bay.

The silence that alone can put men and women in touch with God is threatened now by the prospect of a four hundred foot wind blowing apparatus whizzing and whining and droning twenty four hours a day a mere six hundred meters away on a hillside, dropping down its monotonous din , it’s flicker, and even the risk of ice thrown off a blade on the retreatant wandering too closely to it.

To erect such a monstrous machine there is to kill the silence, and to drive our God away.
God does not speak in noise and confusion, but only to the quiet, settled heart. It is with
this in mind that I appeal to Council and to the PAC to invoke the utmost manifestation of respect, goodness, and decency for this holy gathering place and deny the proponent
such near proximity to Bethany Place.

In copying this to them, I too beg them to comply. “Man does not live on bread alone.”
I request this letter be on the agenda of the Meeting on July 20,2009.

Daniel Mills
9396 Waterford
RR 4, Digby NS
BOV 1AO

CC Linda Fraser CAO for circulation to Warden,Councilors, and PAC
Harold Theriault Jr. MLA
Darrell Dexter, Premier of NS
Hon.Sterling Belliveau, Minister of the Environment