She:kon, skennonkowa ken!  Welcome to
the online home of the Parish of Tyendinaga!

Links to the various pages in our website can be found under the welcome message (just scroll down the page).

The traditional Mohawk greeting of She:kon, skennenkowa ken literally translates into English as "Do you still have the Great Peace?"  Most Mohawk speakers shorten the phrase, using "She:kon", pronounced "say-go", as slang for "hello."  The Great Peace is the foundation of the Iroquois Confederacy, and the greeting is more than a casual hello.  It is an earnest enquiry into the person's wellbeing.  To help non-Mohawks understand this, in Judeo-Christian terms, the person who is being greeted is being asked if they are experiencing "shalom", a sense of peace that pervades one's whole body, mind and spirit.  It implies wholeness and wellbeing, with oneself, others and Creation.  It is the hope of our worshipping community that all may find peace, or skennen, through our relationship with God the Creator and Jesus Christ the Son of God, being faithful both to our Christian faith and our Mohawk identity, language and tradition.

Our parish, located in and around the Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory, which is between Deseronto and Belleville, has two historic churches that have served the Mohawk community for generations.  We provide an Anglican presence from Belleville to Napanee and from the shores of the Bay of Quinte to several miles north of the 401.  The Anglican Parish of Tyendinaga uses a mixture of traditional and contemporary worship and music (including Mohawk language and customs when possible), abiding by the principle that we are here to worship God and to give God thanks for the many blessings we experience in our lives.

Our congregations are warm and inviting, and if you are in the neighbourhood on a Sunday morning, we invite you to stop in and to worship with us at the times noted on the Sunday Services page.  Our worship is fun and generally informal--so come as you are!  We welcome anyone--don't worry about what to wear (casual or "Sunday best" is fine by us) or that your kids might be too loud (the Psalmist wrote, "make a joyful noise unto the Lord!").  See what's going on in the Parish by visiting our Parish News & Events page, or contact us (see the panel to the left) for more information.

God bless you on your journey, Ó:nen,

The Anglican Parish of Tyendinaga