St Barts Clergy

“Society is increasingly plagued by polarization, populism and protectionism, and so the church is called to share Christ’s unconditional love and indestructible hope. When we as Christians live out of that same love and hope within us, we share in and offer others the divine gift of the Creator’s continual renewal, redemption and re-creation in the world.”

The Reverend Canon Catherine Ascah was appointed Incumbent Priest at St. Bartholomew’s starting March, 2023.

Catherine was born in Montreal and grew up in Montreal and London Ontario. She earned her Bachelor of Arts (French) from Huron College, University of Western Ontario in 1991. Then, for ten years, she worked in the private sector, in the areas of business relations, corporate compliance and dispute resolution. In 2005, Catherine earned her Master of Divinity (with distinction) from Huron University College, and was ordained deacon and priest in the Diocese of Huron serving in hospital chaplaincy and as the parish priest in a newly reconfigured, multi-point rural parish which included a congregation at Wiiwkwedong (Kettle Point) with the Anishinabek Nation of the Chippewas of Kettle and Stony Point on unceded territory along the shores of Lake Huron.

After more than 25 years in southwestern Ontario, God called for a huge change, and commanded Catherine to “go before me to the land I will show you”. She left the rural shores of Lake Huron for urban Ottawa, where she served as the Vicar at Christ Church Cathedral for nine years, and then as the Incumbent at St. John the Evangelist, Smiths Falls for five years. Catherine is passionate about the ministry of servanthood and hospitality, grace-filled preaching, vital, transformative and carefully executed liturgy, liturgical renewal, and the awe-inspiring mystery offered in the Anglican tradition. She looks forward to joining with the people of St. Bartholomew’s as they seek to discern their baptismal identity and God’s call for them.

Catherine is an RCMP Chaplain for Headquarters, National and “O” Divisions, serves on the Anglican Diocese of Ottawa’s Diocesan Council, the Community Ministries Committee, and is the Chair of the Risk Management Committee. She is an Assessor with the Advisory Committee on Postulants for Ordination (Ecclesiastical Province of Ontario) and was appointed to the Cathedral Canonry of St. Hilda of Whitby in July, 2020.