Preserve them and pay for them, says Ontario report
posted on April 1, 2005 in News
Churches in Ontario are trying to persuade the government to change a proposed law that could, if passed, let the province designate a property as a heritage site and saddle the owners with the upkeep — even if a congregation is no longer viable. Only a last-minute intervention in Dec. by an ecumenical delegation prevented a third and final reading of proposed changes to the Heritage Act from becoming law. Churches were not consulted during the legislative planning process, said Archdeacon Harry Huskins, an Anglican Church representative. "The government assumed that churches were backed by large national denominations with millions of dollars to maintain these buildings," said Huskins. "They didn't realize that the money comes in on the plate one Sunday and goes out the next."
posted on April 1, 2005 in News
Eighty-two per cent of American teens are affiliated with a religious congregation, according to the National Study of Youth and Religion, produced by the University of North Carolina and funded by the Lilly Endowment. The study concluded that "religion really does matter" to teenagers, even though their religious knowledge is "meager, nebulous and often fallacious."
posted on April 1, 2005 in News
Knox College will be bestowing an honourary Doctor of Divinity degree upon Rev. Rick Fee at its 161 convocation on May 11. A graduate of Knox in 1976, Fee is the Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Canada and director of Presbyterian World Service & Development. The ceremony will take place at the University of Toronto's convocation hall, where Rev. Gordon Fish will also be honoured for his 41 years of service to the Presbyterian church. Graduating Knox in 1960, Fish's focus has been on ministry in the media. He sat on the Religious Advisory Committee for CFTO television, and filmed and appeared on several religious TV series.
posted on April 1, 2005 in News
Churches in Africa are being urged to speak out more forcefully about sexual violence against women, an issue highlighted by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Speaking at a United Nations conference in New York, Annan said there has been progress in the past decade with regards to women's rights, but further action is needed to stop violence against women. "That means leadership in showing, by example, that when it comes to violence against women and girls, there are no grounds for tolerance and no tolerable excuses."
Presbytery of Lindsay-Peterborough
posted on April 1, 2005 in Presbytery Profile
Close enough to Toronto to commute to work, yet far enough away to enjoy a slower pace and nature's bounties, the Presbytery of Lindsay-Peterborough faces some unique challenges and interesting possibilities. Older individuals flock to the tranquil towns and rolling hills, looking for relaxation in retirement. Small, rural towns add country charm, while the presbytery's northern bounds dip into cottage country — bringing a wealth of city escapees to its shores in the summer months.
The church of the future in a movie theatre today
posted on April 1, 2005 in Features
"God hates religion" trumpets the website of The Meeting House, one of Canada's fastest growing churches. But don't apply the label "church" too freely: this particular gathering of Christians based in a converted movie theatre in Oakville, Ont., styles itself as "a church for people who aren't into church".
Death comes to all, it is out of our control
posted on April 1, 2005 in Michael Coren
Earlier this year the sordid culture of death found another hero. Marcel Tremblay killed himself in Ottawa, after announcing that he wished to "die with dignity". One of the many tragedies of this event was that dignity was the very last thing with which the 78-year-old man died.
posted on April 1, 2005 in News
A story in the March issue on executive salary increases at the church's national offices should have noted that pay raises for associate secretaries slated to begin next January are contingent upon acceptance of a proposal from Assembly Council to General Assembly that would cement responsibility for setting national staff compensation with the council.
A challenged woman sees no challenges
posted on April 1, 2005 in Features
Sheila Conkey, daughter of Frank, a retired Presbyterian minister, and the late Agnes, a diaconal minister, was born in 1957 and knows more about the Presbyterian Church in Canada — through ministers, members and adherents — than the average Presbyterian. Sheila has lived in congregations in Cape Breton, Scarborough, Pickering Village and Ajax, Ont., where her father was minister. With her parents she has also visited many congregations around the country, with dad as special speaker, visiting friends and making new ones. Her numerous adopted aunts and uncles are mostly church people, part of Sheila's vast extended family, crossing not only Canada but into the United States and over to Britain.
Easter is about the formation of a resurrection community
posted on April 1, 2005 in For the Journey
You might say I am rather fond of the Aspen tree (Populus tremuliodes). I like its slippery smooth silvery bark. I like its small heart shaped leaf, delicate, suspended on a flat petiole that lets every individual leaf tremble at the insinuation of a spring breeze. I like its soft creamy wood that yields to a sharp pocketknife like Edam cheese. I like its blazing yellow color that transforms the failing light of Autumn, its fragile black lace silhouette on the white hills of winter, its downy catkin fluff coating the spring roads like dance wax snow and its mist of Aspen syrup that sugar coats my truck on warm summer nights. I like everything about the Aspen tree. But most of all I like the way the Aspen grows.
posted on April 1, 2005 in News
In the midst of rising violence in Brazil's Amazon rainforest, an American nun was shot dead by what are believed to be contract killers. Dorothy Stang, a 74-year-old missionary living in Brazil for 30 years, worked to defend the forest and peasant farmers from illegal ranchers, loggers and landowners.
posted on April 1, 2005 in News
Rev. Andrew Johnston (far right) of St. Andrew's, Ottawa, delivered the homily at an ecumenical worship service in Notre Dame Cathedral in Ottawa Jan. 23 marking the "Week of Prayer for Christian Unity." Johnston is president of the Christian Council of the Capital Area.
What is a church building for?
posted on April 1, 2005 in For the Record
It rests there, survivor of several massive earthquakes, Latin Crusaders and the capture in the 15th century by Sultan Mehmet the Conqueror who made it his imperial mosque. Arguably the greatest church in Christendom, Hagia Sophia, representative of Orthodox Christianity and the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, dominating the skyline of Istanbul, surrounded by four minarets, is a museum. Ataturk, father of modern Turkey, ordered the designation in 1934.
Alison Elliot challenges structure with her unique tenor and tone
posted on April 1, 2005 in Features
Like most women doing a new thing, Dr. Alison Elliot wants to be remembered for her achievements as a human being, not as a woman. However, her gender is always mentioned in each introduction, from church chancels and AIDS hospice steps, to European political and church council lecterns, south Asian post-tsunami gatherings and Canadian academic auditoria. She is the first female moderator in the 445-year history of the Church of Scotland (and the second lay person, the last was named in the early decades of that history). She is the embodiment of the profound changes in her church. Professionally and personally she is comfortable with the change she leads, and the change she represents.
posted on April 1, 2005 in Speaking Up
As a minister I receive unsolicited mailings of theological tripe from various factions of the Christian Right all the time. The issue is not about the faith integrity of individuals, but the distorted dogma driving American policy. This fundamentalist movement has exerted unprecedented influence over the Bush administration during its first term and there is every reason to be alarmed over their continued influence in the U.S., Canada and indeed the world.
The PCC's future glimpsed from ministers-in-training
posted on April 1, 2005 in Features
In the common parlance ministers are called to their profession. The call comes from God. This divine interception is the only way to explain why anybody would want the job: an awkward mixture of parent, sibling, therapist, counsellor, CEO, writer, philosopher, theologian, adviser and preacher. It is a lot to ask of one person, and the financial compensation is not necessarily equal to the demands. It can be a very stressful profession.
posted on April 1, 2005 in News
As was first reported in the July 2004 Record Dorothy Henderson was awarded the 2005 Educator of the Year by the Association of Presbyterian Church Educators. She received her award at the association's annual convention held in Vancouver in February. Henderson is Associate Secretary for Christian Education for the national church. Among other things, she was honoured for her work on leadership development and intergenerational worship resources.
posted on April 1, 2005 in News
The Life and Mission Agency Committee has nominated Rev. Richard Fee for the position of General Secretary of the Life and Mission Agency. His name will be presented to General Assembly in June for approval. Fee is currently the Director of Presbyterian World Service and Development and Moderator of the 130th General Assembly. He would succeed Rev. J.P. Ian Morrison who is retiring later this year.
Despite all, this remains God's world
posted on April 1, 2005 in From the Moderator
Across Canada flags were at half mast. Newspaper headings asked, "Why"? When four young Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers were slain on a farm near Mayerthorpe, Alta., Canadians wanted the answer to that question. All citizens of Canada surely felt some degree of the pain and suffering that this event brought to the immediate families of these officers and to their colleagues in the peace and armed forces that serve our nation.
posted on April 1, 2005 in News
The Presbyterian Record is pleased to welcome a new circulation manager, Deborah Leader. Born in Toronto and currently living in Mississauga, Leader comes to 50 Wynford from a full-time circulation position with Canadian Homes and Cottages. An active volunteer with the Girl Guides of Canada, she is looking forward to warmer weather so she can enjoy her summer home on Lake Erie in Wainfleet, Ont. Leader replaces Eva Breeze, who retired from the Record after 14 years of service.
