posted on May 1, 2008 in News
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Janice Carter, editor of The Presbyterian Message, died on March 17 after a three and a half-year battle with cancer. She was 50 years old.
posted on May 1, 2008 in News
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Rev. Cheol Soon Park of Toronto Korean has been named moderator-elect for the 2008 General Assembly this June in Ottawa. After he is formally voted in just after the assembly's opening worship service, Park will become the assembly's first Korean moderator. Park moved to Canada in 1983, received his Master of Divinity degree from Knox College in 1987, and is currently enrolled in a Doctor of Ministry program. He is also clerk of the Presbytery of Eastern Han-Ca, and has served on the Committee on Church Doctrine, the Evangelism Committee, the Centre for Asian-Canadian Theology and Ministry at Knox College, and the Board of Governors of Knox College.
posted on May 1, 2008 in Features
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The federal policy of assimilation had its origin in the Gradual Civilization Act of 1857, which was reinforced by the Indian Act of 1876 and sanctioned by successive parliaments of Canada. The Roman Catholic, Anglican, Presbyterian and United Churches provided staff and administration to the schools established by the government.
posted on May 1, 2008 in News
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Al Jazeera.net – A Catholic Church has been erected and was consecrated on Easter weekend in Doha, Qatar. The Church of Our Lady of the Rosary will serve Doha's nearly 150,000 Catholics, comprised of expatriate workers mainly from South Asia and the Philippines.
posted on May 1, 2008 in News
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Barna – Seventy-eight per cent of American adults get married at some point in their life, and among those who have been married, one out of three have been divorced at least once, according to a new study from The Barna Group.
Children Matter
More and more congregations have no Sunday school.
posted on May 1, 2008 in By the Numbers
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My interest was piqued by the Education for Discipleship report to General Assembly. The report noted that nearly 20 per cent of congregations in the Presbyterian Church had no Sunday school in 2005. In 2006, 164 out of 932 congregations (reporting statistics) were in that situation. This suggests that Presbyterians are not reaching the next generation of Canadians.
posted on May 1, 2008 in News
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ENI – The Vatican says it respects and esteems Judaism, despite tension over a Good Friday prayer revived by the pontiff which some Jews say demeans their religion.
Up Close and Personal
With God kept at a distance, all the stuff of a prideful, egocentric life is safe.
posted on May 1, 2008 in For the Journey
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I am not one prone to enjoy what I consider the trashy touristy things in life, so it was with a real sense of reluctance that I agreed to visit there at all. However, She Who Must be Obeyed (both of them) insisted that we take the time during our Ontario deputation tour to visit Niagara Falls.
posted on May 1, 2008 in News
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ENI – Christian journalists meeting in divided Cyprus urged unbiased and well-informed reporting on divisive issues founded on principles of equality, accessibility and dialogue.
A Challenging Call
North American ecumenists discuss their future.
posted on May 1, 2008 in News
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A document that has “the capacity to change the World Council of Churches” was the subject of discussion at a series of meetings held in Toronto in early April. Called To Be One Church challenges churches to act upon the unity they seek with each other, Rev. Canon Dr. John Gibaut, Director of the WCC's Faith and Order committee, told an assembly of members from the United States and Canada. The brief document – at 2,300 words it is a filtering down of various other statements on the nature and purpose of the church dating to 1998 – “challenges us with 10 questions” that set the WCC's 349 member churches on “a call to journey … an arduous yet joyful path.”
Audacious Hope : The Weight of Sin
The path to forgiveness is messy and difficult.
posted on May 1, 2008 in Features
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Reconciliation: Grand Chief Ron Evans called it a “journey we have to take” in his welcome to those gathered at the Remembering the Children event at the Forks Market in Winnipeg. Comparing reconciliation between the church and First Nations people to a journey did not surprise me, realizing it was a journey I myself have to take. I was prepared for polished presentations from church and aboriginal dignitaries signifying their willingness to cooperate with each other. As the Gaudry Boys opened the evening with fiddling, I settled into my chair prepared to observe the production with polite detachment.
The Likes of Him
Phil Callaway is thankful for God's love.
posted on May 1, 2008 in Profile
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Presbyterian Record readers are familiar with Phil Callaway and now so are American soldiers. The U.S. Army has purchased 30,000 copies of Callaway's Be Kind, Be Friendly, Be Thankful, a children's book about two best friends who are forced to say goodbye and the lessons they subsequently learn.
Civilized and Assimilated
Natives are denied power and wealth.
posted on May 1, 2008 in For the Record
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The timing was surreal. Remembering the Children: An Aboriginal and Church Leaders' Tour to Prepare for Truth and Reconciliation concluded mid-March. A week later, Ontario judge Patrick Smith sentenced six leaders from Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (Big Trout Lake First Nation) in Northern Ontario to six-months' jail for contempt of court. Their crime? Failure to abide by a court-ordered injunction aimed at preventing them from peacefully protesting against mining exploration on their traditional lands.
Audacious Hope : A Heavy Page
We can hold hands and move forward together.
posted on May 1, 2008 in Features
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It was a “historic and sacred moment in the history of Canada,” said Rev. Dr. J. H. (Hans) Kouwenberg, reflecting upon the second stop of the Aboriginal and Church Leaders' Tour to Prepare for Truth and Reconciliation, held at the University of British Columbia on the evening of March 5. Beginning at the Vancouver School of Theology, well over 300 attendees were led by the beat of a Musqueam drummer, Victor Guerin, on a ceremonial walk to the Museum of Anthropology. It couldn't have been a more suitable setting for this time of truth-telling, listening, learning and healing – sitting in the great hall with the totem poles as a backdrop, in the area that had once been the site of a Musqueam warriors' village. Garan informed the audience that his people's warriors were first and foremost peacekeepers.
One Day at a Time
The Sermon on the Mount tells us who we are.
posted on May 1, 2008 in Progressive Lectionary
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May 25: Matthew 6: 24-34
Audacious Hope
A report on the Native and Church leaders' tour
posted on May 1, 2008 in Features
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“There is an emerging and compelling desire to put the events of the past behind us so that we can work towards a stronger and healthier future. The truth telling and reconciliation process as part of an overall holistic and comprehensive response to the Indian Residential School legacy is a sincere indication and acknowledgement of the injustices and harms experienced by Aboriginal people and the need for continued healing. The truth of our common experiences will help set our spirits free and pave the way to reconciliation.”
posted on May 1, 2008 in News
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The United Church Observer, the independent magazine of the United Church of Canada, is sponsoring a traveling exhibition focusing on the life and work of Charles Darwin currently on display at Toronto's Royal Ontario Museum.
posted on May 1, 2008 in News
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Alex Macdonald is the new program coordinator for work in Central America at Presbyterian World Service and Development. He has been the program assistant for communications since June 2006, and will fill the position effective June 2. He is fluent in Spanish, and has already been busy travelling to Central American countries to meet the church's partners and familiarize himself with the projects there. The Central America portfolio was previously managed by Guy Smagghe, who also coordinates PWS&D's work in Asia and government relations. According to Ken Kim, PWS&D's director, the change “reflects the increase in complexity and scope of our programming throughout the region.”
Contagious Christians
Fellowship makes community out of committees.
posted on May 1, 2008 in From the Moderator
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The number one passage in the Bible that has been a substratum for my vision of ministry has been Acts 2:42-47. Here is how Eugene Peterson renders it in The Message):
Small Steps; Big Changes
A PWS&D intern learns how women inch into the future.
posted on May 1, 2008 in News
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When I applied for the internship offered by Presbyterian World Service and Development to work with the Institute for Women's Research Training and Development in El Salvador for nine months, it was not done on a whim. I had spent the last three years looking forward to the moment that I would apply for a position overseas. In my final year of undergraduate study – majoring in International Development and Women's Studies at Dalhousie University in Halifax – a friend told me about an international internship program funded by the Canadian International Development Agency. I immediately did some research and decided that I too would participate in an overseas internship following graduation.
