Women’s Gathering a Success
The International Presbyterian Women’s Gathering drew about 550 participants from across Canada and around the globe for four days of workshops, worship and guest speakers. Held over the May long – weekend, the first – time event was hosted by the Atlantic Mission Society and the Women’s Missionary Society. Women from every province were in attendance, but it was St. Timothy’s, Toronto, that led the contingent with 25 women at the conference.
“It is a huge relief that the event went generally very well,” said Sarah Kim, executive director of the WMS. “I am also sad that an event that was planned and prepared for the past two years has ended … On that note, however, it is highly likely there will be another Women’s Gathering in three years’ time, although the official decision is yet to be made.”
Guest speaker Dr. Margaret Somerville of McGill University spoke twice; first on the ethical considerations of religion in the public square, and later on “designer” babies and biological parenthood. The closing banquet featured Stevie Cameron, a member of St. Andrew’s, King Street, Toronto, responsible for starting the church’s Out of the Cold program, and an award – winning writer whose most recent book explores the stories of the women killed by Robert Pickton in British Columbia. Cameron became almost teary – eyed as she related the details of their lives and revealed how close she had become to the tightly – knit community in Vancouver’s notorious lower east side.
At Sunday worship, a celebratory offering was led by visitors from churches in Africa. Participants danced their offering to the front amidst singing and clapping to benefit a Presbyterian World Service and Development girls’ education program in Afghanistan. Nearly $15,000 was raised.
A complete report will appear in the September issue. —AM
St. Andrew’s Hall Leases Land
St. Andrew’s Hall sits at the heart of the University of British Columbia, a campus located near the waterfront in a city known for the most expensive real estate market in the country.
The Presbyterian college plans to cash in on its prime Vancouver location by subleasing a piece of land to become the site of a 15 – story apartment building. The Hall expects to receive about $3.5 million in the deal, although some elements have yet to be approved by UBC.
Those funds will help replace one of the Hall’s current buildings with a new administration and worship building, likely to cost about $1.5 million, and will provide a stipend for a new director of campus ministries.
The hope, according to Principal Stephen Farris, is to build a permanent worshipping community in the heart of a secular campus.
“In a situation like ours, we need to be a centre of mission,” he said. “And my hope is to find out if we can have a permanent group of people worshipping God and learning about ministry. A group that sees itself as a mission.”
This will be the second time the Hall has subleased some of its property to augment its programs. Proceeds from a similar arrangement in 2006 created a chair for Studies in the Reformed Tradition, now occupied by Rev. Dr. Richard Topping.
According to David Jennings, chair of the St. Andrew’s Hall board, one of the main challenges was finding a developer willing to take on many of the risks associated with the project, and willing to look for long – term rather than immediate gains. The apartment tower will cost about $40 million to build, he observed. “The developer [Concert Properties] won’t break even until probably year eight. So they’re looking eight to 30 years down the road.”
The Hall’s property was originally leased from UBC on a 999 – year term, which expires in 2956. The two subleases expire at the same time, in 94 years.
“To whom much is given, much is asked,” Farris noted. “We have been given much.” —C.Purvis
PWS&D Project is Tops
An article in Foreign Policy magazine has highlighted a project run by Presbyterian World Service and Development and the Canadian Foodgrains Bank as a best example of how to help end hunger. The author, Raj Patel, asks the question, can the world feed 10 billion people? (The projected population by the year 2100.) He explores three theories on how to do this, pointing to the Soils, Food and Healthy Communities Project in Malawi, which is implemented by PWS&D and funded by the Foodgrains Bank, as the best chance for success.
“These programs succeed, in part, because they don’t see hunger as the consequence of a surfeit of peasants or a deficit in soil, but as the result of complex environmental, social, and political causes,” writes Patel.
The participatory, ecological approach to agriculture that is a hallmark of the project not only betters farming techniques and ups output, but improves soil quality and nutrition, and does so by focusing on small – scale farmers, especially women.
“Local farmers’ knowledge and participation is key for Malawi to feed itself,” PWS&D’s director, Ken Kim, told the Record. “In partnership with the Synod of Livingstonia in Malawi and with the inquisitive mind of Rachel Bezner – Kerr, a Canadian Presbyterian, our initiative that began with 40 marginalized farmers has grown to over 4,000 farmers who continue to share the benefits of the program with their neighbours.
“This holistic program looks at types of crops, soil conservation and diet in tackling hunger. Communities are empowered and local capacity is strengthened.”
To read the full article, visit foreignpolicy.com. —AM
Self Wins Award for Record Feature
PRESBYTERIAN RECORD contributor Jayne Self has won a Word Guild award of merit for her article, “Ghana: Boogie to the Front,” which appeared in the January 2010 issue of the Record.
“Our 2009 moderatorial trip to Ghana was a life changing experience for [my husband] Harvey and I,” said Self, who is married to former moderator, Rev. Harvey Self. “I greatly appreciate the opportunity the Record provided for me to share some of my pictures and stories from our trip. To have my piece commended by the Word Guild is piling blessing upon blessing.”
Self’s first novel, Caught Dead, was published serially on the Record’s website. Her latest novel, Murder in Hum Harbour: A Seaglass Mystery, will be released in October by White Rose/Harbourlight Publishers and will be available in print or e – book format.
The Word Guild is a non – denominational network of Christian writers and editors in Canada. —EW
Banner Train Rolls into Ottawa
Katharine Masterton (left) and Stephen Allen of the PCC’s Justice Ministries met Kairos supporters at Union Station in Toronto in June before heading to Parliament Hill for Kairos’ banner campaign, celebrating Canada’s endorsement of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Reconciliation Works
Healing and reconciliation works, Tom Childs told staff at national offices in June. A descendent of Scottish Travellers, known derogatorily as “gypsies,” Childs has also worked with Roma communities in Eastern Europe. In his presentation, Truth and Reconciliation in the World Today, he cited many reconciliation success stories:
In 2005, reconstruction was completed on the cathedral in Dresden, Germany, which had been destroyed by allied bombs during World War Two. Members of the Coventry Cathedral in England, which was also destroyed by German bombs in the same war, participated in the reconsecration ceremony. Childs described former pilots from both countries who sat holding hands throughout the service.
In 1998, Poland established the Institute of National Remembrance to “effectively and truthfully look at their past,” Childs reported. In 2012, with the blessing of the Jewish community, Poland will open the Museum of the History of the Polish Jews on the site of the former Warsaw ghetto.
A report at the 2011 Church of Scotland’s General Assembly urged the church to examine its past attitudes toward Scottish Travellers and Roma. Childs deemed the report a good first step.
“We need to look and reflect on our own life and journey, our family history and our walk as disciples and ambassadors of Christ,” he said. —EW
Presbyterian Plans Royals’ Visit
Kevin MacLeod has been busy. For months he has travelled across Canada, mapping out the hundreds of details involved in the summer visit of Prince William and his new wife, Kate.
As the Queen’s Canadian secretary and chief organizer of the tour, MacLeod, a member at St. James, Big Bras d’Or, N.S., is responsible for making sure the royal visit goes off without a hitch—something he has been doing since 1987.
MacLeod’s career began as a tour guide on Parliament Hill, but he eventually landed a position as chief of protocol with the Department of Canadian Heritage (then the Department of the Secretary of State).
Impressed with his service during her visits, the Queen made him a member of the Royal Victorian Order, an order of knighthood recognizing those who have served the sovereign with distinction. She later promoted him to Commander, the highest rank before official knighthood.
MacLeod’s Scottish Presbyterian roots run deep in Cape Breton’s soil. He says it was there he was taught to “be loyal to my country, my sovereign and my God,” although growing up, he never thought he would serve his sovereign in person. —C. Purvis
