ENI – Christian leaders in Thailand have called on churches to urge Thai authorities to deal peacefully with anti-government protests, following the declaration of a state of emergency after thousands of demonstrators took to the streets.
Congregations and individuals can help to reach the United Nations Millennium Development Goals by participating in the Week to End Poverty (Oct. 12-19) through prayer, education and communication with members of parliament. Events can be registered at standupagainstpoverty.org.
ENI – Rev. Mvume Dandala, general secretary of the All Africa Conference of Churches, got a personal HIV/AIDS test in September as part of his campaign encouraging mass voluntary testing throughout Africa.
I sent away for my Common Experience payment thinking I had been at a residential school for only a couple of years, but it was actually five years. I had blocked those memories out of my mind; the anger I had felt was at the loss of my childhood and the time away from my family. Time away from my father and mother. My siblings were at the same residential school, but I wasn't allowed to be near them, or on the same floor. The wholeness and innocence of my childhood was stolen. It was an overwhelming sense of grief I was experiencing, shedding bitter tears over what I had lost in my life.
Margaret Henderson, administrator, teacher and preacher's kid, has spent her life serving the Presbyterian Church, and retired last month from her position as senior administrator of Ministry and Church Vocations. She had worked at national offices for 33 years.
ENI – A special Bible published in India that seeks to place the Christian Scriptures within a local context has drawn mixed reactions, with some critics objecting to quotations from the sacred texts of other faiths in commentaries included in the Holy Book.
ENI – African churches and international faith-based organizations meeting in Accra have urged governments to end "the scandal of poverty" by delivering aid that advances development and not placing unacceptable obligations on poor countries. "Aid must be judged by what it delivers on development," Rev. Mvume Dandala said during the September High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in the Ghanaian capital, which brought together more than 800 representatives of developing country governments and civil society organizations.
The Vine Helpline, the PCC's information and education network, has released a series of new resources for this fall.
Laura Roberts (Rosedale, Toronto), Raquel Ramos (St. Columba, Montreal), Cecilia Lu and Jenny So (Chinese, Mississauga) were among nine young people who participated in this year's Youth in Mission trip. They visited the Bhil Fields and met Pauline Brown, as well as village health workers supported by PWS&D.
ENI – Faith-based organizations can play an important role in the response to HIV and AIDS if they abide by the best public health practices, says Dr. Julio Montaner, the new president of the International AIDS Society during the 17th International AIDS Conference held in Mexico City in August.
Rev. Dr. Richard Fee, General Secretary of the Life and Mission Agency, will be returning to his office this month after he was diagnosed with bacterial endocarditis with pulmonary edema in April and had to undergo operations on his heart which he describes in a notice of thanks in this issue of the Record (page 14) as "awe-inspiring and amazingly dedicated medical care."
ENI – Two global Protestant bodies, the World Alliance of Reformed Churches and the Disciples Ecumenical Consultative Council, say they are looking to establish a closer relationship.
Rev. Dave C. Kettle, who is on the rolls at the Presbytery of Ottawa, was named Chaplain General of the Canadian Armed Forces in August, making him the first Presbyterian to hold the title. In July Col. Kettle had also been named Brigadier General.
ENI – The Roman Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace in Zimbabwe has called for a transitional authority to allow for a process of national healing, political reconciliation and economic rehabilitation. The ultimate goal is to have "a happy, united, just and prosperous Zimbabwe regardless of ethnicity, race, gender, religion and any other considerations."
An additional one-time $5 million to the Canadian Foodgrains Bank will provide temporary help to the agency in light of increasing food prices around the world, says executive director Jim Cornelius. "Our early estimates were that the rising cost of food would reduce our food aid programming by at least 25 per cent in the coming year – and probably much more." The subsidy announced in April by Beverley Oda, Minister of International Cooperation, will "help us address the shortfall."
Youth should be and are actively involved in HIV and AIDS work, and this message was carried to Mexico City by young adults from several faith and cultural backgrounds.
ENI – Rev. Ina Ngefar-Bara Pa of the Timor Evangelical Christian Church says she had to grapple with a "macho" society and a conservative congregation when she wanted to establish a program to support women's rights in her congregation in Indonesia's West Timor province.
ENI – The patriarchs of the Russian and Georgian Orthodox churches have issued calls for peace as military conflict between Russia and Georgia over the pro-Russian separatist enclaves of South Ossetia and Abkhazia escalated into the first war between countries with Orthodox Christian majorities in modern history.
As someone who actually gets excited about General Assemblies, attending the annual gahering of the PC(USA) in San Jose this June was like a rock fan going to a U2 concert, a tennis novice attending Wimbledon or a law student stepping into the Supreme Court. You cannot help, as a Canadian Presbyterian, being struck by how big everything is. The display area is 50,000 square feet; most days had 20 or more events taking place; the Assembly Hall is equipped with four camera angles, a 30-metre JumboTron, a full video, light and audio live production facility complete with an off-duty ESPN producer firing the motions and amendments onto the screen faster than football stats at the Super Bowl. There were 750 voting commissioners and 225 advisory delegates seated on the Assembly floor, each one equipped with a laptop computer (a requirement, partly since the business binder, if printed, would be about eight inches thick). Behind commissioners are rows of press, ecumenical visitors, guests, and observers
Ann Calahan (far left) and Josephine Monkman were close friends at Birtle Residential School but hadn't seen each other in 50 years till they picked up their friendship again outside Central Block, Parliament Hill, on June 11, 2008. The lost time had no affect and they rebonded "like sisters."