The Roman Catholic Church has elected a new leader to great cheers, but in certain circles there is little enthusiasm for Pope Benedict XVI. Those labouring in the vineyards of ecumenical dialogue are worried about what they can expect from this man who, as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, they believe is responsible for putting the brakes on the great progress made during the pontificate of Pope John Paul II.

Amendments to the Ontario Heritage Act were passed in April that will offer comprehensive protection to buildings waiting for heritage status. Concerns of churches — including how they will pay for aging buildings that are designated — did not affect Bill 60, but a consultation process will be set up to address concerns. "The communication lines are open and the minister has every intention of developing guidelines that are in line with their concerns," said Carole Drouin, communications representative at the Ministry of Culture.

When the stunning First Church, Montreal, building was sold to a developer in the 1980s the advertising campaign promised "a stained glass window in every condo". First (1786-1984) was once amongst the most important congregations in Montreal, and was itself a union of Chalmers and St. Gabriel's, the latter of which dated to 1784. In 1984 it joined with Knox, Crescent, Kensington.

I am writing this letter as a private individual, not on behalf of our presbytery or any other body.

In the March issue there was a comment in my interview with Reg Bibby about "pie eyed aboriginals." The phrase was used in a story he told that criticized a local church for its racism. I do not believe Mr. Bibby intended the phrase in a racist manner; his point was that the church was comfortable with "bedraggled" non-natives in its service. Nor was it my intention to allow its use in any derogatory sense. However, the phrase itself speaks of a systemic attitude towards First Nations people. This language is so deeply imbedded into our culture we fail to recognize its assumptions. On behalf of Mr. Bibby and myself, I apologize for the use of this casual assumption and for any pain it may have caused.

The country's largest ecumenical organization, the Canadian Council of Churches, will again run at a deficit for 2005. Its $326,000 budget includes a projected deficit of $8,000. The council is funded by its 19 member churches. The Presbyterian Church contributes $25,000 a year. "We're doing everything possible to bring it down, but we're operating on a bare-bones budget," said general secretary Rev. Karen Hamilton. "There's nothing left to cut."

The Presbyterian Church (USA) saw the largest drop among mainline churches in the United States last year. According to the National Council of Churches' 2005 Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches, PC(USA) fell almost five per cent, with about 3.2 million members remaining. It ranks ninth on the list of America's 25 largest churches. Other denominations to decline include the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, American Baptist Churches in the USA and the United Church of Christ.

It's been 60 years since Pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer was hanged, along with six others, by the SS, for a conspiracy against Nazi dictator Adolph Hitler. His death at 39 was extraordinary on several counts. His Lutheran tradition had inculcated a sense of duty to obey the state as an authority ordained by God, not to plot treason against it. In the 1930s, he had been advocating pacifism as the Christian response to violence, yet the plot against Hitler was to involve complicity in an attempted assassination. Changing circumstances repeatedly forced Bonhoeffer to re-examine what obedience to God required in a context where politicized evil became apocalyptic in scale.

As one of the longest reigning popes in the history of the Roman Catholic Church, John Paul II is being remembered for many things. But Presbyterians seem to remember him for one particular contribution: his commitment to ecumenism. "The pope's interest and encouragement to the ecumenical endeavour has been a great source of strength in our work," said Rev. Stephen Kendall, principal clerk of the church. Richard Fee, Moderator, sees this as the pope's greatest contribution. "He made a genuine effort towards ecumenism and interfaith dialogue."

The justice initiatives committee of KAIROS, of which the PCC is a member, presented the federal government with a petition bearing more than 10,000 names urging the immediate implementation of refugee appeals as promised.

Former students of native residential schools have filed a $12.5 billion lawsuit against the federal government and the churches who ran the schools. The 90,000 claimants are seeking compensation for loss of language and culture.

Rev. Hugo King-Wah Lau, of Chinese, Mississauga, Ont., drew this painting and donated it to Canada Ministries at church offices. The middle portion has 100 different ways of saying "Blessing" in Chinese. Along the borders are quotations from Psalm 3:8 and Psalm 34:8. Seen here with Mr. Lau are Mathew Goslinski and Rev. Gordon Haynes, both of Canada Ministries.

Assembly Council adopted a new policy for setting executive and professorial stipends that will go to General Assembly for approval. There was confusion regarding the council's role in this matter and the new policy places responsibility with the council, although assembly maintains final say.

Lay people in Manitoba and Northern Ontario are benefitting for a $12,000 Cdn grant to Presbyterian College, Montreal. The American grant, handed out last May, has already enabled 19 congregations to participate in a lay leadership program devoted to improving worship. "It's exciting to work with committed and gifted lay people who have a passion for the church of Jesus Christ and want to use their gifts to fulfill our highest calling as human beings — the worship and praise of God," said Peter Bush, minister at Knox, Mitchell, Ont., and co-director of the project along with Christine O'Reilly, minister of a two-point charge in southwestern Ont. "We're honoured and humbled to work with such amazing people."

Helping others often entails sacrifice. For Alexander Kalimbira, a professor at the University of Malawi but currently studying nutrition in Canada, putting his own needs second is something he's learned to deal with. "We challenged tradition," said Kalimbira, about the risk he and five male colleagues took when they decided to study home economics and nutrition at university. "You don't see a lot of men in Malawi taking those classes. Men don't usually cook, but in class, we had to cook. The other students jeered at us."

Churches across the country have held dinners, concerts, sales and education sessions to raise funds for AIDS victims. These are just a few of the myriad of our mission workers.

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."

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."

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.