Regarding the May letter suggesting that fair trade is “not in the interest of (small) growers.” I am not surprised that The Economist magazine is critical of fair trade. The global economic community continues to blindly extol the virtues of “free market” capitalism, yet this system is failing farmers around the world, particularly those in developing countries.

As a hospital chaplain in Kingston where there are no fewer than seven federal prisons, I read with interest that the Presbyterian Church recently signed a revised agreement with Correctional Services to ensure the provision of spiritual care to this needy population in our midst (May Record). It's too bad this gesture does not extend to supporting our clergy in applying to vacant positions for chaplains within these institutions. Currently, Kingston penitentiary has an urgent need for a protestant chaplain. The PCC does not encourage individual presbyteries to enter into contractual agreements with Correctional Services on behalf of a chaplain, thus preventing clergy from applying. We have a mission field on our own doorstep and no one to fill the need, because the church doesn't want to become involved in third-party contracts.

As soon as the May issue arrived I had to write. The new art director is doing a fantastic job giving a fresh look to the magazine and I was very happy with the layout of the story I wrote. The overall colours, new fonts and news selection made this issue stand out for me. With all this talk about the Globe and Mail's new design I thought I should send my congrats your way.

I read the review and wondered why these books were chosen? I have never even heard of the three mentioned or their authors! Why don't you review books that we are actually reading? I read fiction by Dee Henderson, Karen Kingsbury, Susan Meissner, Davis Bunn, Tracie Peterson, Michael Philips, Bode Thoene and many others. I would appreciate reviews on some of their books rather than something completely foreign to me. Thanks!

As a voracious reader, I was interested in the June review of Christian chick-lit, The Worst Stories Ever Told. I agree that many novels are totally insipid.

The article in May by Gloria Wasacase, A Good Thing, was a breath of fresh air. At long last I have read in the Presbyterian Record positive and grateful words about the ministry of our residential schools. I had come to think that our church had forgotten the devotion and the commitment of the pioneer missionaries who founded and laboured at these schools from 1884 (Round Lake) and onward. In 1934, former students from that school erected and dedicated a fieldstone cairn in memory of their beloved Dr. Hugh McKay who served among them for 40 years.

Thanks Peter Bush for his series By The Numbers, particularly the March article. As he notes: “Humility helps leaders, both ordained and lay, discover the church is not about them, but rather is about God.”

As someone who attended Riverside Church, New York, a number of times in the 1950s and early '60s when Rev. Harry Emerson Fosdick was the minister, I read with great interest March's Grant Us Wisdom and am glad to know there is concern about our often-shallow response to Christ, especially in the mainline churches. Andrew Faiz's recollections of and garnerings from the Fosdick Convocation at Riverside are food for thought and a call to prayer and action.

With reference to