John Tory, leader of the Ontario Conservative party, has revived a five-year-old debate on faith school funding. Tory was quoted in February after a policy conference saying, he is "completely and totally committed" to addressing "the fairness issue for independent schools. The issue of fairness more starkly presents itself when you are dealing with faith-based schools as opposed to others."

The Order of Diaconal Ministries of The Presbyterian Church in Canada will celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2008. During those 10 decades, members of the Order have made an important contribution to the work of the denomination, including Christian education, pastoral care and social ministries. Diaconal ministers serve across Canada and around the world.

ENI – A new inclusive German Bible intended to do justice to women, Jews and marginalised groups has been criticized. "A Bible in the German language has to be sensitive about racism and ethnic discrimination because of the Shoah," said Luise Metzler, who has raised funds for the project in which 52 translators are translating the original Hebrew and Greek.

ENI – The Presbyterian Church (USA) has cut more than 100 positions in the most radical church restructuring in more than a decade.

ENI – Anglican Bishop Nelson Onono-Onweng has called for immediate action to bring an end to 20 years of violent conflict in his northern Uganda diocese which civil society groups say is one of the worst war zones on the planet, worse even than Iraq.

The Record's Amy MacLachlan was the big winner at the annual Canadian Church Press awards in Winnipeg in May, taking three awards for three 2005 articles. She won first and third prize in the magazine news story category, for a story on bullying she wrote for Glad Tidings and for a piece on Sharia laws in Ontario. She received another first place in the narrative category for her Israel travelogue in October. The judge noted, "It addresses many of the fears of would-be travellers and shows how open and caring she found the people to be."

General Assembly: June 4th–9th, Brock University, St. Catharines, Ont.

Reuben St. Louis, the youth in mission coordinator for the church is launching his first CD on June 10th at Knox, Waterloo, Ont. A freewill offering that night will be sent to Presbyerian World Service and Development's Towards a World Without AIDS campaign. For more information: www.reubenstlouis.ca.