Food aid agencies like the Canadian Foodgrains Bank can now use 50 percent of their federal funding to purchase grain from developing countries. Prior regulations allowed only 10 per cent of these funds to be used for foreign grain. The announcement was heralded by CFBG executive director Jim Cornelius.
I never really understood the power of Remembrance Day until I led a service in a long-term care centre on November 11. Paying attention to Remembrance Day has been part of my life since I was a child either by attending services at school, or at the local cenotaph. Church services that I have attended, or led, early in November, always had at least a portion dedicated to remembering the lives of those who died in war, and also included prayers for peace. Those services have been memorable and important for me, but not transforming. Perhaps it was because there was always a distance, a chasm, that separated me in time and experience from the pain and suffering of war. When called to remember, I was casting back over decades in an act of respect.
Under the influence of Marxism, Cuba was an atheist state. Constitutional reforms in 1992 made it secular. This opening of the churches has created a sudden growth. Pastor Dora Valentin, middle, of Iglesia Presbiterina Reformada, Luyano, has seen her congregation grow 200 per cent over the past quarter century. According to her, there is a well-educated generation but it knows nothing about the church. Church is something to which they feel called, but of which they have no experience. Of the 600,000 church goers on the island, half are Protestant, though most were born Roman Catholics. Presbyterians are an active presence in this new Cuba.
Project Ploughshares, an ecumenical peace agency of the Canadian Council of Churches, is launching a campaign advocating the control of the sale of small arms and light weapons. The public awareness and education campaign is designed to inspire Canadians to call for greater governmental commitment to control small arms and deal with the underlying conditions of the weapons problem. "We're hoping that Canadians will see that these weapons need to be controlled and in places where they are already causing problems on the ground, that the government is making an effort to fix the problem," said Lynne Griffiths-Fulton, program associate at Project Ploughshares.
The World Council of Churches has urged nations to strive for a world without poverty as it called for an International Day of Prayer for Peace on September 21, the same day as the United Nations International Day of Peace.
I have been a husband for nearly 10 years now, so needless to say I know virtually everything there is to know about my wife's needs. For instance, I know that she can get by without food for 40 days and 40 nights, but definitely not without chocolate. I also know that she needs clean laundry, flowers, nurturing, romance, protection, a listening ear and clothes that fit. Whereas my basic needs are…well, pizza.
Years ago when I watched the movie Schindler's List, I wondered how a ranking German officer came to be such a courageous man of conscience in saving a thousand Polish Jews from the fate of Hitler's final solution. What propels a person to live out ethical principles when the stakes are so high and the prevailing culture so seductive?
On the weekend of May 28, Durham Presbyterian celebrated its 150th anniversary. We were honoured to have then-Moderator Rev. Richard Fee attend these celebrations.
The Ontario government has banned the use of sharia law and other religious tribunals, including Jewish and Christian. "There will be no religious arbitration in Ontario," Premier Dalton McGuinty told the Canadian Press. "There will be one law for all Ontarians." New legislation prohibiting religious arbitration could be introduced this fall. It is still unclear exactly what the ban will entail, and how it will be implemented and enforced.
Re. Andrew Faiz' Sunday Morning Dysfunction, July/August.
I read Phil Callaway's article in September and my heart goes out to his family. I watched my mother slowly deteriorate for nearly 11 years after my dad died and it was the hardest thing I have done in my adult years. My mother, my best friend for years, didn't remember who I was and at the end while I held her hand I prayed that she knew it was me with her.
In response to David Campbell's September letter: Nobody needs to revert to the Holiness Code in Leviticus to find support for traditional ethical precepts. There are sufficient texts in the New Testament to support conservative views on homosexual practice, same-sex marriage, etc. The Greek word porneia covers all unacceptable sexual behaviour. Jesus clearly defined marriage for us: Mt. 19:5. This is nothing to chuckle about.
I thought you should know that the September issue set a record by arriving in my mail box in B.C. on August 24.
The old Presbyterian church where I was confirmed as a teen, dies more with each passing year. The pews are sparsely filled, mostly by seniors while the Sunday school classes continue to dwindle. I'm now in the church alumni association as John Spong puts it, yet I do not obtain the least bit of glee at seeing the demise of the church, especially where there is any suffering involved. Owen Thornton states, "we still do have the best deal in town" and that "its just a matter of spreading the word." I'm sure Thornton is a kind and greatly respected man but in my humble opinion, statements like this need to be seriously studied and questioned. Less than a year ago, (Oct. 2004), David Harris wrote his excellent article on Churches Must Change Or Be Changed. In it he quotes Prof. Bibby as saying, "What is required is a clear cut strategy that is informed by sound research and sound congregational input." I might add to this non-congregational input, since the focus increasingly needs to be on the reasons of those who prefer not to attend church.
The oil patch is pumping out more black gold than ever before and the refineries are working over time since the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico as we at Sherwood Park, Alta., look for the ways to proclaim that God is in the midst of all this activity. To be a new church in an area that is facing the most rapid growth in the country in terms of population, wealth and general economic strength has its joys and its challenges. Unlike many new church development projects, we were able to move into our own building amazingly quickly. Thanks to the support of Canada Ministries and money given through the Live the Vision fund we have been given a former funeral home (previously a Roman Catholic Church) in which to conduct our ministry. Most new churches do not start with a sanctuary to hold 300-plus people and we have only had that number in once, for a concert with Steve Bell. We have started to break over the 100 people mark on high Sunday mornings and our low Sundays are equal to our averages four years ago. So we know we still have a long way to go to becoming fully self supporting but it has been good to see God at work in the community.
What will it take to get you to stop excluding males from the front covers of our church magazine that have to do with Youth and Sunday School news items?
Youth Voice, in September, is one of the most dynamic issues, and your staff and the contributors are to be congratulated.
One of the greatest benefits of becoming a member of St. Andrew's, New Liskeard, Ont., recently is getting the Record. I look forward to it every month. Your emphasis is, as the kids used to say, Right on.
We do not need the government to get involved in reducing poverty overseas, when we all know the problems of the dictators and politicians getting at the funds before they are distributed to where they are required.
As a Canadian, I could have done without that scolding from David Harris in September. Perhaps he's right we can afford more aid to Africa, but I for one object to sending our tax dollars to keep some dictator and his wives in luxury cars. I would recommend that for a country to be eligible for financial aid, a responsible government, hopefully one elected, has to be in place and there should be demonstrable benefit to the people in the projects they undertake. Food and medicinal aid are a different matter, but again, accounting for the distribution of these should be mandatory. Debt forgiveness may have a sweet ring to it, but how many times should a given country have its debts forgiven? I suggest once.