A story in the March issue on executive salary increases at the church's national offices should have noted that pay raises for associate secretaries slated to begin next January are contingent upon acceptance of a proposal from Assembly Council to General Assembly that would cement responsibility for setting national staff compensation with the council.
Sheila Conkey, daughter of Frank, a retired Presbyterian minister, and the late Agnes, a diaconal minister, was born in 1957 and knows more about the Presbyterian Church in Canada — through ministers, members and adherents — than the average Presbyterian. Sheila has lived in congregations in Cape Breton, Scarborough, Pickering Village and Ajax, Ont., where her father was minister. With her parents she has also visited many congregations around the country, with dad as special speaker, visiting friends and making new ones. Her numerous adopted aunts and uncles are mostly church people, part of Sheila's vast extended family, crossing not only Canada but into the United States and over to Britain.
In the midst of rising violence in Brazil's Amazon rainforest, an American nun was shot dead by what are believed to be contract killers. Dorothy Stang, a 74-year-old missionary living in Brazil for 30 years, worked to defend the forest and peasant farmers from illegal ranchers, loggers and landowners.
Rev. Andrew Johnston (far right) of St. Andrew's, Ottawa, delivered the homily at an ecumenical worship service in Notre Dame Cathedral in Ottawa Jan. 23 marking the "Week of Prayer for Christian Unity." Johnston is president of the Christian Council of the Capital Area.
Like most women doing a new thing, Dr. Alison Elliot wants to be remembered for her achievements as a human being, not as a woman. However, her gender is always mentioned in each introduction, from church chancels and AIDS hospice steps, to European political and church council lecterns, south Asian post-tsunami gatherings and Canadian academic auditoria. She is the first female moderator in the 445-year history of the Church of Scotland (and the second lay person, the last was named in the early decades of that history). She is the embodiment of the profound changes in her church. Professionally and personally she is comfortable with the change she leads, and the change she represents.
As a minister I receive unsolicited mailings of theological tripe from various factions of the Christian Right all the time. The issue is not about the faith integrity of individuals, but the distorted dogma driving American policy. This fundamentalist movement has exerted unprecedented influence over the Bush administration during its first term and there is every reason to be alarmed over their continued influence in the U.S., Canada and indeed the world.
In the common parlance ministers are called to their profession. The call comes from God. This divine interception is the only way to explain why anybody would want the job: an awkward mixture of parent, sibling, therapist, counsellor, CEO, writer, philosopher, theologian, adviser and preacher. It is a lot to ask of one person, and the financial compensation is not necessarily equal to the demands. It can be a very stressful profession.
As was first reported in the July 2004 Record Dorothy Henderson was awarded the 2005 Educator of the Year by the Association of Presbyterian Church Educators. She received her award at the association's annual convention held in Vancouver in February. Henderson is Associate Secretary for Christian Education for the national church. Among other things, she was honoured for her work on leadership development and intergenerational worship resources.
The Life and Mission Agency Committee has nominated Rev. Richard Fee for the position of General Secretary of the Life and Mission Agency. His name will be presented to General Assembly in June for approval. Fee is currently the Director of Presbyterian World Service and Development and Moderator of the 130th General Assembly. He would succeed Rev. J.P. Ian Morrison who is retiring later this year.
Across Canada flags were at half mast. Newspaper headings asked, "Why"? When four young Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers were slain on a farm near Mayerthorpe, Alta., Canadians wanted the answer to that question. All citizens of Canada surely felt some degree of the pain and suffering that this event brought to the immediate families of these officers and to their colleagues in the peace and armed forces that serve our nation.
The Presbyterian Record is pleased to welcome a new circulation manager, Deborah Leader. Born in Toronto and currently living in Mississauga, Leader comes to 50 Wynford from a full-time circulation position with Canadian Homes and Cottages. An active volunteer with the Girl Guides of Canada, she is looking forward to warmer weather so she can enjoy her summer home on Lake Erie in Wainfleet, Ont. Leader replaces Eva Breeze, who retired from the Record after 14 years of service.
Military chaplains may soon have to wear insignias on their uniforms that will apply to all faiths. Chaplains currently wear a Maltese Cross on their caps — a feature of the badge worn by all Canadian forces chaplains since the three services united in 1968. "It's still in the development stage, but we're seriously considering it," said Col. Stan Johnstone, director of chaplain policy, at the Chaplain's General Office.
In the midst of peace talks between Israeli and Palestinian leaders, several organizations have been criticised for trumpeting divestment in companies involved in the Israeli occupation of Palestine. Moshe Fox, an Israeli embassy official in the United States, was quoted by the Jerusalem Post as saying: "While maintaining that this recommendation is neither one-sided nor anti-Jewish, it is clearly both."
Ministry during a vacancy. Education for ministry during a vacancy. It seemed like a simple enough article when I agreed to write this, but the more I got into this, the bigger it got. Huge. Still, at the risk of over simplifying, and looking at this from an educational perspective, there is only one major difference between a congregation with a minister and one that is without one. Attitude.
One Sunday morning at Trinity Community Church outside of Barrie, Ont., lead pastor, Carey Nieuwhof, started his sermon by talking about Satisfaction by the Rolling Stones. The song had been played earlier in the service. He discussed the sex, drugs and rock'n'roll ethos of the song, the search for worldly happiness, the hedonistic pursuit of pleasure, and the emptiness of that search. He used the song to talk about real satisfaction, that deep down spiritual pleasure that only God can offer.
Sixteen years ago I had three theories about raising children. Now I have three children and no theories. I used to know what parents should do with kids who had runny noses. Or short fuses. Or full diapers. I knew what parents should teach their children about life, liberty, and the pursuit of stuff. I knew what time to send them to bed.
Re: Child Poverty Truly Threatens The Family, January
I was interested to read the articles in the January 2005 issue of the Presbyterian Record that were dedicated to problems confronted by people and ministers in the rural areas. At Melita Presbyterian Church we especially appreciated the article, A Cow Is Calving…Thy Kingdom Come written by our own minister, Rev. Barb Alston. Ranchers In Crisis also accurately portrays the problems facing farmers. I hope articles like these will help communicate to the urban population the crisis that rural people and churches are facing. Please continue to publish articles from rural communities.
Re. the sexual assault charge reported in the March issue, I have two questions:
Reginald Bibby is the number one expert on religion in Canada. Restless Churches combines Bibby's reflections on data in the 2001 census with arguments from his recent book Restless Gods: The Renaissance of Religion in Canada (2001) and a modification of some suggestions for ministry presented in his 1995 book, There's Got to be More! Connecting Churches and Canadians.