The sweet solace of polarization, Part 1
I knew I would eventually have to interview my neighbours who staunchly resisted COVID-19 mandates and proudly supported the Ottawa trucker convoy. Actually I have many such neighbours. But it took a year of working through my pandemic enmity until I was ready to listen to them. Some readers will see more danger than value…
Will Braun appointed as CM’s new executive editor
Will Braun will be Canadian Mennonite’s next executive editor. Canadian Mennonite Publishing Service Inc. hired Braun, who has spent the last decade as CM’s senior writer, to lead its magazine and digital news services, beginning on Nov. 1. Braun succeeds Virginia A. Hostetler, who is retiring after five-and-a-half years in the role. Since joining CM…
It’s a ‘God thing’
It is amazing what can happen when a few friends get together. Roger and Laura Tiessen, members of Faith Mennonite Church in Leamington, were touched by events in Ukraine that were unfolding in February and March of this year. They voiced their concerns with friends Brad and Charlotte Lane. Before long, Brad and Roger, their…
Growing old with grace and gratitude
Ingrid Schultz, who recently retired as one of three chaplains at Menno Place in Abbotsford, will never forget the succinct advice one of her instructors told her during chaplaincy training: “Shut your mouth and open your heart.” As she begins her own retirement, Schultz is reflecting on her time opening her heart in ministry to the…
A summer of page-turners
Are you browsing the library shelves aimlessly, uncertain as to which book to take home? Did you spend the entire summer gardening or at the lake, unable to find time to read? Or are you looking for a wonderful story to carry you through the gloomy winter? Look no further! Avid readers from across Mennonite…
‘And that’s when it happened!’
I was caught off guard when I got the call that my friend Paul Phomsouvanh was in the hospital with COVID-19 last fall. At that time, the new more contagious Delta variant had recently arrived. Cases were on the increase, so I shouldn’t have been surprised. I had seen Paul bounce back quickly from serious…
A business built more by accident than by arrangement
Chris Steingart’s journey to owning a professional web-design business was unanticipated. In 2005, he was working as a youth pastor at Waterloo-Kitchener Mennonite Church in Waterloo, Ont., and he decided that the church needed a website. When efforts to get volunteers for the project failed, he ended up doing it himself. “How difficult could it…
‘Walking together, doing things together’
Although the focus was on the Roman Catholic Church when the Pope visited Canada in late July, Mennonites also have a role to play in promoting reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples in this country. That’s the view of Norman Meade, 78, an Anglican minister and Métis elder-in-residence at the University of Manitoba, who directed the Aboriginal…
Music builds bridges to Africa
A chance connection on social media led Heidi Epp, a music teacher from B.C., to travel to Africa this summer to teach music and peace and conflict transformation. Kendri Mastaki Mushagalusa, founder and director of Peace Foundation DRC and the Peace Music Academy in Bukavu, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), had invited Epp,…
Biking and hiking raise funds for Alberta organizations
This summer, Alberta supporters of Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) and Camp Valaqua got physical to raise funds. MCC Alberta The group that calls itself Wheels of Waterton grew out of Ernie Engbrecht, Ron Esau and Dave Neufeldt’s love for cycling and support for MCC. In 2020, COVID-19 put a stop to the annual relief…
