Volume 27 Issue 20

At times, it’s shocking, violent and gory. It’s also one of the most compelling pop culture depictions of Christian faith and religion in recent memory.

Thank you for this excellent, nuanced article (“The gift of life, the question of death,” September 22). Clearly, patients have always made private, off-the-books decisions with the help and hindrance of doctors and loved ones alike.

As a child, I was vaguely envious of others who had deep connections in Canada. In my family, that was not the case. My parents are from the UK and we spent our vacations going back to visit family. Although born in Canada, I longed for a deeper sense of belonging.

Popular author, speaker and shame researcher Brené Brown once quipped, “You can’t swing a cat without hitting a narcissist.” She later apologized for the inhumane image conjured by the idiom, but she stood behind the underlying message. Many psychologists and social scientists agree: Narcissism is everywhere. Some are calling it an epidemic.

Through the weight of ongoing struggles over logging, mercury poisoning and, most recently, mining, the people of Grassy Narrows First Nation in northwestern Ontario continue to defend their interests and make their voices heard.

How to disagree well with fellow Christians was the topic of a forum held at Columbia Bible College (CBC) in Abbotsford, B.C., last month.

The Sept. 21 event, titled “Polarization and Disagreement in the Church,” was sponsored by the Faith in Today’s Church task group of Mennonite Church B.C.

Editor’s note: In this six-part series for Canadian Mennonite, Kara Carter, lead pastor at Wellesley Mennonite Church in southern Ontario, will explore some of the things she learned while earning her PhD in pastoral leadership.

Mark Olfert has always been passionate about helping people. He wishes the systems in Canada would do more to support people, too.

Olfert, 60, is an anti-poverty activist and a member of Hope Mennonite Church in Winnipeg, Man. He advocates for a guaranteed liveable income, something he says would have made a big difference numerous times in his own life.

Manitoba writer Sarah Ens has won the national ReLit Award (poetry category) for her book Flyway. ReLit is hailed by the Globe and Mail as “the country’s pre-eminent literary prize recognizing independent presses.”

Joanne Moyer is looking for stories. Moyer, who is the associate professor and director of Environmental Studies and Geography at The King’s University in Edmonton, is undertaking a large-scale research project on environmental initiatives that involved Mennonites.

“Reconciliation . . . needs to start with the earth. It’s the foundation of everything.” —Isaac Murdoch, Serpent River First Nation

For her Grade 12 year, Elizabeth Armbruster (Zacharias, 1944), known as Beth among her family and friends, decided to leave her family farm near Meadow Lake, Sask., to attend RJC (then known as the German-English Academy). She was determined to prepare herself to attend normal school to become a teacher after graduation.