Growing into the future
Over the past year, Mennonite Church Eastern Canada has been leaning into its strategic plan, “Growing into the Future,” a plan that honours the five strategic priorities set in 2022. The plan is anchored in MCEC’s identity statement—transformed, inspired and called—and includes four specific goals to be enacted over the next few years. Both the…
Surely there are more of us
“If I’m here, surely there are more of us, and one of us just needs to start it.” With those words in mind, Rachel Reid decided to reach out to all the churches in Mennonite Church Eastern Canada (MCEC) in hopes of starting a young adult network. Her home church—Hamilton Mennonite in Hamilton—doesn’t have a…
After the bubble shatters
I felt delight in growing up in the church. Not only did I attend Sunday school and children’s church, but I went to Christian elementary and secondary school. I felt most safe in the Christian bubble around me. As I grew up, I was very active in my church and volunteered in several different capacities,…
Book reviews
Prophet Song I don’t think I’ve read a book that articulates as brilliantly as Paul Lynch’s Prophet Song (winner of the 2023 Booker Prize) what a woman experiences during the darkness of political tyranny—a husband “disappeared,” a son caught up in the conflict, and her effort to keep her family together as well as care…
If all the earth…
Nature has always been a source of inspiration for Mennonite children’s author, Aimee Reid. Several years ago, she took her dog for a walk while camping at Valens Lake Conservation Area in Hamilton, Ontario. She returned with a phrase in her mind: If all the earth were forests green and you were the nest. “I…
In prayer with old monks
I’m taking a group from our church on a spiritual retreat this weekend. I’ve gone on many personal retreats to the Abbey of the Genesee, a Trappist monastery in New York, but this is my first time leading a group retreat there. I decided to do this for several reasons. First, the monastery likely won’t…
The future of Mennonite Men
Mennonite Men says its ministry may soon meet its end. Don Neufeld, Canadian coordinator of this bi-national organization which saw its beginnings in the 1950s when men fundraised for projects like new church builds, wrote a letter to MC Canada’s leadership and area churches of MC Canada questioning the viability of their organization: “Our donation…
Readers Write: November 2024
Good people hurt by MCC I am writing this letter in support of the individuals who wrote and signed the open letter to Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) and in support of the former and current MCC service workers and staff who have been and continue to be hurt by MCC. I personally know of former…
Words that matter
Pádraig Ó Tuama is a theologian, poet and the author of several books including the forthcoming Kitchen Hymns (2025) and 44 Poems on Being with Each Other (2025). He is a member and former leader of Corrymeela, Northern Ireland’s oldest peace and reconciliation organization. He grew up Irish-Catholic near Cork, Ireland. Canadian Mennonite approached Ó Tuama as someone who…
Plaque commemorates conscientious objectors
Descendants of conscientious objectors (COs) gathered around a new plaque to permanently mark the location of the Montreal River Alternative Service Camp. More than 50 people made the two-day bus trip to Montreal River, 120 kilometres north of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, on the shore of Lake Superior, to participate in this event Sept. 28,…
