Writing career a dream come true for Winnipeg author
There was no magic lamp or genie involved when MaryLou Driedger made her wish, just a felt tip marker and a famous pond.
There was no magic lamp or genie involved when MaryLou Driedger made her wish, just a felt tip marker and a famous pond.
When Dan Driediger closes his eyes, he sees rivers, rises and roads. His unique photographic memory comes in handy. Driediger is a cartographer: He creates, prints and sells maps to people and organizations across Canada.
Seated (left to right): Henry Fast, George Epp, Edith (Koop) Krahn, Gertrude (Janzen) deKleine, Myrna Zacharias. Standing: Henry Schroeder, Richard Epp, Peter Neufeld, Harold Epp, Sigrid (Martynes) Warkentin, Guenther Toews, Rudy Dahl (partially hidden), Evelyn (Janzen) Roden, Peter Rempel, Violet (Schapansky) Atwell, Tony Funk, Art Hildebrand, Verna (Wiens) Ewert, Ken Rempel, Edna (Friesen) Koop, Elsie (Bergen) Epp, Caroline Martens-Clappison, Ruby (Isaac) Harder, Barry Toews, Mervin Dyck (partially hidden), Eileen (Epp) Ewert, Walter Klassen, Elsbeth (Epp) Moyer, Ed Bergen. (Photo by Henry Schroeder)
To the sounds of much laughter, along with moments of sadness, the Rosthern Junior College (RJC) class of 1960 met in Saskatoon on May 18-19 to mark 63 years since graduation. Given that students generally complete high school at age 18, most of us at the reunion had reached the age of 81. More than one walker and cane were noted.
A little-known Mennonite mission, hidden away in a quiet residential neighbourhood on the flats of Richmond, B.C., celebrated its fortieth anniversary on June 7.
Art Koop was cleaning up after teaching his last class of the day when the emergency alert blared from his cell phone. The message called for an immediate, mandatory evacuation. A wildfire threatened Edson, Alberta, the community where Koop lives and works. The sky was an eerie orange colour and thick with smoke.
Sarah Hodges-Kolisnyk approaches art through the lens of storytelling.
“My journey as an artist and a curator has always been linked to exploring the world and sharing stories with others,” she says. “I approach everything with a questioning and a searching for the story, and hoping those stories bring people together.”
A recent fire forced the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) Furniture Thrift Store in Winnipeg to temporarily close its doors due to smoke and water damage. A vacant house beside the shop went up in flames on May 11, just after 1 a.m., with the cause of the fire still under investigation.
Nearly 100 years have passed since 21,000 Mennonites fled disease, starvation and violence in some of the same areas now experiencing war in Ukraine. Many came to Southern Manitoba, and their trauma quietly came with them.
When 19-year-old Anita Shevchuk found herself in the streets of downtown Toronto in the summer of 2022, she held onto her faith in God and her then-husband’s promise that everything would be okay.
People visit outside following a service at a Mennonite Brethren church in Kikwit, Democratic Republic of Congo. (Justin Makangara/MCC/Fairpicture)
Ever since survivors of brutal fighting in the Kasai region of the Democratic Republic of Congo fled to the city of Kikwit in 2017, the Mennonite Brethren Church has been ministering to them with faith and action.
A simple job creation project that started with two women’s concern for a young church member is now seeking new church partners to expand beyond its four current locations.
Canadian Mennonite received seven awards from the Canadian Christian Communicators Association in May.
Ernie Regehr—a prominent Canadian voice on disarmament and peacebuilding for over 40 years—shared his unique analysis of the Ukraine conflict at Grace Mennonite Church in St. Catharines, Ontario on May 6.
Regehr co-founded Project Peacemakers in 1976 and currently serves as a research fellow at Conrad Grebel University College. He was named an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2003.
At its annual gathering, Mennonite Church Eastern Canada welcomed new congregations, announced a break from status quo spending and heard bold challenges from Fanosie Legesse and Rebecca Riek.
Decolonization, interfaith dialogue, intersectionality—these terms can feel heady and intimidating, but Suzanne Gross says they can all happen through the well-practiced Mennonite art of hospitality.
Over brunch on Sunday, April 23, at Niagara United Mennonite Church in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, two members of the church shared about the Mennonite Church Canada learning tour to the Philippines. Dorothea Enns and her niece Anita Dong spoke about the time that they and 10 others spent in the Philippines during the January 12 to 22 trip.
An Abbotsford audience had the chance to view and discuss Women Talking, the film that has generated buzz in both Mennonite and Hollywood circles.
While cousins Adam and Owen Roth had grown to “love the Grebel community,” as first-year students at Conrad Grebel University College, one crucial thing was missing from their new lifestyle: supper at Grandma’s.
Between conversation and quiche, B.C. women were inspired, touched and encouraged as they heard one another’s stories at this year’s Women’s Day. The Mennonite Church B.C. annual event took place at Emmanuel Mennonite Church in Abbotsford on May 6.
Reuben Tut, left, Manas Ngongjock, Shim Beack, Joon Park, Tim Wiebe-Neufeld, Tracy Brown Ewert and Zander Ewert share smiles and stories around the table. (Photo by Jan Wilhelm)
A Taste of MCA event drew people from ages 1 to 100, including young Sarah Sin and her mom, Lal Pui. (Photo by Jan Wilhelm)
When most people think of Mennonite cuisine, they think of perogies and farmer sausage, or perhaps fresh rollkuchen dipped in Rogers Golden Syrup.
Yet at A Taste of MCA, a Mennonite Church Alberta event at Bergthaler Mennonite Church near Didsbury, on April 12, the menu featured dishes like chicken biryani, chicken kabobs and roti, injera and spicy lamb, corn soup and sticky rice.
From households clustered around computer screens to sanctuaries filled with people, church services have taken a variety of forms since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic more than three years ago.
Members of Kelowna First Mennonite Church are selling their church building, but that doesn’t mean they are closing their doors. As of May, the small congregation is meeting in a nearby seniors residence.
In the same year that two congregations joined Mennonite Church Manitoba, adding new member churches for the first time in a decade, two congregations have also withdrawn from the regional church.