Giving thanks for 25 years
Canadian Mennonite publisher Tobi Thiessen and executive editor Virginia A. Hostetler reflect on the magazine’s 25th anniversary: Tobi Thiessen, Publisher Your church may have a tradition of creating a Thanksgiving display of bounty from the summer’s harvest. Perhaps it includes pumpkins, sheafs of wheat or baskets of apples. In my congregation, people add health cards…
Practising restorative justice in a nightgown
My wife and I live in a triplex in the Montréal borough of Hochelaga, in the eastern part of the island. One of our sons, who does not live with us, usually leaves his bicycle, as well as his son’s smaller one, locked to our front porch when they visit us. The other night, it…
Students in Burkina Faso write African church history
Sibiri Samuel Zongo, a student at LOGOS University in Burkina Faso, lamented that the church in Africa is “like a canoe that passes without leaving a trace.” Anicka Fast, serving with Mennonite Central Committee and Mennonite Mission Network, is committed to changing this reality, through teaching courses that hone skills in writing oral history. A…
Gallery curator aims to explore the world, share stories
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.” Since April 2022, Hodges-Kolisnyk…
Life lessons in a garden
When I was asked to reflect on the joy of serving the church, the word “joy” stuck in my throat. My thoughts immediately turned to the recent challenging conversations and difficult decisions those of us who serve on the General Board of Mennonite Church Canada had to make this year. Instead of “joy,” words like…
MDS seeking volunteers for Louisiana
Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS) volunteers have begun the arduous process of mucking out and cleaning up homes in the town of Central, La., resulting from the worst U.S. disaster since Superstorm Sandy in 2012. There is a need for more volunteers. An “unnamed” storm, but just as devastating as any named storm of its magnitude,…
Westgate volleyballers win first provincial title since ’78
I first heard of Westgate Mennonite Collegiate in the fall of my final bachelor of education program year. It was 1978, and this very small school surprised the local sports scene by capturing the Manitoba Provincial “A” Volleyball Championship by defeating teams with several-fold larger school populations. I joined the Westgate teaching staff in 1982,…
A surprise hit
It’s 11 weeks until Christmas, and if you’re looking to buy something for the fun-loving Mennonite on your shopping list, Jonathan Kornelsen has just the items for you. Kornelsen is the creator of Menno Apparel, a line of T-shirts that poke fun at Russian and Swiss Mennonite culture. “Sure Mennonite girls can cook, but Mennonite…
Advent is life
The weeks leading up to Christmas brought an overwhelming spirit of anticipation to our household when I was growing up. In fact, the intensity of waiting to open our gifts on Christmas morn was too much for my brother and me to bear. Every December we searched our house high and low looking for our…
Holy contradictions
Despite gaping holes in the biblical basis for its elaborate hierarchy, and despite relatively widespread pedophilia among its priests, the Roman Catholic Church holds on to roughly twice as many official adherents—1.2 billion—as all Protestant denominations put together. Despite outlandish contradictions—the Vatican puts Mary on a pedestal while excluding women from leadership, and it condemns…
