Readers write: April 15, 2019 issue
Mennonite camps exist outside of Ontario and Manitoba Re: “Focus on Camping,” Feb. 18, pages 23-28. One might think from reading these stories that no Mennonite camps existed west of Manitoba. We know that’s not the case, so maybe a better title would have been “Focus on Camping in Eastern Canada.” —Linda Wiebe Dickinson,…
Readers write: April 1, 2019 issue
Thoughts for the Easter season The season of Lent and Easter is a time of mystery and power. God is much bigger and more than a warm security blanket wrapping the Earth, and bigger than the whole solar system. In fact, it is not like God lives in some corner of the universe. Rather,…
Readers write: March 18, 2019 issue
Should Thrift Store purchases be ‘designated’ to First Nations communities? Re: “MCC Canada cuts Canadian programs to focus on advocacy,” Feb. 4, page 14. This article raises some serious concerns regarding Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) Canada’s Indigenous programming. Executive director Rick Cober Bauman indicates that less Thrift Store income and more money designated overseas…
Readers write: March 4, 2019 issue
Author Miriam Toews a ‘two-trick’ pony Re: “Modern ghosts of a horse-drawn scandal: Pt. IV,” Nov. 26, 2018, page 18. Unfortunately, Miriam Toews has only two themes she writes about: fundamentalist Mennonites and the mental illness that runs in her family. I read A Complicated Kindness when it was first published and presented it…
Readers write: February 18, 2019 issue
Colombian reader moved by CM feature article Re: “Holding hands with the FARC,” Jan. 7, page 4. I read this story with tears and with profound sentiments. I’m part of a Colombian generation that has lived a life tormented by a not-recognized civil war. My whole life was often crossed by news or sadness…
Readers write: February 4, 2019 issue
CM, Miriam Toews criticized for exploiting Bolivian rape case Re: “Moderns ghosts of a horse-drawn scandal,” Oct. 8, Oct. 22, Nov. 5, Nov. 26, 2018, issues. I feel that Miriam Toews’s book Women Talking exploits the sad situation in the Manitoba Colony in Bolivia and is obviously written by a person who has never been…
Readers write: January 21, 2019 issue
Editorializing, apology weaken abuse survivor’s statement Re: “Decades-old sexual abuse comes to light,” Sept. 10, 2018, page 13. It seems to me that Canadian Mennonite and Dave Rogalsky (former Eastern Canada correspondent) owe Ruth-Ann Klassen Shantz an apology for the poor handling of her statement. Mixing the abuser’s apology in with the article has done…
Readers write: January 7, 2019 issue
‘There needs to be understanding’ Re: “Worship happened,” Nov. 5, 2018, page 8. Ed Olfert’s column left me in tears. I facilitate many Kairos blanket exercises, where I act out the part of the “grandmother.” Chi miigwech (thank you) for doing this in your church group! It is my hope that more churches will do…
Readers write: December 17, 2018 issue
Kudos for ‘apologetic’ column Re: “‘I’m sorry’: Apologies and abuse” column by Carol Penner, Nov. 5, page 11. Thanks for some very good thoughts about how apologies can make things worse for victims of abuse. I especially like Penner’s fourth point: “We like things clean and tidy.” Perhaps this is because abuse in a church…
Readers write: November 26, 2018 issue
CM photo collection at Mennonite Archives of Ontario website Re: “A united witness,” Oct. 8, page 4. The Canadian Mennonite photograph collection lives on through the Mennonite Archives of Ontario’s ongoing efforts to digitize more than 8,000 photographs. The collection is a treasure trove of Mennonite life in Canada and around the world in…
