Biography turns into Old Colony history
Although Bruce Guenther set out to write a biography of his grandfather, Herman D.W. Friesen, it turned out to be more of a history of the Old Colony Mennonites in the Hague-Osler area of Saskatchewan. Guenther had no diaries or personal letters to work with, and some of the relatives were reticent to talk about…
Modern ghosts of a horse-drawn scandal, Part 2
Eight men went to prison, the media gaze moved on, and colony life resumed. But the saga of mass rape in the Bolivian corner of our family of faith is far from over. According to the official version, seven Mennonite men drugged and raped more than 130 women and girls on the Manitoba Colony in…
Healing the Mennonite class divide
The recent coverage of three issues raises the delicate question of how we mainstream Mennonites relate to our more traditional Anabaptist cousins, especially when their troubles surface.
Boxing up the Old Colony Mennonites
In his July 8, 2013 editorial, Dick Benner considers “the trouble with labels.” He says that in our pluralistic society we tend to put people into boxes with a smug “now we know who you are.” This stereotyping, he says, “de-humanizes,” divides and tends to “self-righteousness.” I found it deeply ironic that the very same…
Ministry in a very different world
In 2009, when Dave and Margaret Penner first went to work among Low German-speaking Mennonites in Mexico, they encountered a “vacuum.”
Good things happening among Bolivia’s Old Colony Mennonites
Despite tragic reports of sexual assault, alcoholism and drug use among Old Colony Mennonite communities in Bolivia this past year, there are many good things happening there, which offer hope for a better future. That’s the opinion of Helen Funk, a Winnipeg-based Low German radio host for Family Life Network who spent two weeks on…
