Volume 14, Number 19
Grebel takes the risk for its students
Conrad Grebel University College has long tried to keep a blend of first-year and returning upper-year students in its residence program, but this year the balancing act became more complicated when the University of Waterloo insisted Grebel reserve 100 percent of its residence beds for first-year students.
Grebel said no.
Why I didn’t ride a camel this summer
In the Middle East, the only places you will see camels are in the tourist areas and the only people who will give you a ride on a camel are those people whose job it is to separate rich tourists from their money.
I had the good fortune this summer to spend five weeks in the Middle East and I didn’t ride a camel once. I flew to Istanbul, Turkey, and worked my way—sans camel—overland to Cairo, Egypt, and then back home. Six countries, nine border crossings and seven different currencies. Travelling on foot or by bus, tour bus, ferry, car, private taxi, shared taxi, tram, cable car, but no camel.
Feds, province combine to fund new CMU science lab
One of CMU’s new dissecting microscopes provides students with a close-up view of a tiger beetle on the screen.
Canadian Mennonite University (CMU) students wanting to pursue a career in the field of science are one step closer to that goal thanks to a brand new, fully equipped science lab that was recently unveiled.
Media merger awaits denominational ratification
The merger of Mennonite Publishing Network (MPN), the publishing ministry of Mennonite Church Canada and MC U.S.A., and Third Way Media, a department of Mennonite Mission Network (MMN), was approved on Sept. 23 by the boards of MPN and MMN at a meeting in Pittsburgh, Pa.
A bleak picture of organized religion
I watched them to the very end, but Richard Dawkins was not in Agora’s list of credits, but he might as well have been.
‘Prayer always works’
Twila Lebold poses with Dr. Kumar, who performed liberation treatment to open blocked veins from her brain in an effort to relieve her MS symptoms. The controversial treatment is currently not available in Canada.
“Did the prayers work?” was Twila Lebold’s first question after her liberation treatment in India to relieve her multiple sclerosis (MS).
Census reforms will hurt Canada’s poor, claims Mennonite economics professor
Thiessen (left) and Johnson (right)
While Vic Thiessen, Mennonite Church Canada’s chief operating officer, says “executive staff . . .
Bolivian Mennonites support services for addictions, abuse
‘When the doors open, people will come,’ says Klaus Rempel, who is part of a committee developing a rehabilitation centre that will provide addiction treatment services for Bolivian men.
As the criminal investigation continues into allegations of gang rape in some Mennonite colonies in Bolivia, many local congregations see a need to reach out to people dealing with addictions, sexual abuse and violence against women.
Divinity detectives listen for the soul
These are golden days on the Prairies as summer melds into autumn. Everywhere the eye gazes, it touches on gold. Fields of grain, cut or standing, are pale gold. The dust of harvest glows rose-golden in the sun’s rays. The yellow-gold of changing leaves adds another hue. And in the ditches, yellow flowers contrast brightly with the dull gold grasses.
Forming pastors, together
A young adult in her last semester of college and considering pastoral ministry takes the initiative to invite each pastor in her community for coffee so that she can learn from their wisdom and experience.
A middle-aged man, well-established in his career, volunteers in a seniors home to test a new call to ministry.
Are they worth it?
Life insurance considers their jobs more dangerous than munitions workers. Their profession has the second-highest divorce rate. Fifteen hundred of them leave their jobs each month. Their work has a negative impact on their families. If they work less than 50 hours per week, their chances of termination increase by 35 percent. And the list goes on and on. Who are they? Pastors!
Discerning the ‘liturgical core’
With music being so much a part of the Mennonite DNA, is it any wonder that the spectre of a new hymnal brings some trepidation to the congregational scene?
