|
Homeless man had friends
 | | Credit: Union Gospel Mission |
Julia Beazley, coordinator for Street Level, the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada's national roundtable on poverty and homelessness, organized and led a memorial service for Andre Hamel July 11. Hamel was a 51-year-old homeless man who had habitually sat outside the Bell Canada building in Ottawa with his dog Muff for over 10 years. The service, on the MacKenzie King Bridge, was attended both by Hamel's homeless friends and by office workers, who remembered Hamel's positive attitude, smiles and friendly conversation. Hamel is believed to have had two children and three sisters. He suffered a heart attack on his way to a Canada Day fireworks display with two volunteer outreach workers. A collection was taken for Muff, who now lives with another homeless man, Darryl Dempsey.
Sleeping with the homeless
Concerned Christians Canada (CCC) is inviting compassionate citizens, business leaders and politicians to participate in its second annual 'Night on the Street' on the steps of Calgary city hall, beginning July 25. The purpose is to push for affordable housing for Calgary's 4,000 homeless. CCC says two-thirds of the homeless have jobs. Some have two incomes, and some have children. Participants are asked to bring a sleeping bag and a candle. Food will be served to participants and the homeless.
Homeless in Iraq
Mennonite Central Committee, the relief and development arm of Mennonite churches in North America, is raising $2 million to assist the 2.8 million people who have been displaced from their homes within Iraq, mostly due to fear of violence. Many cannot return home because their homes have been damaged, have been occupied by other refugees or are in areas dominated by other cultural groups which will no longer welcome them. Another 2 million people have fled the country altogether. The aid will provide 20,000 relief kits, 62,000 blankets, 62,000 school kits, 12,000 newborn kits and 5,500 sewing kits by the end of the year.
Two for one
Two auxiliary bishops have been appointed to serve the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sault Ste-Marie in northern Ontario. Noel Simard was born in St-Aime des lacs, Quebec, in 1947 and ordained to the priesthood in 1972. He taught from 1972 to 1980, obtained a doctorate in theology from the Gregorian Pontifical University in Rome in 1984, served as a parish priest until 1988, was a professor in religious studies and ethics at the University of Sudbury and then became a professor of moral theology and bioethics at Saint Paul University in Ottawa. Brian Dunn was born in St. John's, Newfoundland in 1955 and was ordained in 1980. He has a doctorate from Saint Paul University in Ottawa, served as parish priest, Vice-Chancellor and Chancellor in the Diocese of Grand Falls and has been on the faculty at St. Peter's Seminary in London, Ontario since 2002. Both men will assist Bishop Jean-Louis Plouffe. The Diocese of Sault Ste-Marie has 97 diocesan priests, 26 religious order priests, 101 permanent deacons, and 194 religious Brothers and Sisters serving a Catholic population of 206,405 in 106 parishes and missions.
Continue article >>
|
Students play to learn
Label: Rise of Band, a computer-based video game invented by professors Alma Barranco-Mendoza and Kevin Schut and 24 students at Trinity Western University in Langley, BC was released June 26. Players assume control of independent music producers battling for popularity by discovering new bands, changing bands' names, giving singing lessons to their bands, booking concerts and staging publicity stunts. The students set up Bonus Marks Entertainment to market the game, but are also hoping the game will be picked up by a larger gaming company. The game was created as a learning exercise for business, computer science, music, art and communications students. The group hopes to produce a second game by summer 2010.
Kits can change students
Power to Change volunteers are assembling 35,000 'Real Life Kits' which will be distributed to students at 30 Canadian universities and colleges this fall. The kits consist of a Bible, a book (either Soul Cravings by Erwin McManus or The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel), an evangelistic tract, a highlighter pen and a laundry bag. Power to Change (formerly Campus Crusade for Christ Canada) is based in Langley, BC.
Closed for business
Christian Publications, which operated two bookstores in Calgary and one each in Edmonton and Kelowna, BC is shutting down all four stores this summer after three decades of operation. The stores blamed the shutdown on rising real estate costs, the rising Canadian dollar, big box stores such as Costco and WalMart selling the most popular Christian titles, organizations such as Willow Creek directly selling their own curricula, and digital downloading undercutting sales of Christian music. -- City Light News
They believe in tongues
Wycliffe Bible Translators of Canada and the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada (PAOC) have signed an agreement to work jointly on Bible translation projects. Existing Wycliffe missionaries who are PAOC members will now be recognized as PAOC missionaries. More PAOC missionaries will be recruited for translation work, and PAOC will carry the main responsibility for helping them raise financial and prayer support. PAOC has also signed an agreement with Global PartnerLink (the fundraising division of Wycliffe) to raise money for as many Bible translation projects as it can over the next eight years. Wycliffe and other agencies hope to see the Bible translated into the remaining 2,250 languages in the world by the year 2025. -- City Light News
July 24/2008
| Keep us informed! CanadianChristianity.com is always interested in upcoming events, important milestones, unusual arts and entertainment, and significant personnel changes. If you want the Christian community to know about something important to you, send the information well in advance to: newsroom@CanadianChristianity.com.
|
|
