Faith Today goes digital

Faith Today, a magazine of the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, is now available online beginning with the latest issue, which highlights the influence of Billy Graham's ministry in Canada. Readers can flip through the magazine online or save a copy to their computers to read offline later. In the future, this digital edition, including an archive of two years of past issues, will be available only to paying subscribers, but this first digital issue is available for anyone to try at no charge.

Scrolls Abegg many questions

Martin Abegg, professor of Dead Sea Scroll Studies at Trinity Western University in Langley, BC, is giving a public lecture July 16 at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) in Toronto. The ROM is currently hosting an exhibition on the scrolls called 'Dead Sea Scrolls -- Words that Changed the World.' Abegg's lecture, 'The Stories of the Toronto Dead Sea Scrolls,' will explore what the scrolls can teach about the ancients who wrote, collected, copied and studied them. The scrolls will be on exhibit at the ROM until January 3, 2010.

A visit to Kandahar

Karen Hamilton, general secretary of the Canadian Council of Churches, returned to Canada July 7 from a visit to Canadian Forces base in Kandahar, Afghanistan. While in Afghanistan, Hamilton visited with American, British and Australian chaplains, and with Canadian soldiers and Afghan children who have been injured by explosive devices. Hamilton also participated in a ramp ceremony for a Canadian soldier killed during the course of her visit to the conflict zone. Finally, she met with the Religious Officer of the Afghan National Army, who facilitated a tour of a reconstructed mosque and library.

Old funding falls short of new building

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Edmonton is trying to raise $15 million to finish construction of the new campus for St. Joseph Seminary and Newman Theological College in downtown Edmonton. The Archdiocese sold the former campus to the Alberta government two years ago to allow for the construction of Anthony Henday Drive around Edmonton. At that point, it was expected that the $42 million selling price would be enough to cover construction of the new campus. A Cornerstone of Faith fundraising campaign has been established to raise the needed money.

The next bishop will start with H

Richard Grecco has been named Roman Catholic Bishop of Charlottetown. He was born March 4, 1946 in St. Catharines, Ontario, and was ordained as a priest in 1973. He was named Auxiliary Bishop of London in 1997 and since 2002 has been an Auxiliary Bishop of Toronto. In Charlottetown, he is replacing J. Vernon Fougere, who is leaving office for health reasons. Fougere has been Bishop of Charlottetown since 1992. The Diocese of Charlottetown has 63,240 parishioners in 58 parishes and missions, served by 49 diocesan priests, three priests who are members of religious communities, one permanent deacon and 111 religious Sisters.

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He will have more power

A priest from the Archdiocese of Ottawa, Patrick Powers, will become the new general secretary of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops on March 1, 2010. He will succeed Mario Paquette, who will leave office after completing his second and final three-year mandate. Powers was born in Montreal, studied business at Sir George William University and worked as employment and personnel services manager for a major Canadian company before deciding to become a priest. He then earned a bachelor's degree in theology from Saint Paul University, Ottawa, and a licentiate in canon law from the Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome. He has served in a number of administrative roles in the Church and is currently Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Ottawa and rector of Notre Dame Cathedral Basilica.

Church takes Rim shot

The Commission for Justice and Peace of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops wrote to Lawrence Cannon, Minister of Foreign Affairs, on July 10 to protest the actions of the Canadian mining company Pacific Rim in El Salvador. According to the Catholic Church in El Salvador, Pacific Rim is using cyanide to extract silver and gold. The church says the cyanide will contaminate ground water in the central part of the country, damaging crops, livestock, fish and people. The church also charges that less than three per cent of the company's profits benefit the people and government of El Salvador.

Governments turf Redeemer University

The Canadian and Ontario governments have given $599,974 to Redeemer University College in Ancaster, Ontario, to replace the natural grass on Redeemer's soccer field with artificial turf and to install lights, bleachers and fencing. The field will be used by both the Christian university and the Ancaster Soccer Club, which will together raise the remaining $310,000 needed for the project.

Peace in the summer

Canadian Mennonite University in Winnipeg has established the Canadian School of Peacebuilding, which will offer the university's first summer classes this July. Instructors at this summer's school include Dave Dyck, Irma Fast Dueck and Janet Schmidt, all of Winnipeg; Babu Ayindo, an international peacebuilding consultant formerly connected with the Mindolo Ecumenical Foundation in Kenya and the Summer Peacebuilding Institute of Eastern Mennonite University in the US; and Piet Meiring, a professor at South Africa's University of Pretoria and a member of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission in the 1990s. While in Canada, Meiring has already met with Manitoba Justice Murray Sinclair, Chair of Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, as well as some First Nations leaders.

July 17/2009