News & Views

" Seeking a healthy balance between self-care and care for others, we share time, energy, talents, wisdom, knowledge, skills, material goods, and our presence with one another in order that we may inspire, encourage, delight, comfort, and help one another."

In this section, we talk specifically of the balance between self-care and care for others. Where does that line get drawn for you and are you comfortable with where it is? Is there somewhere that it might be more healthy for you or helpful for others? If so, are there things you would consider doing in order to move the line closer to where you'd like it to be. 

 

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There was some good initial discussion yesterday around unpacking the statement "Everything happens for a reason" and its implications.  Anything to add?  What does that statement mean to you?  Is it positive? Does it give you hope? Or does it infuriate you?

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Beginning June 6th and running for six weeks, we'll be examining the VisionWorks (2009) document that was embraced by the congregation a year ago. Exploring how we interact with ourselves, each other, and the world and how our relationships can be supported, challenged, and enriched by the principles in our VisionWorks (2009) document, we'll engage in conversation here, on our Facebook page, and in person.  Join us as we  wrestle with our ideals and discern how to apply them as a community and as individuals.  Questions will be posted here regularly throughout the next few weeks!

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While in Brisbane, I was honoured to give the homily and preside at the Eucharist at St. Mary's in Exile with rebel priest, Peter Kennedy.  Here, Peter Kirkwood of Eureka Street, posts his interview with Kennedy and a reflection on his first year outside the embrace of the Catholic church.

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Over the past six weeks there has been a great deal of discussion about our Food Awareness Initiative. Earlier in the year you might have read several articles in the SaltShaker, perhaps you saw the brochure that was distributed at church last month, you may even have participated in the Q&A session following a Sunday morning service. All of these have prompted feedback. We wanted you to know that the board appreciates your input and takes it seriously. We've met several times to reflect on what we have heard. Time is a precious commodity. All of the board members are volunteers and finding time to engage in these types of discussions is never easy.  However we are committed to finding the direction that best reflects the values and the needs of this congregation. So, please stay engaged in this dialogue as we attempt to find this path.

Offered in love,

Moira French, on behalf of the Board

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World attention has been focused for some time on the Bilin community in the West Bank whose farmland was being walled off from them by the building of what they have called the "racial segregation wall" but that Israel calls a "security fence".  Ordered to redraw the line by the courts, the Israeli government has yet to do so.  Now, attention is increasing and fast as those opposed to the wall, Palestinians, Israelis, and others, have been painting themselves blue and drawing references to their plight from the blockbuster hit Avatar.

Read more Na'vi and Goliath

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After claiming that the absence, in the publication of the new study guide for immigrants, of reference to Canadian equality rights as they pertain to gays and lesbians was the result of an oversight , homophobic Immigration minister, Jason Kenney, is found to have personally wielded the red marker that struck sections on gay equality and marriage from early drafts.

More from The Globe and Mail

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Alerted to the Government's failure to pass Bill C-291 which would have led to the creation of a Refugee Appeal Division, I sent the following email to my MP, Dan McTeague (who voted in favour) with copies to Judy Sgro, Joe Volpe, and the Speaker of the House, Peter Milliken.  The Bill had reached its third and final reading in the house and, at the conclusion of the vote, the Speaker voted against it to break a tie.  Apparently, this is only the 12th time a speaker has had to break a tie in parliamentary history.

Please feel free to copy any portions of this text and forward a letter to your own MP about this deeply disappointing action on the part of those who had expressed support for this important bill.

Hi Dan,

I was absolutely stunned to read this morning that two liberals who were in the House yesterday, Judy Sgro and Joe Volpe, abstained from voting on the RAD Bill C-291 thereby allowing it to be defeated on its third reading.  It is unconscionable that the Government of Canada continues to deny refugees access to an appeal process, the absence of which has undoubtedly cost lives. I thought your party was aware of that and were taking action to ensure that the injustice was eradicated.  I am deeply saddened to see that it meant little to these politicians.

Mr. Milliken, as Speaker, may have taken the opportunity to vote according to conscience and not fashion, the rarity with which the Speaker must cast a vote serving to underscore the feebleness of the position he chose to take. Indeed, his words, "In this case", made very clear his recognition that he was making a choice rather than leaning on tradition.

Does the fact that this vote took place in a House reeling with accusations
of detainees being handed over to torture in Afghanistan not make it even
more incredible that it is now, willfully, refusing to offer asylum to thousands of others whose claims are denied by a single, overworked, bureaucrat and who have no optoin for appeal?  Should we not consider those who voted against or who abstained from this vote complicit in every "disappearance", torture, or death that happens to someone turned
away by our inadequate refugee process?  Are we not returning them to the exact fate we so loudly protest?  Where were Sgro's and Volpe's voices in this challenge?  Why did Sgro, Volpe remain silent? Why did Milliken choose not to exercise his right with conscience?

That the Speaker paused before the conclusion of the vote to offer holiday wishes is simply unbelievable.  I recognize the desire for merriment at this time of the year; however, that the Speaker's wishes were bracketed with a grave injustice is a symbolism that can't be overlooked.  Is nothing that happens in the world -- blight, death, rape, child labour, destruction of habitat, infant mortality, commodification of resources, the return of innocent men, women, and children to torture and potentially death --is none of this is more than an insignificant blip in the midst of which we must remember to keep ourselves merry?  Perhaps Sgro and Volpe were making their Christmas lists up instead of paying attention to the House' proceedings. 
 
I cannot express the depth of my dismay and horror at the indifference Sgro, Volpe, and the Speaker showed to the lives of so many who are at risk, and with the Speaker's particularly insensitive timing.  I am simply shocked and appalled.

 gretta

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This amazing buyers guide will help you determine whether the companies you support also support the people you support.  Put together by the Human Rights Campaign foundation in the States, an organization working toward achieving and maintaining rights for LGBTQ people across some of the most homophobic regions in North America, the guide indicates that despite tragic choices on the part of state legislatures, a very positive response to equality has been seen throughout the business sector.  But it's interesting to know that BestBuy scores 100% on the Corporate Equality Index whereas RadioShack only scores 40%.  Or that Dell is another shining example of support for the LGBTQ community, but Acer slumps way back at 58% on the CEI.

Take a look at the Buyer's Guide and make your choices as positive as possible.

The Human Rights Campaign Buyers Guide for 2010

Here's the criteria used to make the assessements, HRC's Corporate Equality Index

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As a signatory on the Earth Charter, we support the principles and aims it will be presenting at the Climate Change conference in Copenhagen in a few weeks. ECI brings together elements of climate change challenges that are often missed when discussions take place.  It isn't just science that will save the planet. Economics and justice play a huge role in creating a sustainable world.

If you'd like to participate in the youtube competition and show your support for the Earth Charter, click on this link, then "vote" in the top band across the video. When option boxes appear to the right, type ecinternational in the lower one. They have suggested we vote for the "Club of Rome" video by clicking on the thumbs up button, though you really should make sure you watch the other one, too. (Nothing happens to show you've voted but it's safer not to vote twice and potentially get ECI disqualified.)

"Youtoo" CAN make a difference!

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