February 2012
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ANGLICAN JOURNAL Inspiring the faithful since 1875 vol. 138 no. 2 • february 2012 VIANNEY CARRIERE Father Michael Lapsley Healing without The war on poverty hands When a letter bomb changed his life, What is the impact of our engagement? Fr. Michael Lapsley ART BABYCH found his true calling “When people are getting hurt, it’s incumbent upon us to stand strong for them and to speak for them,” says Ottawa’s Bishop John Chapman (above). MARITES N. SISON DIANA SWIFT mittee for reducing child and Advocates are calling for SYSTEMIC CHANGES Staff writer staff writer family poverty in this country. measures to expand poverty In Vancouver, the Rev. N ANGLICAN priest and HERE WILL always It urged Ottawa to support reduction targets to single Margaret Marquardt, co- A social justice activist be poor people in broad systemic measures adults, not just families and chair of the eco-justice from South Africa has urged “T the land,” says the to improve living standards children. unit of the diocese of New faith communities in Canada book of Deuteronomy, urging for millions of impoverished Across Canada, committed Westminster, is part of a to “seize the moment” and believers to be open-handed Canadians. Anglicans are engaging the mixed-membership organiza- take an active part in the toward the needy, and much In the meantime, reports poverty issue at many levels tion aiming to reduce long public hearings of the Indian of Christ’s ministry was continue to document and in many ways. Increasing- term the overall conditions Residential Schools Truth and focused on the disadvantaged growing poverty and income ly, they are asking for sweep- that foster poverty. “With the Reconciliation Commission. and dispossessed. inequality. About one in 10 ing forward-looking measures approaches taken so far, we The experience will be Mindful of that, in Janu- Canadians lives in poverty that will alleviate the root are not changing the status transformative and “life-giv- ary 2011, the primate of the and one in four indigenous causes of poverty in the years quo,” she says. “People are ing,” says Fr. Michael Lapsley, Anglican Church of Canada children lives below the to come. Others are continu- getting poorer and more executive director of the Insti- and the national bishop of the poverty line. The income ing with traditional boots- desperate, so we are focus- tute for Healing of Memories Evangelical Lutheran Church gap between our wealthiest on-the ground charitable ing not on the old charitable (HOM) in Cape Town. in Canada sent a letter asking citizens and our poorest has work—soup kitchens, shelters, model of food and clothing Acknowledgment is “a the federal government to widened to a ratio of 10 (times drop-in centres, food banks giveaways but on making key first step to healing,” adopt the recommendations the income) to one, from eight and clothing giveaways—to systemic changes.” says Lapsley, who knows of a House of Commons com- to one before the mid-1990s. help the needy now. see BUILDING, p. 3 personally about facing “the horror of what happened” and moving from being a victim to becoming a “victor.” I N S I D E In 1990, while he was living in exile in Zimbabwe, a letter B.C. priest explores bomb sandwiched between religious magazines blew up Soul Rider spirituality of snowboarding in his face. Lapsley lost both his hands, the sight in one eye At these moments, you are completely What he found could represent a new and a significant amount of focused on your riding, aware of every nu- direction for the church and religion in the hearing. ance of the snow and your board, and almost 21st century. To this day, he insists the detached, as if the board is guiding itself and Elliot, a 40-something native of London, experience was redemptive. Marks of you are just a passenger. Time stops. England, and canon at St. Andrew’s Anglican “I was prayed for. I was loved. Mission contest Church in Trail, B.C., is possibly the first per- I was supported,” he told the 6 COLIN PAYNE son ever to complete a PhD in snowboarding. Anglican Journal, adding that winners His thesis, entitled “Soul Riding and the he learned that to get beyond HE REV. CANON Neil Elliot has been Spirituality of Snowboarding,” was recently ac- mere survival, you have to Tsnowboarding for about as long as he has cepted by Kingston University, London. In his transform pain into compas- Estate Planning been an Anglican priest. Along the way, his dissertation, Elliot seeks to discover if people sion “for others who travel 7 What you should two callings merged, leading him on a search find spirituality through the popular sport, and similar journeys.” know for the spirituality of snowboarding. see indication, p. 9 see ALL WANTED, p. 13 NEWS BRIEFS PEOPLE HATS FOR THE HOMELESS Teenage boys contentedly knit- became interim priest-in-charge ting? Absolutely, when the well-being at Toronto’s St. Nicholas Church, of homeless people in chilly Winnipeg Birch Cliff. is at stake. He will take up the position in In December, four boys and three Uruguay, a country of 3.5 mil- girls from Miles Macdonnell Collegiate lion people, after Bishop Miguel Institute delivered more than 250 cozy Tamayo Zaldívar retires in June. hand-knit woollen toques to the Siloam He will stay on at St. Nicholas until Mission, an urban Christian shelter. a new incumbent is found. “We spent the past year knitting the Pollesel, who speaks flu- hats in our spare time at home,” says ent Spanish, has visited this Giezi Arevalo, 18, who taught the poster-country for Latin American others in the group to knit. “It’s stress- democracy several times but has relieving and maybe a bit addictive.“ not lived there. Based in the port Each knitter spent about 72 hours ALI SYmons city of Montevideo, the diocese has making hats. The group also knit The Ven. Dr. Michael Pollesel, right, with solid ties to other denominations. toques this year to help the Red Cross Archbishop Fred Hiltz in Cuba, Feb. 2011 “All churches work very well ecu- raise relief money for the victims of the menically, and interfaith activity is Japanese tsunami. strong as well,” says Pollesel. “But The knitting circle, called Esper- POLLESEL ELECTED BISHOP the country is very secular, with anza (Spanish for “hope”), purchased OF URUGUAY even the Roman Catholic Church $600 worth of wool and $200 worth of The Ven. Dr. Michael Pollesel, claiming only about three or four knitting looms and other supplies with former general secretary of the per cent of the population as a youth grant from United Way. The Anglican Church of Canada, has regular attenders.” students hope to keep the program been elected Bishop of Uruguay by The diocese currently has female alive at the school after they graduate the diocesan synod of that country. deacons and wants to proceed with this spring from its international bac- The election has still to be the ordination of women priests, VITALY TITov & MARIA SidelnikovA calaureate program. —Diana Swift approved by the province of the but the province of the Southern Southern Cone, whose house of Cone has not approved this step. bishops meets in May 2012. “I ex- “I’m excited about the possibili- pect the consecration would follow ties that this new challenge brings within the next month after that,” to me at this stage in my life and I PWRDF RECEIVES MATERNAL says Pollesel, who after resigning ask for your prayers,” says Bishop- HEALTH FUNDING as general secretary last summer, elect Pollesel. —D.S. The Canadian International De- velopment Agency (CIDA) will be contributing $452,147 to the Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund’s (PWRDF) maternal and child health CANADIAN APPOINTED work in Bangladesh. The Rev. Dr. Grant LeMarquand, The funding will be received over ZAidA BASTOS a graduate of Wycliffe College in three years as part of the Muskoka A midwife training event is conducted by a Toronto, has been appointed assistant Initiative on Maternal, Newborn and PWRDF partner in Bangladesh. bishop for the Horn of Africa, within Child Health. “We are very pleased to the diocese of North Africa and the continue our decades-long relationship PWRDF will work with long-term Horn of Africa. with CIDA,” says Zaida Bastos, CIDA partner UBINIG to implement this pro- A Canadian, LeMarquand is current- program coordinator for PWRDF. gram. UBINIG is the Bangla acronym ly full professor of biblical studies and The program will train 650 mid- for Policy Research for Development mission at Trinity School for Ministry wives who will work with 63,000 Alternative, an advocacy organization in Ambridge, Penn. mothers and 94,500 children in 130 responsible for setting up one of the In announcing LeMarquand’s villages in Bangladesh. The midwives biggest community seed banks in the appointment on Dec. 8, Archbishop will provide education as well as pre- world. Farida Akhtar, one of the found- Mouneer Anis, primate of the province and post-natal care. “These villages ers, is a former member of PWRDF’s of the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem COURTESY OF TRINITY SCHOOL FOR MINISTRY currently do not have health clinics board of directors. and the Middle East and bishop of the The Rev. Dr. Grant LeMarquand or trained health workers,” Bastos For more information, go to: diocese of Egypt, described LeMar- explains. “Trained midwives who can http://pwrdf.org/2011/pwrdf- quand as “very committed to mission, Cairo on Apr. 25, 2012; his installation provide education about health issues receives-government-of-canada- evangelism and ecumenical relations.” will take place on Oct.