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Over the years, 16 bursaries have been donated to individuals or groups in Tanzania, Guyana, Uganda, Guatemala, Kenya, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Egypt, Cambodia, Algeria, Nepal and Belize.

In addition to the international bursaries, the church awards scholarships to help local Grade 12 students pay for their post-secondary education. The Youth Achievement Scholarship is unique, as it includes a spiritual component. Since 2008, the church has given scholarships to 50 students who are members of the church or reside in Pickering or Ajax. In 2022, scholarships were given to Teresa Bowman, Paige Ramjist, Katherine Scott and Lauren Smillie. These students demonstrated outstanding academic performance in addition to commendable leadership and service within their schools, communities and churches.

For more information about the scholarship program, including how to donate to it, call the church office at 905-839-7909.

Submitted by Marilyn Sinclair and Marg Jocz.

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The quilters – Jane Lancaster, Mary Courtney, Heather Kaufman, Valerie Beasley and Nancy Perrault – didn’t know the final purpose of the quilt when they began, but they had faith that it would unfold. They decided which square they would like to tackle, and Heather Kaufman, temporarily in Toronto, cut out the fabric, labelled the pieces and mailed packages to each quilter.

Many of the squares were difficult and most did not come with instructions! But the quilters persevered. They kept busy sewing at home and tried to forget that they were in a pandemic. Finally, in the summer of 2022, they met in the church basement and set out the squares in a pleasing but challenging pattern called “on point.” In September 2022, just as they were finishing the quilt, beloved parishioner Marlene Hayes became ill, and before they knew it, she was at Campbell House hospice.

Marlene died on Oct. 4, 2022, and the quilters realized that the quilt begun in faith during the pandemic should be donated to Campbell House in her memory.

Finally, the quilters came together to hand sew the two-and-a-half inch binding around the outside of the quilt. And just as mothers, grandmothers and neighbours have done in the past, they sat at a table and hand-sewed the binding. As they did, they shared stories and memories of Marlene. The quilt contains 18 biblical squares from the New and Old Testaments in addition to a maple leaf to represent our country.

Submitted by the Rev. Louise Dightam, assistant curate at Prince of Peace, Wasaga Beach.

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The 2021 census identified more than 100 religions practiced by Canadians. More than half of Canadians identified as Christian while more than one third reported having no religion. The proportion who identified as Muslim, Hindu or Sikh and others has doubled in the last 20 years.

The Rev. Roshni Jayawardena, the committee’s co-coordinator and one of the evening’s facilitators, said interfaith ministry can take many forms, from reaching out to neighbours of different faiths to partnering together to facilitate peace and hope.

“There are so many things that you can do,” she said. “It’s important to remember that those moments of interfaith connection shouldn’t be left to our bishops or clergy or a committee – they are things that we can all do, and I think things we’re called to do as Christians.”

The event preceded World Interfaith Harmony Week, held Feb. 1-7. The aim of the week is to promote harmony between all people regardless of their faith.

The panel discussion, moderated by the Rev. Canon John Hill, featured Dr. Jennifer Bright, a Buddhist, Imam Abdul Hai Patal, a Muslim, and Guru Fatha Singh Khalsa, a Sikh. Canon Hill, a member of the committee, asked the panel three questions and also asked questions sent in from the audience.

In answer to the question, “What is interfaith engagement and what are its goals?” Dr. Bright answered, “It’s a way of being together, of finding our commonality. There can be a lot of religious strife in the world, so I think it’s important for us to model what cooperation looks like, and that we can get along and we do great things together.”

Imam Patal said, “Interfaith dialogue is a way of engaging. It’s about exploring common ground and coming to an understanding, not to change one another but to share about other faiths so that we can respect each other and maintain harmony, peace and civility. We can enrich ourselves through knowledge of other faiths.”

Guru Khalsa added, “Interfaith dialogue hopefully is a place where we can drop our defences and agendas.”

The panelists were asked to identify the challenges and obstacles to interfaith engagement within their own faith tradition. Imam Patel said people of all faiths have been brought up to believe that certain actions will dilute their faith, or they will lose their own belief. “That is the fear that prevents many people from engaging in dialogue, and that’s what we need to overcome,” he said. “We need to learn about each other so that we can work together to solve problems in the community.” He said Canada is far ahead of many other countries when it comes to interfaith dialogue and is “a model for the world.”

Canon Hill asked the panelists to share their experiences of interfaith dialogue. Dr. Bright said it is important to talk about differences as well as areas in common. “Part of growing together means sometimes we need to be uncomfortable, sometimes we need to be challenged. Sometimes being uncomfortable can lead us into deeper relationship. We need to be comfortable being uncomfortable. If we’re going to solve the problems we have in common, we need to have deeper trust.”

In a question from the audience, the panelists were asked how a visitor could attend a place of worship without feeling like a trespasser and in a way that was respectful. Dr. Bright said people of faith were generally hospitable and want to share their religions. “I think any healthy congregation of any spiritual tradition is going to be welcoming and will accept you as you are. I can appreciate the fear and anxiety, but I think most of the time you’ll be okay. I think sometimes people are afraid to move out of their comfort zones. And we sometimes fear the unknown and are afraid of causing offence. But in my experience, people are quite forgiving.”

Due to terrorist and violent attacks on synagogues and mosques, Imam Patel said some places of worship have security measures in place and should be contacted ahead of time. Once arrangements have been made, visits are warm and friendly, he said.

Before the panel discussion, the audience was divided into small groups and asked to discuss the following questions: Why do interfaith ministry? What challenges present themselves? What have been your experiences of interfaith ministry, as an individual or in a group?

In answer to the first question, a participant said, “We won’t have peace in the world unless we have peace among the religions.” In answer to the second question, a person said, “Many hold different attitudes toward gender and it’s difficult to connect with groups that have restrictions.” In answer to the third question, a participant wished for an “exchange program” between a church and a mosque on a specific day. “This would make it less scary to visit out of the blue,” said the person.

At the end of the two-hour forum, the Rev. Jeff Nowers, the committee’s co-coordinator, thanked all those who participated. He said the event had “just scratched the tip of the iceberg” and indicated that another similar event would be held in the future.

For more information about interfaith ministry in the diocese, contact the Rev. Roshni Jayawardena and the Rev. Jeff Nowers at interfaith@toronto.anglican.ca.

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Recently I was told the story of a church in our diocese that once boasted 400 students in its church school program. I was impressed – who wouldn’t be? But then I asked, “Where are they now?” The response was less than predictable: “Good question.” Sometimes I think it’s really easy to look to the past through rose-coloured glasses without acknowledging that things weren’t always as straightforward as we would have liked them to be. Times change, after all, and so must the Church.

Terminal nostalgia can be a form of inertia that prevents churches from responding to their new reality. Now that we are on the other side of the pandemic, I want to encourage you not to look back. I actually want to plead with you not to yearn for the way things were. Yes, cling to the relationships and the good memories of church life, but also recognize that so much has changed in three short years. During that time, we’ve made some impressive changes to the way we do church that we might not have gotten around to in another 10 years without the pandemic.

Hybrid worship, online events, electronic giving, virtual Bible study and enhanced website design are just some aspects of our new reality. And while I can appreciate that online worship might not have the same solemn appeal as in-person worship, it is a gateway for seekers, the housebound or even the sluggish to stay connected and engaged in it. Thanks to technology, we can share the Anglican journey with more people than ever before. Those who choose to avoid this engagement opportunity do so at their peril.

So too has the pandemic led to the proliferation of online giving. FaithWorks has seen a five-fold increase in the number of gifts via its website – prompted by either direct mail (traditional) or e-newsletter (recent). While newsprint is still an important way that we stay connected with one important demographic, email and social media allow us to connect with another. As more of our commerce becomes cashless, it is only a matter of time before tap-to-give kiosks replace the offertory plate itself.

I am heartened by the fact that the Anglican family remained steadfast in its generosity throughout the pandemic. For nearly 20 years with the diocese, I have had a front row seat on acts of generosity, and I never have to doubt that we will rise to any challenge and respond with enthusiasm and energy.

As we emerge from the testing experience of being disconnected from corporate worship, let us cling to those things that undoubtably define us: our music, common prayer, an abiding commitment to social justice and outreach, hospitality and inclusion. Let us also embrace those opportunities to cast the net wider through technology, engagement with young people, new leadership, the welcoming of seekers, and renewed conversations about mission and generosity.

With recent discussions about declining church membership and participation in faith communities, there is a temptation to allow fate to take its course and become a self-fulfilling prophesy. Contraction is taking place, but it need not be the final story. The lessons from the pandemic might be a lifeline that has forced us to innovate in ways that weren’t even on our radar screens. So, while there is pain in transition, there is always hope.

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“Once you pave it over, you never get it back,” says the Rev. Barbara Russell, deacon at St. George, Grafton, a member of the Diocesan Social Justice & Advocacy Committee, and a retired farmer. She sees the loss of prime agricultural land as a direct threat to rural communities and a weakening of Ontario’s ability to feed its people.

According to the 2016 Census of Agriculture, Ontario was losing 175 acres of farmland every day. By 2021, this figure had jumped to 319 acres a day. Peggy Brekveld, president of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture, calls this rate of farmland loss “simply not sustainable if we hope to have any kind of food sovereignty or independence in Ontario.” Meanwhile, Ontario has already lost over 70 per cent of its wetlands, 80 per cent of its forests, and 98 per cent of its grasslands. More than 200 plant and animal species are at risk in Ontario, largely due to loss of habitat. Yet the passage of Bill 23 and the provincial government’s highway building plans mean that the loss of farmland and wildlife habitat in southern Ontario is just ramping up.

Called to care

The call to care for the earth is one of the earliest commandments given by God to humanity in scripture. While for much of our history humankind has done a spectacularly bad job of honoring this command, more recently, Christians and others have been reawakened to the need to respect and sustain the life of the earth. It has been enshrined as the Fifth Mark of Mission of the Anglican Communion and, since 2013, incorporated into the baptismal vows of the Anglican Church of Canada. Our diocese has also recognized creation care as one of our leading justice priorities.

That’s why our diocese has been vocal in advocating for the preservation of the Greenbelt from development, including speaking out against the proposed Highway 413 and Bradford Bypass. We have incorporated our concerns into our provincial pre-budget submissions, official submissions on Bill 23, and advocacy letters. We were among 50 faith leaders and organizations who signed an open letter from the David Suzuki Foundation protesting the construction of Highway 413. At the local level, Anglicans across our diocese have joined protests against Greenbelt development, and written, called, and visited with their MPPs to express their concerns.

Another dimension of concern is that local First Nations have not been adequately consulted about the impacts of Greenbelt development. Days before Bill 23 became law, the Chiefs of Ontario released a statement calling it “unacceptable and an abuse of power” for the Ford government to change how development projects in Ontario are approved, without engaging First Nations. Individual chiefs, including Chief Kelly LaRocca of the Mississaugas of the Scugog First Nation and Chief Stacey LaForme of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, have also raised their concerns. “We are trying to build right relations with our neighbours, the Mississaugas of Scugog Island,” says the Rev. Ruthanne Ward, incumbent of Ascension, Port Perry. “If we as Anglicans are truly committed to reconciliation with Indigenous peoples, that means recognizing their inherent, treaty, and legislative rights to be properly consulted about development within their territories. The actions of this government take us in the opposite direction.”

Stress on environment

The Greenbelt protects 721,000 acres of wildlife habitat (including habitat for 78 species at risk) and 750,000 acres of farmland. The health of its watersheds also affects the drinking water of over seven million Canadians. More than that, it helps mitigate the effects of climate change.  Wetlands absorb rainwater, mitigate flooding during extreme weather events, and help to filter out pollutants. Trees and other vegetation lower ambient temperatures and absorb carbon dioxide. These “ecosystem services” have an estimated value of $3.2 billion per year and could become even more valuable as the effects of climate change continue to grow.

Paving over the Greenbelt to create mega-highways not only does away with those benefits but multiplies the environmental stressors. Highway 413 alone is estimated to add more than 17 tonnes of carbon emissions by 2050 – when Canada will already be hard-pressed to reach the goal of carbon neutrality by the same date. It is also estimated to add at least $1 billion in costs related to air pollution. Ontario members of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE) have spoken out against the highway proposal, citing the greater risk of respiratory illness and mortality in communities along major highways due to air pollution. Paved surfaces, unlike those covered by vegetation, increase runoff, leading to increased flooding and water pollution. Moreover, the creation of a new highway is associated with increased urban sprawl along its route, creating yet another wave of pressure on the threatened Greenbelt.

Urban and transportation planners have found that the long-term impact of highway building on reducing traffic congestion is minimal. Indeed, studies have found the opposite is true: traffic numbers tend to increase as more lanes of highway are created, following a phenomenon called “induced demand.” Thus, while the positive impacts of creating new mega-highways are short-lived, the negative ones – reduced farmland and wildlife habitat, increased air and water pollution, increased carbon emissions and greater vulnerability to climate change impacts – will continue to be felt for generations to come.

Our welfare as the people of this province – our food, our water, our health and our resiliency in the face of climate change – is inextricably bound up with the health of the land on which we live and the creatures with whom we share it. As Romans 8:19 reminds us, “the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God.” As children of God, charged to care for God’s creation, let us continue to make our voices heard.

To learn more about advocacy to protect the Greenbelt, visit the Creation Care webpage on the diocese’s website, www.toronto.anglican.ca.

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That’s right: barrelling along the U.S. interstate en route to visit friends in Kentucky last fall, every 30 or 40 miles an overhead sign assured drivers they could pull off the highway to designated areas and safely catch up on their texts or send one.

I first heard the term “screen addiction” from a favourite author, Wendell Berry, a Kentucky farmer, author and critic of modern society. Those highway signs underscored the grim reality of this modern addiction: some people are willing to risk their lives—and the lives of others— as they drive because they can’t miss what that buzz, beep or ding on their phone might mean.

Can’t miss—or refuse to miss?

How the world has changed! The culture of a single phone on a table or wall of a family home ringing only when a person called to talk now seems like ancient history. Nowadays almost all of us (including me) carry our cell phones with us all day and keep them handy at night. It’s not just our phones that demand our constant attention. A vast onslaught of social media and other online information and messages barrages us 24/7. We are well into the age of distraction.

Do we have to be? What is behind the fact that most of us allow our lives to be shaped by technology and its manifold gadgets and pressures, this drive to stay constantly in touch?

Some of it, I feel, stems from another addiction, workaholism, the belief that we need to be productive and hard-working nearly all the time to feel good about ourselves and respected by others. A modern T-shirt says: “Jesus is coming. Look busy!” Funny? Maybe not. Maybe a slower, more “unplugged” life can be a richer one.

The fact is, we don’t have to be subservient to our phones, to social media and to other technological devices. Feeling distracted and unsettled has, of course, long been a challenge for humankind. In his classic book The Sabbath, published in 1951, Rabbi Abraham Heschel notes that the technological accomplishments we’ve achieved in some ways amount to defeats in terms of improving the human condition. As he says, “we have fallen victims to the work of our hands; it is as if the forces we had conquered have conquered us.”

How do we unravel ourselves from this intense web of technological pressures, from “hurry sickness”? It could start with intention: deciding we want to live a slower, simpler life. By accepting that we deserve to rest from everything, especially from that which separates us from life in the Spirit. We can start by enacting “no-go” spaces and times for our phones and from social media.

Our faith has long affirmed the concept of the Sabbath as a spiritual practice that can awaken in us a deeper realization of who God is, enabling us to savour God’s spirit through entering into the holy present – a time of stillness and peace. Sabbath need not be limited to just one day of the week, but rather invites us into a mindset of letting go, of reflecting deeply about life and where we are going on our path through life.

Theologian Jurgen Moltmann ponders the moments when our souls rest in God in his book The Spirit of Life, noting “if we become one with ourselves, the Shekinah (presence of God) comes to rest.” A life of relentless activity and distraction makes it harder, if not impossible, to attain this.

It’s worth noting that some of the most significant times in the life of Jesus occurred when he “unplugged,” that is, when he went off alone to pray in a garden, in the desert or elsewhere. Some today might say Jesus was “doing nothing.” Yet Jesus’ solitude was essential to his intimacy with God. He invites us to join him in a deeper connection to God.

Jesus also encouraged the disciples, after he had gone out to do ministry, to separate from the people following them: “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while” (Mark 6:30-32). In the current context, he likely would have added: “Make sure you’ve turned off your phones. No checking your email, Facebook or Instagram either.”

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According to the CBC, Mr. Richard and his family had found their way to Canada from Haiti over a year ago. But because of federal and provincial delays in getting work permits and health coverage, his wife and one-year-old son returned to relatives in the U.S., again via Roxham Road. But Roxham Road did not work this time in late December. Knowing he was lost and freezing to death, he called his wife to say, “I love you,” and “Goodbye.”

We ask two questions. First, why do people take such huge risks? Whether it is the family of Syrian two-year-old Alan Kurdi, who washed up on the shore of a Greek beach in 2015, or the Patel family of four, who froze to death near the U.S. border in Manitoba last January, what drives people to take such life and death risks? Intuitively, we might know the reasons; they want for their children what we have: health, safety, security and education – in short, hope for a future. These are migrants. And then there are refugees. The difference between migrants and refugees is that refugees can’t go home. Refugees have been driven out. The UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) estimates that global forced displacement reached 103 million people by the middle of last year; this includes more than 32 million refugees. Families like the Richards, Kurdis and Patels leave their homes for a myriad of reasons. Refugees are driven out and flee for their lives. It doesn’t take a clairvoyant to see that the global refugee crisis is only going to deepen.

Second, individuals and families seeking hope and a home in Canada take such risks to leave because of frustration with the Canadian immigration procedures. The bureaucracy in Canada seems not only unjust but deathly slow. As of last September, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) reported more than 900,000 refugees are in the backlog. It seems that the IRCC is critically under-resourced.

In the midst of this, it is mystifying why the IRCC has made things more difficult for Sponsorship Agreement Holders (SAH) or SAH-organizations who are authorized to resettle overseas refugees. The IRCC has just laid out new and detailed eligibility criteria: all Sponsorship Agreement Holders must be able to demonstrate that they can monitor their caseloads, prove financial viability, be properly trained, and have a detailed operations structure, among other things. We would agree that such accountability is essential when dealing with the globe’s most vulnerable people. Yet we are perturbed to read that such regulations are forcing smaller Sponsorship Agreement Holders to shut down.

In particular, a Jan. 17 article in The Toronto Star alarmed Anglicans in the Diocese of Toronto when it pictured Bishop Anna Greenwood-Lee of the Diocese of British Columbia. Bishop Greenwood-Lee is concluding her diocese’s status as a Sponsorship Agreement Holder, citing the heavy bureaucracy of the IRCC’s new rules. Anglicans of the Diocese of Toronto have asked, “Well, what about us? We know we have a robust sponsorship commitment. Are we having to close down our work, too?” The answer is no. The Anglican United Refugee Alliance (AURA) can manage the new IRCC requirements. In our diocese, churches sponsoring refugees are supported by AURA. AURA has already submitted all the required documentation to the IRCC. So in our diocese, there is no need for concern.

AURA is the go-to organization for assisting Diocese of Toronto churches in our ministry of sponsoring the world’s refugees, as we are called to do by Jesus’ commandments to love our neighbour and welcome the stranger. AURA has a full-time operations director, a full-time sponsorship director, and a part-time sponsorship assistant. Further, AURA has an active working board of eight directors. Last year, AURA worked with more than 750 people in 50 Anglican parishes and 84 active sponsor groups to welcome 323 refugees to Canada. Moreover, these new residents were properly supported, cared for, and loved. The IRCC continues to recognize AURA’s competency and increases annually the number of sponsorships we can hold. AURA’s board and staff are currently conducting a review of our policies and procedures to increase our capacity.

With climate change gripping the planet and war seizing nations, the need for increased Sponsorship Agreement Holders is here, but clear oversight, monitoring and supervision are a necessity. Canada needs to think hard about how it can increase the capacity of SAHs. It needs to welcome refugees in a timely way. And AURA is thinking about how we can support smaller SAHs. We need to continue to work with the IRCC to increase the Canadian capacity to welcome refugees safely to a new home.

The Rev. Stephen Drakeford, a retired priest of the Diocese of Toronto, is co-chair of AURA’s board of directors. To learn more or get involved, visit AURA’s website, auraforrefugees.org.

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