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Winnipeg Free Press
an hour ago
- General
- Winnipeg Free Press
United Church of Canada marks 100 years
Turning 100 is a significant milestone for people — and for denominations. That's what the United Church of Canada did on June 10, this year. It was on that date a century ago that Canadian Methodists, Congregationalists and the Presbyterians came together to form the new denomination. A big reason for the merger was to reduce duplication of effort and resources; so many little towns and villages across the country had multiple churches from different denominations. There was also a desire for greater Christian unity and collaboration. It was a bold move that required each of the three groups to give something up to create the new entity. As Jocelyn Bell, editor of Broadview magazine put it: 'The United Church of Canada would never have existed unless each of the founding denominations agreed to let go of some cherished tradition, some notion of how things ought to be done. And it would never have taken root if each group hadn't believed that diverse approaches to faith strengthen the whole body of Christ.' Until the end of the 1960s, the new denomination enjoyed the fruits of that amalgamation through packed churches and Sunday schools. But by the end of that decade, as the idea of a Christian Canada began to wane and many baby boomers grew up and left the church, things began to shift for the United Church — as it did for other denominations. For the United Church, that meant going from a high of about one million members in the mid-1960s to just over 325,000 today. On any given Sunday, about 110,000 are at a church service. And along with the drop in membership came a wave of church closings. It has averaged about 54 a year of late, according to one estimate. If that rate continues, by 2070 there will be no United Church churches left in Canada. While many get stuck focusing on those grim statistics, it's easy to overlook how the United Church impacted Christianity in this country, paving the way for significant changes. For example, it was a leader when it came to involving women in pastoral ministry, ordaining Lydia Gruchy in 1936. In 1962 it adopted a more compassionate stance on divorce by noting it was sometimes a better choice than remaining unhappily married. It also was a leader in promoting peace when it welcomed U.S. draft dodgers during the Vietnam War. Other ways it showed leadership was by condemning apartheid in South Africa in the 1980s. Also in that decade, it was the first denomination to welcome LGBTTQ+ people into membership and as clergy — a decision that was widely criticized by many other church groups. The United Church was also a leader in responding to the terrible legacy of residential schools; it established a healing fund and, in 1998 and apologized for its role in the schools. The denomination also was a leader in responding to the HIV AIDs crisis, addressing climate change, and was active in ecumenical and interfaith dialogue. In these and other ways, such as addressing social justice issues like poverty, hunger and homelessness, Christians in Canada can be grateful for the United Church, and join it in celebrating its anniversary — and maybe they can also learn something from that denomination's experience 100 years ago. Things are different today than back then, of course; Canada is a much more diverse and secular country. But that same vision for increased cooperation, collaboration and unity may well be worth exploring as denominations and churches struggle with falling attendance and giving. Sundays Kevin Rollason's Sunday newsletter honouring and remembering lives well-lived in Manitoba. Maybe like those pioneers 100 years ago, denominational leaders can ask if we need five churches within 10 minutes driving distance of each other in most Canadian cities and towns. Do we need so many places of worship, seminaries and church-related social assistance and aid organizations? And not only that; do we even need so many denominations? Writing in the Canadian Society of Church History in 2020, Bruce Guenther noted there are over 300 Christian denominations in Canada today. There are historical, cultural and theological reasons for why each one came into being. But at a time when many are struggling to stay afloat, would it make sense to explore more collaboration or even mergers? Some will point to theological stances as a reason for why their denomination is unique or distinct and needs to continue in its present form. But the same objections were raised by some Methodists, Congregationalists and Presbyterians 100 years ago before the United Church was created. But they still did it. They still decided it was worth it to merge, and Canada was forever changed. Who are the new visionaries who will explore new ways to be the church in Canada, just like what happened 100 years ago? Maybe the United Church of Canada can once again lead the way. faith@ The Free Press is committed to covering faith in Manitoba. If you appreciate that coverage, help us do more! Your contribution of $10, $25 or more will allow us to deepen our reporting about faith in the province. Thanks! BECOME A FAITH JOURNALISM SUPPORTER John LonghurstFaith reporter John Longhurst has been writing for Winnipeg's faith pages since 2003. He also writes for Religion News Service in the U.S., and blogs about the media, marketing and communications at Making the News. Read full biography Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. 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Cision Canada
11 hours ago
- Politics
- Cision Canada
OCSTA Statement Regarding Provincial Supervision of School Boards
TORONTO, June 27, 2025 /CNW/ - The Ontario Catholic School Trustees' Association and the province's 29 Catholic District School Boards, share the government's commitment to good stewardship of resources, accountability and fiscal responsibility. While acknowledging the appointment of supervisors at four school boards, we were pleased to hear Minister Calandra's recognition that, "most boards across Ontario are doing the right thing." Building on recent productive conversations, we look forward to on-going discussions with Minister Calandra and Ministry of Education officials regarding the unique circumstances of certain school boards as well as, challenges associated with rising sick leave costs, special education and student transportation funding. As the locally elected representatives of the Catholic community, Catholic School Trustees remain united in their conviction to "place Christ and the teachings of the Catholic Church at the centre" of students' learning experiences.
Eyewitness News
a day ago
- Politics
- Eyewitness News
Burial of former Zambian president Lungu in limbo as court halts SA funeral proceedings
JOHANNESBURG - An extraordinary feud between the Zambian government and former President Edgar Lungu has again left a bitter taste for the late stateman's family, after the Pretoria High Court put the brakes on his funeral on Wednesday. Lungu died three weeks ago while receiving treatment at a South African health facility. Plans to repatriate his body back to his home country triggered a running battle between his family and the current Zambian administration over burial rights. Mourners were left waiting at the Cathedral of Christ the King in downtown Johannesburg while some of his family sat through the court proceedings that played out in Pretoria, leaving Lungu's remains in limbo for several hours. Lungu's family had previously announced it would independently repatriate the former head of state, despite an earlier decision by the Zambian government that it would spearhead the process and lead plans for a state funeral in the country. The 68-year-old's political party, the Patriotic Front, backed his family, adding that the political rivalry between Lungu and his successor, President Hakainde Hichilema, had muddied the waters. Lungu family lawyer, Neo Mashele, said: "We mean that the applicant, which is the Zambian government, intends to repatriate the late president's body to Zambia. The Lungu family is opposed to that. So what happened this morning is that the acting judge, President Ledwaba, said to us that the matter must be ventilated before a full court, which will comprise of three judges, by way of a special motion." The court ruled that his family would be allowed at the mortuary until the matter was heard in August. Other former Zambian presidents, including the country's first independent president, Kenneth Kaunda, and his successor, Frederick Chiluba, are buried at the Embassy Park Presidential Burial Site in Lusaka.
Boston Globe
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
In with the new at the ancient Giza pyramids
Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up The Grand Egyptian Museum. Anthony Flint Advertisement Touted as the largest archeological museum in the world, the project started way back in 2005, when the decision was made to decant some 100,000 artifacts from the cluttered, colonial-era Egyptian Museum in downtown Cairo to a roomy, state-of-the-art exhibition space on 120 acres next door to one of world's most visited ancient sites. The new curation, at nearly 900,000 square feet, twice the size of the Louvre, organizes the sarcophagi, statues, furnishings, and other treasures by chronology and theme — beginning thousands of years before the birth of Christ, and categorized under headings such as society, kinship, and belief. The new museum is also set to include items from King Tutankhamun's tomb, though the legendary golden funerary mask and gilded coffin is still back in the old museum at Tahir Square. Advertisement The newness of it all — contemporary architecture rising from the desert, far from the centuries-old chaos of Old Cairo — is immediately apparent upon alighting from a $5 Uber from downtown. It's a bit of a hike from the curb across an expansive plaza to a long row of dozens of turnstiles, installed in anticipation of the hoped-for 5 million annual visitors – though at the time of my visit, during the soft opening of 12 galleries in November of last year, I had them all to myself. The main entrance is marked by a tilted façade protrusion of stylized hieroglyphics and illuminated panels that mimic the shape of the ancient structures in the distance — and indeed, as readily becomes apparent, the triangle form is repeated throughout the complex. It's a theatrical start, as visitors pass by a 'hanging' elevated obelisk, and tuck under a little copycat pyramid that appears to be lifted up at the base. The Grand Egyptian Museum. Anthony Flint Once inside the cavernous atrium, after the all-important information desk, visitors confront the 36-foot-tall, 3,000-year-old statue of Ramses the Great, the infamous ruler of Egypt's Nineteenth Dynasty, which has been transferred from an outdoor location in Cairo. This is where the phones start to get whipped out in earnest. Extensive options for eating and drinking and shopping are available just after Ramses, including a spiffy Advertisement Then it's on to the four floors of the galleries, accessed either by a grand staircase or a slow-moving escalator. I chose to take the people-mover all the way to the top, for a stirring view of the Giza pyramids framed like a movie screen by giant windows, with soon-to-be-opened gardens in the foreground. I toggled between snaps of the mighty, mystical testaments of ancient civilization and news updates of what was going on back home, as I happened to visit the day after the US elections. Trying to stay focused, I descended to take in the exhibits, which does require significant museum stamina. Wisely, the curators have sprinkled in tasteful multimedia displays showing how the Giza complex was built over some 500 years, a contemporary diorama of what village life was like thousands of years ago, and a recreation of the chapel of Khnumhotep II, a chief associated with the Middle Kingdom pharaohs honored with elaborately decorated tombs south of the site down the Nile. Painted figures on the walls come to life in a virtual animation reminiscent of scenes from 'Night at the Museum.' Tourism is a huge part of Egypt's economy, with an estimated 15 million visitors last year. The modernization of the visitor experience at Giza is part of an ambition to double that number. The Grand Egyptian Museum. Anthony Flint Egypt is all about the future in other ways, too, right now. There's an incredible urban expansion underway, with skyscrapers, housing, new commercial areas, government offices, a convention center, and a monorail, all conjured out of the vast empty desert east of downtown Cairo. The new frontier, funded by China, the International Monetary Fund, and other sources, is designed for a growing population that can't be accommodated within the confines of the old metropolis. The new construction is mostly unoccupied at the moment, giving everything a ghost-city vibe, but the urban planners are convinced that will be temporary. Advertisement The Grand Egyptian Museum is very much a part of that in-with-the-new mindset. A Boston antecedent might be the Museum of Fine Arts, which was relocated from Back Bay to Huntington Avenue — at the time viewed as a desolate outpost. Skeptics may have questioned whether the museum could possibly make use of all that space way out west of the city, but just look at it now. A few weeks after my visit, a new tomb was discovered near Luxor and the Valley of the Kings – that of King Thutmose II, from the dynasty that reigned through two centuries between about 1550 BC and 1292 BC. It was the first royal Egyptian tomb to be discovered since King Tutankhamun's burial chamber was found in 1922. Just recently, another team revealed evidence of a hidden city and extensive infrastructure underground, beneath the pyramids. So who knows — if these teams of Indiana Jones-caliber archaeologists keep it up, there might even be a need for a new wing. Happily, there's plenty of space. Anthony Flint is a writer in Brookline. He can be reached at
The Hindu
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Hindu
Caravaggio: lover, murderer, artist
I have visited Italian painter Caravaggio in many cities — London, Florence, Rome, Venice, Paris. Now here he is, returning the visits, a guest in my hometown Bengaluru, where Mary Magdalene in Ecstasy is on display at the National Gallery of Modern Art. Caravaggio had carried the painting with him while escaping to Naples after murdering a man at a tennis court in Rome. This was in the 17th century, but the question, can you separate the art from the artist, continues to trouble us. Caravaggio painted people from the streets (upsetting people by using a prostitute as model for the Virgin Mary). But he is said to have painted the Bengaluru work (in a manner of speaking) from memory; the memory of a love affair with a prostitute, Lena. She is imagined with her head thrown back, hair loose and shoulder exposed, fingers clasped and lips parted in ecstasy. A teardrop has begun its journey. This, in response to a resurrected Christ revealing himself. It is a picture of abandonment and loss, too. Caravaggio's loss of his love. In combining the personal and the universal, Caravaggio pointed a way for all art. Everything we know about Caravaggio, born Michelangelo Merisi, comes from police reports and court records of the many crimes of the artist that French writer Stendhal called 'a wicked man'. Contemporaries writing a decade after his death — self-serving narratives, according to a recent biographer — give us some events. He died at 39, either murdered, or following malaria, of syphilis, or owing to lead poisoning from his paints. There are 70 or 89 or 106 paintings of his in existence — uncertainty hovered over his life, work and death. Painting the action Caravaggio was born in 1571, seven years after Marlowe, Shakespeare and Galileo. He was the first modern painter, creating the new world of art, literature, and science with his contemporaries. He was a pioneer of modern cinematography, too. Director Martin Scorsese has acknowledged his debt to the artist who chose to paint a moment not at the beginning or at the end of an action, but 'during the action... it was like modern staging in a film. It was as if we had just come in the middle of a scene and it was all happening', as he said. Caravaggio was his paintings. I first saw him at the National Gallery in London where his Supper at Emmaus draws you in, making you a participant in the tableau. Two disciples have walked into an inn with a man they befriended along the way. When the stranger blesses and breaks bread, they suddenly realise he is Christ. Caravaggio paints that moment of recognition. The foreshortening of the outstretched arms of one disciple and the perspective of the other about to rise abruptly make it look like a modern photograph (photography wasn't invented for another two centuries). There is a halo over Christ cast by the light from behind the innkeeper. A basket of fruits on the edge of the table is about to tip over. A split second has been eternalised. Over the years, I have spent hours sitting before the painting. Whenever my wife and I went to London, we joked that it was as much to see our son as to visit the painting. On our bucket list is a visit to every Caravaggio on display. It is a blessing that so many works are in churches, virtually free to view. Occasionally, you dropped a coin into a slot to light up the work as some are in dark niches. At Rome's Capitoline Museum, there is an unusual Caravaggio — later critics called it a 'genre painting' — The Fortune Teller, where a young man looks pleased to get his palm read by a girl. What he doesn't notice, and we do, is the girl removing his ring as she does so. Perfection of life or work? Caravaggio was unique. According to a biographer, he had the advantage of not having been taught, which meant he had nothing to unlearn. He had no studio in the conventional sense. He did not draw. He never established a workshop with assistants who painted the boring stuff, he had no circle of pupils. Yet he influenced every artist who followed. And possibly every viewer, too. It is impossible to stand outside his canvas and not feel the energy, the power and the passion within. It hits you with the force of a falling building or a charging horse. The Caravaggio Conundrum — how do we weigh an artist's accomplishment against his personal wickedness? — haunts us today as we contemplate the works of Roman Polanski, Woody Allen, and a host of others who provoked the cancel culture. As the poet Yeats wrote: The intellect of man is forced to choose/ perfection of the life, or of the work… It is a choice individuals have to make for themselves. The painting is on display at the National Gallery of Modern Art till July 6. The writer is a prominent journalist and author.
