Letters to the editor, April 2019

Letters are subject to editing.

A need for visionary leadership in the Church

I read with great interest the article by Bishop Mark in the January edition of the Anglican Journal (“Acknowledging the painful errors of our past,” p. 5). I want to express my deep appreciation to Bishop Mark for writing with such courage, insight and honesty. His word to the Church both as an institution and as individual followers of Jesus needs to be listened to and acted upon. The question, however, arises as to how one can actually stop the wheels of the Church machine when those in leadership have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo.

As a member of the Anglican Church for over 30 years, I have been part of numerous visioning exercises where, along with fellow congregants, I have been invited to imagine what the future church might look like. After reading Bishop Mark’s urgent appeal to “step back and begin the procedure of clean-up and hygiene,” I wonder what the impact would be in our communities if each church hung a large sign out front that simply read, “Temporarily closed for divine renovations.”

Steve Smith
Peterborough, Ont.

Congratulations Albert Dumont

I want to congratulate those concerned with the appointment of Albert Dumont as Algonquin spiritual teacher in residence at the cathedral in Ottawa.  In my opinion, this goes well beyond the now commonplace announcement that acknowledges “We are on the unceded lands of…” What a wonderfully creative way to move forward in our call to action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Pauline Barrett
Vancouver, B.C.

Print is nice but unnecessary

Re: “Reader would not read digital-only Journal” (Dec. 2018, p. 5), I have to respectfully disagree. The digital version is very nice. Easy to access—I signed up for news alerts and, voila, I have the February issue. And no paper to recycle.

Karen Whitelock
Saskatoon, Sask.