Full Stories - September 2006
Scarboro Web Site significantly Overhauled (layout, pictures, etc)
Significant revisions have been made to this web site, including the following aspects:
- New Layout was introduced so more of the contents of each page can be viewed when page opens. This has been achieved by reducing the top segment (logo, pictures, top menu) and the left menu.
- Left menu was revised by replacing the sub-sections with a drop-down menu.
- Pictures at the top: new pictures have replaced the ones used for long time. Now 4-5 new sets of four pictures each have been added to the various Sections (more is to come). Further, different sets of pictures show up randomly when the page is re-visited or refreshed. Please try it out.
- SFM Search has been added to search within this Web Site only. After finding the various hits (in a Google manner), click on the "Cached" at the end of each find – this helps to locate the searched word(s) highlighted in colour.
New Sections devoted to SFM Priests and Lay Missioners
Two new Sections have been set up for SFM Priests and Lay Missioners, providing information about becoming a Scarboro Priest and Lay Missioner including discernment, application process and Faq's. Visit SFM Priests and Lay Missioners.
Lay Missioners Gathering (July 30 – Aug. 11, 2006)
In 1974, the Scarboro Foreign Mission Society began to accept laity to serve with its priest members in cross-cultural mission. At present we are 23 lay missioners; five serving here in Canada and eighteen serving overseas in Africa, Brazil, China, Ecuador, Guyana and Thailand. For two weeks, this past August, some 21 of our 23 lay missioners assembled here at Scarboro. Many missioners had never met. The gathering was an opportunity to meet each other and to meet priest members, home on holiday as well as residents here. It was an opportunity to share our stories. It was a time of spiritual bonding, a time for laughter and tears, a time for community and a time for consensus decision making. It was thanksgiving. Such diversity and so many gifts! It was a blessed two weeks. The facilitators, Sister Frances O'Brien and Barbara Baker were organized, creative and intuitive. They kept us on track allowing the Spirit-filled proceedings to flow
The lay missioners have chosen their leadership team. In the spring 2007, Kate O'Donnell will become the new coordinator. Kate is originally from St. Catharine's Diocese and has been in mission in New Amsterdam, Guyana. The co-coordinator will be Mary Olenick from the Archdiocese of Winnipeg. She has been working in the Diocese of Mzuzu in Malawi. Both Kate and Mary have returned to their mission placements to bring closure prior to their orientation to the lay mission office. Both Kate and Mary are enthusiastic, organized, compassionate and very capable. We congratulate them. The present coordinators of the lay missioners, John and Jean MacInnis, will complete their term of five years in the lay mission office in the spring of 2007.
View pictures from the Mass and BBQ of the Scarboro Reunion held on August 6th.
Story and Photos from Scarboro Reunion (August 6, 2006)
This was an unusual gathering of Scarboro priests and many Lay Missioners, past and present. The Lay Missioners were in the middle of their 2-week general meeting planning for their future. The day began with Mass celebrated by Fr. Frank Hegel, followed by BBQ lunch that was enjoyed outdoors under several tents put up behind the kitchen area. View pictures in the Photo Gallery
Magazine Subscription and Materials now available Online
New subscription and renewal to the Scarboro Missions Magazine can now be ordered online – as well as SFM materials (cards, posters, etc.). They can also be paid by credit card via PayPal, a trusted organization that processes Scarboro Missions' transactions. Visit SFM Products
LAY MISSION OFFICE NEWS
Scarboro's Mission Preparation Program
What makes a person leave family, friends, home and all things familiar to walk with God into the unknown? Program Associate, Sharon Willan, unravels Scarboro Mission's preparation program.
The 2006 Lay Missioners – from left, Gwen and Michael Westwell, Sr. Sylvia Obrigewitach, Miriam Wheeler, Anne and Glenn Harty.
So, how does this transformation occur? Each January, new candidates take part in Scarboro Missions' four-month lay preparation program in the hope of going overseas for a three-year term. The six candidates, Anne and Glenn Harty, Gwen and Michael Westwell, Miriam Wheeler and Sr. Sylvia Obrigewitsch have participated in all components of the preparation program. During the opening prayer our six women and men were reminded that that they carried blessing seeds from God and how they lived determined the fruits of each seed. They were told that they would continue to walk the four paths of wonder, emptiness, making and coming home. On the path of wonder we marvel at the many gifts of creation which God has given our cosmos. The gift of caring is born in each of us. On the path of emptiness, the pain and suffering of individuals and all creatures, even the earth itself is imprinted on our hearts. The gift of learning is born. On the path of making, all good ideas, thoughts, kindnesses, and loving actions create a better world. And on the path of coming home, being the voice of the voiceless is most important. The gifts of caring and learning grow and blossom. Our Candidates brought each of these gifts with them and the program helped to hone and enhance their caring and learning.
Spirituality is a component that runs through the program like a multi-coloured thread. A variety of spiritual reading are offered to the candidates to assist deepening their spirituality. Each week prayerful discussion of aspects of spirituality and how this affects our lives occurs. The program associate, coordinator and Scarboro priests participate offering their deep insights and significance for overseas mission. Candidates take turns preparing morning prayer for a week at a time. This year we were privileged to have a variety of prayer forms including community silent meditation, chants, walking prayer, and a taste of Jewish symbolism and prayer.
As well a day is spent looking at the Scarboro spiritual charism. Near the end of the four months, Denis Dancause provides a two day retreat-like quiet time deepening insights around living simply and prayer. Three one day retreats and an eight day Franciscan retreat round off this important aspect of our lives.
The program opens with a week of self expression and learning. Alex Campbell who has come to the preparation program for at least the last ten years offered his expertise explaining the intricacies of the Myers Briggs. During this week, our Candidates learned how to make use of this knowledge in team building and of course in conflict situations.
Social Justice is one component of the program and is offered by a number of guests at various times throughout the four months. We are privileged to have Michel Coté present the cycle of social analysis during a four day intensive workshop. Scarboro's Karen Van Loon offers her expertise during a two day workshop to present the effects of globalization, world band and the Intermonetary Fund on the poor of the world. She focuses on the countries in which each of our Candidates will mission. This year Joy Kennedy from Kairos offered two days of the ecological effects of progress on our planet. Two days were spent looking at social documents of the Church with a focus on water. The path of emptiness is walked during this time as the all the pain and suffering of our planet comes to the fore. However, each presenter offered lights of hope and ways to be voices of the voiceless and thus helped our people to find ways to walk the path of coming home.
Traveling across cultures brings it joys as well as its pain and frustrations. Duncan Westwood, Psychologist and Spiritual Director at the International Missionary Health Institute provided great insights into cultural adaptability, personal resiliency, trauma on mission and the all important spiritual, emotional and physical wellness on mission. Duncan counsels missioners from a variety of sending organizations offering pre and post departure sessions.
Father Daveid Warren, sfm offered his expertise during several days on Missiology and culture. Our Candidates also had the opportunity to visit several places of worship: Buddhist, Sikh, and Hindu Temples, and a Moslem Mosque.
As you can see the program is intensive and encompassing. We ended with a closing prayer in which the new missioners thanked each other and the team for the gifts they had received during the program. These gifts, a blessing, and commitment to pray for each other overseas had been prepared in written form during their retreat.
Are you interested in becoming a Scarboro Missioner?
Lay Mission work in October 2005 Magazine Issue
To read about the current Lay Mission work in the latest magazine issue, click here
INTERFAITH DESK NEWS
"Greening Sacred Spaces" Workshop
Produced by Faith and the Common Good, these six, 2-hour, do-it-yourself workshops enable people of all faith groups to "green" their homes, gardens, food habits, places of worship and other aspects of their lives. Read more at http://www.faith-commongood.net/docs/gssworkshopguide.pdf
"I Believe In" Web Site for Inercultural/Interfaith Understanding
This website provides excellent teacher and student resources to help foster intercultural and interfaith understanding. Included are lesson plans, videos, posters, Internet links and other practical resources. Read more at http://www.ibelievein.ca/
Student Art Contest – The Golden Rule and the Global Family
Young people are encouraged to enter this contest and become eligible for a $250.00 prize. It.s an excellent way for them to develop an interfaith consciousness in today's global world. Click here to view or download the colour poster as a PDF document.
Learn more about Interfaith Resources
There is a wealth of information about Interfaith Dialogue (e.g., Golden Rule, Teaching Models, Guidelines for Dialogue) on this web site. Read more...
JUSTICE AND PEACE OFFICE NEWS
Call for human rights and environmental accountability for Canadian mining, oil and gas companies operating overseas
Canadian mining, oil and gas companies have been implicated in cases of human rights violations and environmental disasters in more than 30 countries overseas. Violations include toxic dumping, destruction of protected areas, forcible displacement of indigenous peoples, and intimidation of local communities.
Canadian tax dollars subsidize extractive industries operating overseas through political assistance and financial support. No Canadian laws require these companies to uphold international human rights and environmental standards overseas, even though Canada has adopted these standards. The Canadian government currently promotes adherence to voluntary corporate social responsibility measures – which have often failed in practice.
In 2006 the federal government is hosting four National Roundtables on "Corporate Social Responsibility and the Canadian Extractive Sector in Developing Countries" to be held in Toronto from September 12-14, Calgary: from October 10-12, Montreal from November 14-16 and Vancouver already held last June.
KAIROS, Development and Peace, the Halifax Initiative and other organizations, churches and trade unions concerned with the detrimental human rights and environmental impacts of Canadian extractive industries, have joined the Canadian Network on Corporate Accountability (CNCA). The CNCA is participating in and organizing around the National Roundtables to call on the Canadian government to adopt legally binding regulations and adequate enforcement mechanisms for Canadian corporations working overseas.
Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples moves forward despite Canadian government's efforts to stall
Indigenous peoples and human rights organizations in Canada, including KAIROS and Amnesty International, welcomed the historic decision by the United Nations Human Rights Council in June to bring forward the draft UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples for possible adoption by the UN General Assembly later this year.
These same organizations also expressed their frustration and disappointment with the Canadian government's efforts to stall this much needed draft. Canada called the vote as a pre-emptive move against the Declaration's passage but Canada was isolated as one of only two countries to vote against the Declaration while 30 voted in favour, 12 abstentions and 3 absent. Canada failed to persuade other states that another round of negotiations was needed. These moves have damaged Canada's international reputation as a leader in Indigenous and human rights.
The Canadian government was active in drafting the proposed Declaration and, in recent years, had played a critical role in building state support for the Declaration's principles. The current government claims, without providing substantiation, that some provisions of the Declaration are incompatible with Canadian law. Indigenous peoples' organizations that have participated in drafting the Declaration point out that it is a non-binding, aspirational statement that would not override any domestic laws.
Strong international support for the Declaration, which has been under development for more than two decades, is an important step forward in countering the widespread racism and discrimination that threatens the survival and well-being of Indigenous peoples around the world. Read more here...
Make Poverty History! White Band Days of Action across Canada
In 2005, a global call to action against poverty was launched and campaigns are running in over 80 countries. Make Poverty History supporters in Canada call for more and better aid, trade justice, debt cancellation and the end of child poverty in Canada. A simple White Band is the symbol of this campaign. Make Poverty History has called for action to end poverty during three White Band time periods in 2006:
- June 29th marked the anniversary of the Live 8 concerts. The next G8 meeting will take place in Russia, July 15 -17, 2006. It's an opportunity to tell the G8 leaders that we are still waiting for them to act to make poverty history.
- From August 13 - 18 during the XVI International AIDS Conference in Toronto.Make Poverty History supporters will be present at various activities and make the links between AIDS, debt and poverty.
- From September 16 until October 17 (the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty), White Band Day events will take place around the world as this period is the global campaign's main focus.
Everyone can participate in these days of action. Wearing a White Band sends a message that you want to end poverty. Visit the Make Poverty History website to learn more including various ideas and resources for taking action, whether organizing your own event or getting in touch with your regional Make Poverty History contact.
Draft UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples – Time to Adopt!
"Denied meaningful control of their own lives as well as adequate protection for their vital ties to the land, Indigenous peoples around the world are subject to violence, impoverishment, and ill-health. These widespread abuses of fundamental human rights threaten the safety of individuals and the survival of whole cultures." Amnesty International Canada is calling for action to protect the human rights of Indigenous peoples. In February 2006 a U.N. Working Group proposed the final text of a Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples after more than a decade of debate. With enough support, the Declaration could be adopted by the U.N. General Assembly before the end of 2006. Amnesty International has organized a letter campaign urging Canada to continue playing a leadership role in achieving other countries' support for the Declaration. Find out more and how to participate here.