Marites N. Sison

  • Marites N. Sison

    Marites (Tess) Sison was editor of the Anglican Journal from August 2014 to July 2018, and senior staff writer from December 2003 to July 2014. An award-winning journalist, she has more that three decades of professional journalism experience in Canada and overseas. She has contributed to The Toronto Star and CBC Radio, and worked as a stringer for The New York Times.

ARTICLES

Rob Dickson, chair of the financial management committee at General Synod, explains the 2014 budget to CoGS members. Photo: Marites N. Sison

CoGS approves balanced budget for 2014

The Council of General Synod (CoGS) today adopted a balanced budget forGeneral Synod in 2014, which forecasts revenues of $11.538 million andexpenses amounting to $11.451 million.

Yamileth Solano bought 90 chickens with the loan she got from Oikocredit, a worldwide co-operative that “promotes global justice by empowering disadvantaged people with credit.” Photo: Courtesy of Oikocredit

Credit, where credit is due

The Rev. Ueli Burkhalter recently visited the backyard of Yamileth “Millett” Solano in Costa Rica-he wanted to see for himself how her small business, made possible through a $350 Oikocredit loan, was faring.

The new St. Jude’s Cathedral was consecrated in 2012. Photo: Courtesy of the Diocese of the Arctic

Debt crisis at Arctic cathedral

The newly constructed St. Jude’s Anglican Cathedral in Iqaluit, Nunavut, may close its doors unless funds are raised to pay the balance of its construction debt, according to the diocese of the Arctic.

(L to R): The Rev. Danny Whitehead, David Scott, and Bishop Barbara Andrews, at the BC National Event of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. Photo: Marites N. Sison

An English visitor at the TRC

David Scott, a representative of the London-based New England Company (NEC), said he was grateful he had the opportunity to witness the B.C. National Event of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC), held Sept. 18 to 21 in Vancouver.

(L to R): The Rev. Lily Bell, Bishop Barbara Andrews and elder Charon Spinks during a brief break at the TRC's BC National Event in Vancouver. Photo: Marites N. Sison

Helping survivors let go of hurts

When Charon Spinks and her husband, Tim, got married in 1962, he asked her to promise that if they ever had children, they wouldn’t hand down to them what they had learned and experienced at St. George’s Indian Residential School in Lytton, B.C.

Hisako Masaki was among thousands who attended the BC National Event in Vancouver. Photo: Marites N. Sison

…they’re my brothers and sisters’

A Japanese-Canadian and a West Papuan studying here were among thousands who took part in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s B.C. National Event, held Sept. 18 to 21, and both said they have been transformed by the experience.

Prior to a light supper, people gather for the celebration of the Holy Eucharist. Photo: Marites N. Sison

TRC event participants welcomed at St. David’s

Early in the evening of Sept. 19, soothing, live harp music greets local Anglicans and visitors who enter the doors of St. David’s, a small church in the Anglican diocese of New Westminster, located in the heart of East Village, a culturally diverse neighbourhood.

Reconciliation: ‘We’re not done,’ says archbishop

Archbishop John Privett, bishop of the diocese of Kootenay and metropolitan (senior bishop) of the ecclesiastical province of British Columbia and the Yukon, said he has experienced “deeply moving” moments at the ongoing B.C. National Event hosted by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) here.

Holocaust survivor Robert Waisman and TRC Commissioner Marie Wilson at Survivors in Solidarity, a gathering held as part of the B.C. National Event of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. Photo: Marites N. Sison

Holocaust survivor offers message of hope

On Sept. 18, Holocaust survivor Robert Waisman stood before an audience that included former students of Canada’s Indian residential schools and spoke about the horrors that he experienced as a teenager at the Buchenwald concentration camp in Germany during World War II.

Anglican bishops from the ecclesiastical province of British Columbia and other church leaders at the opening ceremonies of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada Vancouver National Event. Photo: Marites N. Sison

Reconciliation ‘must continue,’ says TRC chair

A Tsleil-Waututh Nation youth paid tribute to the courage of his grandmother, a premier offered an apology for the harms done to aboriginal children in residential schools and a Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) commissioner urged Canadians to join the conversation about how Canada must come to terms with its past.

Paddlers from Masqueam First Nations took part in the All Nations Canoe Gathering that kicked off Reconciliation Week in Vancouver. Photo by: Marites N. Sison

Paddling for reconciliation in Vancouver

One by one they came, in cedar dugout and fibreglass replica canoes bearing names such as Soaring Eagle, Dancing Serpent and The Singing Coho, with corresponding images carved out in the distinctive, bold black and red colours of Haida art.

King’s dream lives on, 50 years later

As people commemorate the 50th anniversary of the March to Washington on Wednesday, Aug. 28, an American seminary has co-produced a short film retelling the famous last four minutes of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech.

It matters to Sikhs & others

“There’s something that breaks inside of us when we go through a trauma, an atrocity and we turn for help to people, and they turn their faces away. For years, we Canadians have turned our faces from the reality of residential schools…”

(L to R): Archbishop Michael Peers, former primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, and National Indigenous Anglican Bishop Mark MacDonald. Photo: Marites N. Sison

Landmark apology lives on

Archbishop Michael Peers, former primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, today said that much has changed in the church’s relationship with First Nations people since the historic apology he delivered 20 years ago for the church’s role in the Indian residential schools system.

Judy Robinson, director of the Anglican Church of Canada’s Pension Office Corporation. Photo: Marites N. Sison

Funding relief approval sought

The Trustees of the General Synod Pension Plan is asking members to vote on a proposal that will enable the Ontario government to consider granting it three years to improve the plan’s funding level and avoid immediate pension reductions in the range of 20 to 30 per cent.

The Rev. Nancy Bruyere, a non-stipendiary priest from the diocese of Keewatin, has been named suicide prevention co-ordinator for western Canada and the Arctic. Photo: Marites N. Sison

New aboriginal suicide prevention co-ordinator

In response to the suicide crisis affecting some native communities in western Canada and in the Arctic, the Anglican Church of Canada’s indigenous ministries department has appointed a new suicide prevention co-ordinator for that region.

General Synod members line up on July 6 to speak to the resolution proposing a change to the church's marriage canon, to allow the marriage of same-sex couples. Photo: Art Babych

Joy, sadness over proposed marriage canon change

For some Canadian Anglicans, General Synod’s decision on July 6 tobring to its next meeting in 2016 a resolution changing the church’slaw to allow same-sex marriage will bring new life; but others argue itwill only serve to precipitate its decline.

Michelle Bull, from the diocese of Nova Scotia and PrinceEdward Island, co-author of the same-sex marriage resolution. Photo:Art Babych

Same-sex marriage vote in 2016

General Synod on July 6 approved a resolution that will bring the issueof same-sex marriage to a vote at the meeting of the Anglican Church ofCanada’s governing body in 2016.

Bishop Lydia Mamakwa presents Archbishop Fred Hiltz with a pair of moccasins as a gift, as Archdeacon Harry Huskins applauds. Photo: Art Babych

Tears of joy for new diocese

Bishop Lydia Mamakwa wiped away tears of joy, while Archbishop DavidAshdown and Archbishop Fred Hiltz swayed as a hymn was sung, minutesafter General Synod on July 6 gave its unanimous concurrence to thecreation of an indigenous diocese in northern Ontario.

The newly-elected members of the Council of General Synod met briefly during the 2013 General Synod meeting in Ottawa. Photo: Art Babych

New CoGS members meet

Archdeacon Michael Thompson, the national church’s general secretary,underscored the importance of the work that’s before the Council ofGeneral Synod (CoGS) at the initial meeting of its newly elected memberson July 6.

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