My primer

Editor’s Note:

As the Anglican Journal marks its 130th anniversary, we invited readers to tell us about their favourite stories and memories of the paper. When I was a child, the Canadian Churchman was my primer about God, Jesus, and the Anglican church. As I matured in the church, the Churchman became the Journal. The paper had become for me the embodiment of that “inquiring and discerning heart” we Anglicans so cherish. I loved how the editors would never shy away from a spirited debate about women priests, the Book of Alternative Services, or whether people from other creeds would also make it into heaven.

By the time I was studying journalism in college, I had a new appreciation for how the Journal could do all that in a solid journalistic fashion, with a complete unwillingness to fall under the influence of dogmatic dictates.

We are blessed by the Journal. It keeps us informed, sometimes irritates us, and above all, helps us envision ourselves as the kind of people God hopes we will become.

Nancy Devine

Aurora, Ont.

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Well informed

I have become extremely well informed about the Anglican Church of Canada because it became my habit to read the church paper from cover to cover every month.

I was always interested in the work of the church, and reading about its involvement regionally, nationally and internationally simply gave me a wider understanding of how our efforts at the parish level were in some ways interlaced with what the church was doing beyond our local borders. That gave deeper meaning, not only to weekly worship experience, but also as we took part in various study groups offered by our then-rector.

Perhaps that is because I have come to know how important communication and access to information is to the people in the pew, if they wish to take advantage of those areas where they can participate effectively in the mission of the church.

So thank you, Canadian Churchman cum Anglican Journal and all your editors, staff writers and contributors who have enhanced and enriched my Christian journey in the Anglican tradition over this past half-century!

Jean Koning

London, Ont.