News Briefs: Ecclesiastical Province of Ontario

Scholastic cycler

A 61-year-old Bowmanville, Ont., Anglican has raised $17,000 for an Anglican university in Haiti that he founded while he was a Volunteer in Mission with the church.

John Veldhuis cycled around the perimeter of the United States for 10 months to raise money for the school of which he was the first president. When the educator left Haiti in 1997, the university had colleges of agriculture and business, a 100-acre research farm, an international faculty and 185 students. A college of education and a college of liberal arts have since been added.

Mr. Veldhuis kept a journal while cycling, and has written two inspirational books.

Toronto Anglican

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Let’s get together

Four Anglican churches in East London, Ont., have voted overwhelmingly to begin amalgamation talks. It’s believed to be one of the largest such undertakings in any denomination in Canada.

A round trip of the four buildings – the Church of the Resurrection, St. Matthew’s, St. Barnabas and St. Timothy’s – covers 15 kilometres.

The amalgamation is considered necessary and feasible because the churches are similar in size so no one church is likely to dominate; most members have working-class backgrounds; each has a small, aging congregation that is having trouble renewing itself; budgets are tight, making it hard to launch new projects alone; the churches have complementary skills and interests; and lay leaders and clergy have worked well together on other projects.

Huron Church News