Thoughts, prayers, anecdotes, opinions, and personal reflections of CCS staff
If you’ve been a CCS student or supported a student in their field placement, you might have come across the CCS program “placemats”. We use them in orientations to literally lay out the diaconal ministry training program. The placemats are large laminated pages that say things like “Social Ministry Year” or “Learning Facilitator” or “External…
Principal Maylanne Maybee writes: I have spent the last week in two very different places and climates. From Wednesday to Sunday, I stayed with Phina Borgeson, a friend and fellow deacon in Santa Rosa, California as a base for leading a retreat for about a dozen deacons and others “in process” for becoming a deacon….
CCS’s Ann Naylor reflects on the “Feast for Friends” held at the Sandy-Saulteaux Spiritual Centre on September 22, 2012: Children are playing – working together to create a structure from the wood in the carefully stacked woodpile, sharing ideas, negotiating, being stubborn, cooperating, joking, celebrating their accomplishment. Adults are sitting together in circles – sharing…
The videos from September’s “Second Fridays at CCS” presentations are now available, so even if you weren’t in the room at lunch-time on the second Friday of the month, you can still be part of the experience. Dianne Baker, who served with the Ecumencial Accompaniment Program in Palestine and Israel, and Louise Simbandumwe, social justice…
Principal Maylanne Maybee writes: A lot goes on at CCS, inside and out, from one day to the next and one week to the next. Last Tuesday the Program Committee met by conference call, with lots of conversation about short-term courses, a new six week course for those preparing for the Anglican diaconate, the Program…
CCS Principal Maylanne Maybee writes: A week ago a gathering of CCS Friends and neighbours met in the home of Ted and Janice Dodd–who often and generously host CCS parties in their comfortable and sprawling house – to toast the accomplishment of Dr. Lori Stewart. Lori is a grad of CCS (U1987) who recently completed…
Ann Naylor reflects on the 41st General Council of the UCC, August 11-18, 2012 “You are doing well, relatively speaking, but you need to muscle up because the hardest sprint is yet to come and it’s not optional for this church.” (Marie Wilson, Commissioner, Truth and Reconciliation Commission, August 17, 2012 address to the 41st…
CCS Principal Maylanne Maybee writes:This is the second week of my first LDM! Fourteen students signed up for the August course at Woodsworth House in Winnipeg: ten women, four men; seven from the United Church, four from the Anglican Church, three from other traditions (Mennonite, Lutheran, and non-denominational). I have been apprenticing with Ted Dodd…
From Principal Maylanne Maybee: The big news of this week is announced below – Marc Desrosiers’ unexpected resignation effective August 3, 2012. He has been offered a position that will use and compensate his gifts and skills to the fullest. His resignation is effective almost exactly one year to the day after I began as…
This week we feature CCS grad and Companion of the Centre, Elizabeth Brain. Elizabeth writes: “Has God ever opened doors for me! In 1987 my life was in transition. There were so many questions and doubts. I was a cradle Anglican, a regular and engaged church member. I had been a physician in England where…
Principal Maylanne Maybee writes: I’m writing this on the eve of Canada Day weekend, poised to take the first two weeks of my vacation–with a long list of things to be done before I leave. After almost one full year in my role as Principal of CCS, I think I need a rest, but there’s…
CCS student Beth Walker reflects on the recent BC Conference, and Day 2, ‘Artist in Residence’: “It was day two of the British Columbia Conference and time for the incoming ordinates to give a small presentation to the court. My heart raced on their behalf; keenly aware that I would be addressing a similar group…
From Principal Maylanne Maybee: Conferences and Meetings!! June is the month of conferences, meetings, and gatherings. And I’ve been going to my fair share of them… Two weekends ago I had breakfast with DUCC members and made a presentation about CCS at the Manitoba Northwestern Ontario Conference Annual Meeting in Winnipeg – using Scott Douglas’…
In 2009/10 Peggy Edwards studied the Canadian Grandmothers To Grandmothers Campaign to find answers to the question: “How do we engage, nurture and sustain older women advocates in civil society?” Her work is captured in the inspiring 12-minute video “Voices of Advocacy: Older Women Speak Out”, which won top prize in documentary films at the…
As part of our ongoing “About You” series, in which members of the CCS community talk about their lives, their ministry, and their connection to the Centre in their own words, we bring you 2010 CCS grad Helen Reed. Helen is a member of the CCS Central Council, chairs the Communications and Promotions Committee, and…