Metropolitan UC Peace and Social Justice Committee
Minutes – Sunday, March 9, 2008
12:30 pm – Volunteer Room
Present: Walter Ridley (Chair), Chris Chown, Jana Stettner, Debbey Van Beek, Jennifer Smith, Dave Carley (Minutes), Jeff Ince, Susan Girvan.
Regrets: Various others at church events, and Jean Lee, who was on Presbytery business way out in the east end.
1. Walter called the meeting to order. He brought forward various items of business and events, including
- he attended the Kairos event at St. Barnabas Anglican last Saturday; it was well-attended despite the lousy weather
- he passed around postcards urging MPs to stick to the original Feb 09 exit date from Afghanistan
- he has received a letter from Jim Flaherty (or his office) responding to the letter written to him about including housing in the budget. The letter from Flaherty was general and did not address the budget concerns; nevertheless presumably the concerns were logged.
2. John Joseph has asked us to have a table at Doors Open, which is on May 24 and 25. We agreed to do this and will organize the table and display and volunteer schedule at our next meeting. It’s a great opportunity to let a few thousand visitors know what Met, in particular, and the United Church in general, are doing on P and SJ issues.
3. Jean Lee took our Earth Hour request to the Board and it was passed. Jeff will announce the Earth Hour event at the next two Sundays, and Dave will put a notice in the church bulletin. (It’s probably too late for the Mar 16 bulletin, but we should get mention in the Easter one.)
4. Debbey Van Beek is organizing a Lunch and Learn for June 15th. The pulpit speaker that day is from Islington United Church and will be talking about Mental Health and Depression and means of self-help. There was some discussion as to whether this is a P and SJ issue or belongs to Christian Ed; regardless, we agreed that we will all pitch in and help. Debbey will be sending out a request for helpers in due course.
5. Susan Girvan said that on Wednesday, June 4 at 6 pm there is an Outreach meeting and, as is now an annual tradition, this will include all groups clustered under the Outreach umbrella – as a way for everyone to get to know each other and their various endeavours.
6. Our P and SJ service is tentatively set for the 1st Sunday after Thanksgiving – October 19. We agreed the theme should be on the United For Peace initiative and the peace fund that has been established. We want to have a speaker that day on that theme. Walter is going to suss out possible speakers.
7. Finally, Jeff Ince initiated some discussion on our structure and goals. We talked about the efficacy of our action cells; they are sort of limping along right now. The Peace and Ecumenical-focus will be dealt with in our service. The Green initiative has Earth Hour but needs another concrete, do-able project. The Anti-poverty and homeless group is in search of a good idea. We talked about the community round table idea; it is a big project. We need everyone to think of projects generally; if we have a specific focus then it is easier obviously for us to involve the church.
8. Walter reminded us of the ecumenical Good Friday Walk, at 2 pm. It starts at Holy Trinity Church. “Air� is the theme.
9. On Saturday, April 12 there is a conference with Elizabeth May at U of T, entitled Greening of Sacred Spaces. For more information, contact Katharine Vansittart at toronto@faith-commongood.net
10. We adjourned around 2 pm (later than usual because of the longer service that day and 4 Corners event.)
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