Broadview Magazine

1 week ago | broadview.org | Jocelyn Bell

Racialized people make up a quarter of Canada’s population, but Broadview’s current “newsroom” — the editorial team, including its two paid summer interns — is 39 percent racialized. These numbers matter a great deal to me. Five years ago, I promised in this space that 30 percent of Broadview freelancers, board members and staff would be BIPOC by 2025, mirroring and exceeding Canadian demographics. It’s not only a justice issue.

2 weeks ago | broadview.org | Terri Coles

Sunday, June 8 was rainy after an usually sunny week in St. John’s, N.L.; locals semi-affectionately refer to this month as “June-uary.” But the skies cleared shortly before the start of Gower Street United’s special evening service for The United Church of Canada’s centennial, allowing clergy attending from near and far to greet worshippers outside as they arrived.

1 month ago | broadview.org | Pieta Woolley

In 1996, Ralph Milton, then president of the B.C. Conference of the United Church, turned to the theme of death for his final speech at the annual meeting. He quoted from a poem by Welsh poet Dylan Thomas whose refrain runs, “Rage, rage against the dying of the light.” But Milton didn’t rage against it. Nope. He advised us to just “go gentle” into that good night. In other words, die, church, die. I was 21 at the time, attending the meeting as a youth delegate. The church was my life.

1 month ago | broadview.org | Alanna Mitchell

The First Council of Nicaea was a months-long council of Christian bishops in the city of Nicaea, in what is now Turkey, in 325 C.E. The seminal council, which Roman emperor Constantine I convened, brought together leaders from across Christendom to find agreement on basic doctrinal matters. The council upheld the divinity of Jesus Christ and adopted the original Nicene Creed, a profession of faith that is still used in churches around the world.

1 month ago | broadview.org | Chantal Braganza

The idea of an origin had a romance to it before you were born. When I was your age, it was the easiest language I had with both of your grandparents. Stories about where they came from, and therefore stories about where I came from; a series of steps originating from two points on nearly opposite sides of the globe and landing in a little three-bedroom house at the edge of a brand-new suburban development west of Toronto. An explanation for our presence there, an unquestioned talisman.