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 From the Catalyst, Summer 2018

Turning Parliament Inside Out: Practical Ideas for Reforming Canada’s Democracy

Edited by Michael Chong, Scott Simms, and Kennedy Stewart

Douglas & McIntyre, 2017

Reviewed by John Milloy 

Turning Parliament Inside Out is an attempt by a multi-party group of backbench Members of Parliament to identify ways to reform Parliament. In a series of well-written and accessible essays, these concerned MPs outline practical solutions for increasing the quality of debate, making Parliament more representative and curbing the power of party leaders and their staff. 

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CPJ is excited to welcome four new Board members. As our Board, staff, and supporters gathered in Toronto, CPJ elected Rene Adams, Harold Roscher, Cherilyn Spraakman, and Tiffany Talen. We are excited about the contributions they will bring to our work! Read on to learn more about these new additions to CPJ’s Board of Directors.

Young adults often get a bad rap. If they aren’t failing to launch, they are too addicted to their “likes,” unreliable, and unengaged. Besides for a few small caveats, I couldn’t  disagree more.

But young adults really care, and when given the proper space, place, and some tools, they exercise incredible levels of ingenuity and creativity to raise awareness among their peers and take action in their communities.

Are church communities the best places to go if you want to engage in social and ecological justice? Is the prophetic desire for justice encouraged to burn in the hearts of church-goers today? Do our ecclesial structures promote animation and action towards public justice?

A new book by Citizens for Public Justice, Journeys to Justice: Reflections on Canadian Christian Activism, answers these questions head on.

International Women’s Day is both a celebration of women and our successes in achieving women’s equality and a reminder of the challenges that we still face.

This prayer from the Sisters of Mercy is a reminder of the many roles that women play, as well as a call to honour those roles. It is an adaptation of Miriam Therese Winter’s “Valiant Women” by Cathy O’Keefe, a graduate of Mercy High School in Baltimore, Maryland.

The Winter 2017 edition of the Catalyst includes updates on our fall Chew on This! campaign as well as articles on the UN climate conference (COP23), tax reform, and the Safe Third Country Agreement.

The Summer 2017 edition of the Catalyst highlights CPJ’s latest report on refugee sponsorship and a look beyond stewardship towards creation care. It also features our annual series of summer book reviews!

From the Catalyst, Summer 2017

The Vimy Trap, or, How We Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Great War

By Ian McKay and Jamie Swift

Between the Lines, 2016

Reviewed by Debbie Grisdale

April 9, 2017 marked the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge where 3,598 Canadians died and 7,000 were wounded, with an estimated 20,000 casualties on the German side.

In this timely book , MacKay and Swift focus on the evolution, over the past century, of the remembrance of WWI, and in particular the battle for Vimy. Canada has moved from seeing it as a battle in a horrific, pointless, and costly war to a romantic myth that Vimy in some way represented the “birth of our nation.”

From the Catalyst, Summer 2017

Hopeful Realism in Urban Ministry: Critical Explorations and Constructive Affirmations of Hoping Justice Prayerfully

By Barry K. Morris

Wipf & Stock Publishers, 2016

Reviewed by Lee Hollaar

To all involved in any seemingly overwhelming ministry, this is an important and refreshing read. While dealing with issues of poverty, marginalization, and the politics of exclusion, it’s easy to move beyond naive optimism and approach a sense of futility. While the author looks through the lens of ministry in urban settings, this book speaks with equal cogency to the work of social justice—and any ministry, for that matter.