The Gathering

The Gathering at Bragg Creek

By Arthur Menu, Sidney, BC

We had a good conference at Bragg Creek. Although Janet Malone, who was scheduled to be the facilitator, could not come because of airline problems, we were able to use our time well discussing the theme of "small faith communities." Chuck McLelland and the Calgary crew showed wonderful hospitality and looked after all our needs. Everyone had a really good time. Thank you, Calgary!

The members of the National Coordinating Team who were there met on Friday and Saturday. Alanna Menu took minutes of both the NCT meeting and the Corpus Canada Annual General Meeting.

I'll mention a few highlights of the AGM. The Shea-Noonan motion was passed with some changes in wording. Instead of Corpus Canada being divided into two separate organizations, the motion acknowledged that two separate organizations, Corpus and Xristos Community Society already exist, and have aims that differ but still permit the two organizations to cooperate in certain areas such as the publication of The Journal. Corpus can at any time arrange to have someone other than Xristos publish The Journal, but for the moment the present arrangement stands. The historical emphases of Corpus were reaffirmed and Xristos is free to pursue the aims of its constitution without restriction. I think everyone will be satisfied that the roles of Corpus and Xristos have been given a formulation that will enable both organizations to go forward with a clear sense of their distinct identities.

We welcomed some new regional representatives on the National Coordinating Team. Joan Palardy will be the southern Alberta rep with the assistance of Brendan Fletcher and Chuck McLellan. Rick and Marjorie Laplante will be the northern Alberta reps, with Jerry and Jan Moran as alternates. Chuck has promised that information about all of these folks will be posted on CORPUS-N.

The membership of the National Coordinating Team was expanded to include program/project leaders. These are people who take on a major program or project for Corpus Canada. To my mind, an example of such a program/project leader would be Chris Diamond, who as chief editor of The Journal heads up a program that has great importance for Corpus. Although The Journal is officially a Xristos, not a Corpus, operation, the fact is that The Journal serves as the newsletter for Corpus and should be treated among ourselves as a program for Corpus.

The AGM also approved on the recommendation of the NCT that the position of Coordinator be established. The person or persons who fill this position would be a member of the NCT and act as facilitator for NCT deliberations and decision making, but more than that they would bring energy and initiative to provide Corpus with leadership. In reviewing how the NCT has worked over the past few years, those NCT members who met at Bragg Creek agreed that there has been a lack of leadership in Corpus. Chris Diamond nominated and the AGM approved the selection of Grant Croswell and Colleen Lissamer, a married couple now living in Victoria and previously in Saskatoon, for this position for a two-year term.

We extend our congratulations to all the new NCT members, and Dianne Peck, who takes Sis McNeil's place as representative for Nova Scotia. Corpus is blessed to have people of such quality join the NCT.

The AGM awarded honorary Corpus life memberships to François Brassard and Connie Kurtenbach, and Joe Gubbels, for their exemplary service to Corpus Canada from its very beginnings.

The AGM also moved thanks to Wayne Debly for setting up and managing the CORPUS-N and CORPUS-L internet mailing lists, and to Michael Zarb for his work as webmaster of the Corpus Canada web site <www.corpuscanada.org>.

Other important business was transacted which you may hear about from people who were at the conference and which will be covered in the minutes.

It has been a privilege for me to have chaired the meetings of the NCT and the AGM the past few years. These tasks will be in Grant and Colleen's capable hands now and that is an additional and personal reason for me to thank them for accepting the position of Coordinator.

Arthur Menu, Sidney, British Columbia, Canada