ACP Member Articles
Anglican Journal
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John Ernest Irving, who headed the New Brunswick-based Irving business empire with his brothers, died at the age of 78 on July 21 after a brief illness.
Typically known as Jack, he built much of the company infrastructure in Atlantic Canada and Quebec, becoming executive vice-president of Irving Oil and a director of all Irving businesses. He was responsible for and managed a number of Irving companies and was particularly associated with Ocean Steel and Strescon, leading suppliers of steel and architectural concrete in the region.
"Jack was a great brother and friend," his brother J.K. Irving said in a statement. "We enjoyed many happy years growing up together at home and in the business. He will be greatly missed."
Born in 1932, Irving graduated from Rothesay Collegiate School, Rothesay, N.B. in 1950 and attended Acadia University, Wolfville, N.S. from 1950 to 1952. At that point he decided to finish his studies with the best professor in the Maritimes, his father Kenneth Colin (K.C.) Irving, and joined the family business with father and brothers.
Irving was a member of the Order of Canada, a companion of the Order of The Business Hall of Fame, an inaugural member of the New Brunswick Business Hall of Fame, recipient of an honourary Doctorate of Letters from the University of New Brunswick and an honourary Doctorate in Civil Laws from Acadia University and is an Alumnus Honoris Causa of Harvard University Graduate School of Business Administration.
When he was appointed a member of the Order of Canada in 2007, his decades of work fostering economic development throughout New Brunswick and the Atlantic region were recognized. The citation also said: Notably, he led the restoration of heritage properties in Saint John, which helped revitalize the downtown core. He is also known as a generous philanthropist who has supported educational institutions and arts in the Maritimes."
Irving was an active member of the congregation at Trinity Anglican Church in Saint John, where a visitation was held on Friday, July 23, 2010, and a funeral service was planned for Saturday, July 24. The rector, the Rev. Ranall Ingalls, said that he was a very quiet and faithful member of the church.
He is survived by his wife, Suzanne Heather Cameron ne Farrer, his children John Keillor Farrer Irving, Colin Dargarvel Irving, Anne Cameron I. Oxley and six grandchildren.
Anglican Journal
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Last August 2009, Thie Convery was having dinner with some friends when one of them asked her, So, whats your next athletic endeavour going to be? Convery, 44, said her response came out of the blue: Id like to swim across Lake Ontario. She had been a nationally-ranked, drug-free competitive body builder for years, but she was no swimmer.But her friends who, like her, are members of the Rotary Club pounced on the idea and right away suggested that she could swim to raise money to help eradicate polio. Rotary International is part of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, which includes the United Nations Childrens Fund (Unicef), among others. The ball was rolling before I knew what Id got myself into, she chuckled. The very next day, Convery Googled Lake Ontario swimming and found out she would need to cover a distance of 52 km to achieve that goal. So, she told herself, I guess I better start swimming. This August, nearly a year since she began rigorous training with a personal coach, Convery will barring bad weather and water conditions swim Lake Ontario. The feat will begin on Aug. 6 at 6 p.m. on Niagara-on-the-Lake and, Convery is hoping, end at Marilyn Bell Park on Torontos CNE grounds less than 24 hours later. The park is named after 16-year-old Marilyn Bell, who in 1964 became the first woman to swim across the lake.Converys feat, which has been dubbed Swim to End Polio (STEP), has fired up the imagination of young and old, not just in her Anglican congregation of St. James but throughout the entire community of Dundas, Ont. Polio is no stranger to an older generation of Canadians, some of whom have lived with the debilitating disease or knew someone who died from it and they have lauded her effort. But she is deeply moved that even those who dont know about it, having been spared because of vaccinations that began more than 50 years ago, have been equally supportive. Convery hopes to raise $52,000, and each penny raised will be matched by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation through Rotary International. Donations have started to come ahead of her swim, including $1,100 from a 12-year-old boy who celebrated his birthday by organizing a swimming competition in his backyard pool and asking guests to donate money for STEP instead of giving him presents. I think were all called to do something for others The first commandment is to love God with all your soul, strength and mind. Then, love your neighbour as yourself, Convery said, explaining her motivation for the swim. There are neighbours of mine that are getting polio and we know how to stop that. She added, Theres a saying that God has no hands and feet on earthhe doesnt have to, because he has ours. My hands and feet literally will swim across the lake so that my neighbours granted theyre on the other side of the world can be healthy. It costs only 60 cents to help a child get a first dose of vaccine for polio, a highly infectious viral disease that attacks the nervous system and can cause total paralysis in a matter of hours, said Convery. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), since 2008 polio remains endemic in only four countries: Afghanistan, India, Nigeria and Pakistan. However, all countries around the world remain at risk as long as a single child remains infected, warns the WHO. Polio mainly affects children under the age of five. While Convery will be swimming solo, she will not be alone in making the event happen. Her swim will be supervised by Solo Swims of Ontario, a not-for-profit group that sanctions and assists aspiring swimmers who attempt to cross any of the Great Lakes. The group will supply a swim master, a nurse and a doctor, along with people to drive 30-foot boats (plus two inflatable boats for lifeguards). Port authorities and coast guards will also be notified, as well as shipping freighters. All will help to ensure the swim goes as safely as possible. Convery will rely on a freestyle stroke she learned from her coach to help sustain her. Its a long, stretched out, gliding, relaxing stroke that you can do for hours and hours on end, she said. Aside from bad weather conditions, Convery is aware other factors could affect her swim and so she is praying for perfect conditions. Lake Ontario is a cold lake, she said. Cold water will slow you down and you can be pulled from the water because you can get hypothermic. Waves could also slow her down, or if the sun is too hot, it can make you sick, she said. With less than three weeks to go before her swim, Convery who runs her own financial advisory company said she is feeling great. She has been buoyed by the support she has received even from people she doesnt know. One person sent photographs of her trip to India, which showed beggars on the streets who had been stricken by polio and now pulled themselves along on their hands, dragging their legs. That, Convery said, serves as a strong reminder about why she and many others are doing their part to help end polio. In 2008, another Anglican, Ramesh Ferris, undertook an epic 7,100-km hand-cycling journey across Canada and raised $300,000 for polio eradication, education and rehabilitation. Ferris, himself a polio survivor, wrote a book, Better Than Cure, which documents the 173 days he spent on the road. Convery said she has been reading the book for inspiration and recently received a phone message from Ferris, wishing her the best of luck in her own campaign against polio. To learn more about Thie Convery's Swim to End Polio (STEP), click here.
For a Google map view of her swim, click here.
Anglican Journal
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Cape TownThe end of the Cold War led to the false hope that all humans would be treated equally, says Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
But the world's inability to avoid crises such as the recent recession, climate change and volcanic ash illustrates the risk of not working together, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate and former Anglican archbishop of Cape Town said.
"The countries most responsible for devastating changes are the least vulnerable to the consequences, of which the price is being paid by the poor and the weak," he said.
"We all have just one world Unless we work out a way to live together, we will end up at the bottom of the pit together," Tutu said.
Solutions to the ongoing economic crisis will only be found in the faith communities, Tutu said while noting, "More than political will, the moral imperative is lacking; we realize more and more [the global financial crisis] is a moral and ethical matter."
Tutu was speaking at the handing over last week of a report on globalization by Uniting Reformed Church of South Africa theologian the Rev. Allan Boesak, and the Rev. Johann Weusmann of the Evangelical Reformed Church in Germany titled Dreaming a Different World.
The Evangelical Reformed Church in Germany in 2007 embarked on a project to study the effects of globalization in the context of the Accra Confession, a 2004 statement of the then World Alliance of Reformed Churches that critiqued neoliberal economics. The German church worked with the church in South Africa to gain the perspective of a developing country.
Much of the "very activist" report, as Boesak described it, is devoted to economic issues, and is explicitly meant as ammunition in what is seen as the battle against the domination by a financial elite using "empire logic."
Just as Christ rose up against the Roman empire, it is the duty of Christians to resist the "lordless powers" of the global capitalist empire, the report says. It looks at issues such as the global food crisis, financial markets, ecology and militarism. It sets out a detailed programme for "breaking the dominance of financial markets over the real economy." The report distinguishes between globalization and globalism.
"Globalization is an historical, rational phenomenon, the product of technological, civilizational development. It inaugurates a new phase in our history, presenting humanity with immense challenges, but working for the larger socio-economic virtue.
"Globalism is an ideological phenomenon, in the service of a certain hegemony, driven by neo-liberal capitalism, not a benign and neutral process, but ideologically driven in the service of the rich and powerful, globally."
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