Canadian Christian organizations, led by KAIROS Canada, are calling on Canadians to join a global movement to end the mounting global debt crisis by signing the Canadian petition for Jubilee 2025.

The petition, which aims to collect 100,000 signatures in Canada by the end of 2025, will be combined with a global initiative urging world leaders to cancel unjust debts, establish a United Nations mechanism for debt resolution, and prevent future cycles of crushing debt. The global goal is 10 million signatures, working with ecumenical and civil society partners around the world, focusing on debt cancellation, international financial reform and climate justice.
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Pope Francis on Nov. 22 initiated a major shake-up within the Catholic Church’s leading humanitarian and social service confederation, removing its top leadership in response to an internal review process that reportedly revealed serious management and morale issues inside the organization.
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The Archdiocese of Vancouver is teaming up with the Dioceses of Victoria and Saskatoon to unveil the Working Towards Freedom study guide, a resource designed for clergy, parish groups and individual congregants to learn more about human trafficking.
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“The WCC puts unity before justice!” This was the complaint of one Canadian participant in the World Council of Churches’ 11th Assembly in Karlsruhe, Germany. The 65 Canadian participants gathered recently to debrief their experience of the August 31st to September 8th gathering of churches from around the world. The theme of the Assembly was “Christ’s love moves the world to reconciliation and unity.”

Back in May, Sr. Donna Geernaert wrote about the Assembly theme in her blog post “An Ecumenism of the Heart.” Over 3,750 church delegates, observers, advisors, visitors, and media came from around the world to Karlsruhe. WCC assemblies are only held every 7 or 8 years, so it was an excellent opportunity for me to attend along with my wife, Rev. Amanda Currie, one of the delegates from the Presbyterian Church in Canada.
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Canada’s Catholic bishops will no longer be part of Canada’s ecumenical social justice coalition known as Kairos.

The decision taken by a majority of bishops at the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops’ annual plenary meeting was prompted by a combination of ideological differences and minor legal changes in the structure of the ecumenical coalition to meet tax compliance concerns of the Canada Revenue Agency. For legal and tax purposes, Kairos has been a part of the United Church of Canada since it was founded in 2001.
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KAIROS, the Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiative, is celebrating a 40th anniversary. KAIROS itself isn’t that old, but its predecessor groups, the Canadian ecumenical coalitions are. Those of us engaged in ecumenical work, whether in theological dialogues, ecumenical education, or collaborating in advocacy for social justice are rooted in the same call to witness to Christ and to engage in common mission. We give thanks for the work of the Canadian social justice coalitions and for KAIROS that continues to give witness to this legacy. Congratulations KAIROS on 40 years of witness!

The executive director of KAIROS, Jennifer Henry, gave a long sermon January 19th at St. Matthew’s Anglican Church in Etobicoke. She reflects on ‘40 Years of Bold Witness’ framing her thoughts with four characteristics of the “natural habitat’ of prophetic voices” outlined by Walter Brueggemann in “The Prophetic Imagination.” It is well worth a read for Jennifer’s strong knowledge of history and inspirational passion for justice.
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