Onto the Soo...

TBay to SSM is an extraordinarily beautiful drive...

On to Sault Ste Marie. On route I connected with Paul Quesnele, who was previously the director of ONE campus ministry at Algoma University. It was formerly Summit Ministry, but the campus group led by Jeremy Murdoch and which met on campus in the cafeteria/pub ( see pic) had grown into an intergenerational church.

The aforementioned cafeteria/pub

This church chose to re-boot the campus ministry under a new name and with a fresh mandate. For the first year plus of its existence it was led by Paul, even during a nearly fatal mishap on the ski slopes in 2009. Paul was kind enough to share his friends , his parents and his knowledge with me. Thanks to all of you for your amazing hospitality...

Jeremy and Paul

For the past year, due to his work commitments to the University,  Paul has stepped back and some key students have come forward to fill in the gap. A former student, Danielle   , will be helping out onsite at Sault College.

Danielle  

Both Algoma and Sault are surprisingly vibrant institutions. Algoma was once a residential school, and it has owned up to, and actually embraced, this part of its history. As most readers would know, this was a dark paragraph in our national narrative. Originally begun with good intentions: The desire to bring education and knowledge ( and perhaps religion) to the native population, it degenerated into a form of cultural abuse/genocide. Children were ripped out of their homes at the age of six and forced to renounce their language and culture. Some were never to see their family again.

Now Algoma makes a significant point to celebrate its aboriginal culture and to provide support and direction to first nations students who come to study at Algoma.

Sault College is undergoing a relatively massive construction phase. As a result, it will have much more non academic space for clusters and meetings and whatever programming ONE may need.

Jeremy will be onsite in a more official capacity at both institutions. We are praying that he will have the energy and focus to pull it all off. There is so much good stuff going on and there is only so much of him to go around… Further, we are praying that the students will rise up to meet the opportunity and the challenge.  They have a ton of experience and expertise to share with us all....