Report from the Rainbow Communion
The final report of Rainbow Communion (General Assembly’s Special Listening Committee re LGBTQI), “Not All Are Welcome: A Call to Confession and Healing for Harm Done”, is now available at presbyterian.ca/listening Rev. Faris is the Co-Convener of this Committee which has heard the stories of harm done by homophobia, transphobia, heterosexism and hypocrisy in The Presbyterian Church in Canada. In total, 139 stories were shared from across the country. The report identifies the harm that has been done and its recommendations call on the Church to address that harm and bring about change to ensure that harm does not continue. The report and its recommendations will be presented at the General Assembly being held June 6-9.
2021 General Assembly June 6-9
The General Assembly will be held entirely on-line this year and anyone can have access to the meetings at pc-biz.org . The Reports and Recommendations that are to be presented are also available to all now at the same web site.
SAGA members may also be interested in the ongoing efforts of our Refugee Sponsorship Committee – please click here: https://standrewstoronto.org/volunteer/refugee-sponsorship/
PLEASE NOTE:
Zoom meeting information will be sent out one day before each meeting in order to reduce the risk of Zoom bombing.
Join the Rev. Bob Faris at our Friday, June 25, 2021 Meeting at 7:00PM Via ZOOM
Rev. Faris will report on this year’s General Assembly and how it may impact the LGBTQI community.
To register for this event please email Robert Sheng at eg@eol.ca
On Friday, May 28th a representative of the Rainbow Railroad joined with SAGA and StARS
The members of SAGA were joined by members of the St. Andrew’s Refugee Sponsorship team to listen to the featured speaker Hazim Ismail from Rainbow Railroad – an organization dedicated to assisting LGBTQI refugees.
For more information about Rainbow Railroad go to their website, https://www.rainbowrailroad.org/
On Friday, April 23, 2021 we celebrated our first anniversary of SAGA on ZOOM!
Many of you shared what has happened, both good and bad, during the past 12 months.
To jump start the event, Tom Threndyle, shared his story of starting his own business during this pandemic. Visit TOMMY his new periodic newsletter detailing cool stuff on design, branding, art and more. Interested? Please subscribe. Thanks!
Click this link to complete the subscription form: http://eepurl.com/hoZNuj
Tom Threndyle, RGD http://www.tombranding.com
Friday, March 26, 2021 featured – EGALE
Senior Development Officer Egale, Jenny Foster, spoke about the ongoing work being done at EGALE and how they have recently expanded their work to four general areas for REAL impact – research, education, awareness and legal advocacy.
If you would like to visit their website and get familiarized with their work they can be found at: Egale – equal not other
As promised, Jenny also forwarded some information about Egale’s Rainbow Table for 2SLGBTQI and Ally Seniors. The Rainbow Table includes a Facebook Group and regular live shows (on Facebook live) featuring experts on a variety of topics including health, relationships, Rainbow Veterans, Faith and much more. Please join the group, check out the past episodes and stay tuned for upcoming events
Rainbow Table Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/rainbowtable
Rainbow Table Website: https://egale.ca/egale-in-action/rainbowtable/
Friday, February 26 featured – Chinese Canadian Authors
The presentation, by our member Val Lem, examined the creation of an Asian Canadian cultural heritage website. With a large component highlighting bio-bibliographical entries of Canadian literary writers of “Asian” heritage, in this introduction he will focused on authors of Chinese Canadian heritage.
Friday, January 22 featured – THINK TANK 2021
A discussion of what to feature at our 2021 suppers took place. We thank all of you who participated and we look forward to this year’s meetings – online for now but hopefully in-person before too long.
Our Christmas gathering was held December 12 – thank you to all who participated.
Friday, November 27 featured CALIFORNIA DREAMIN’ in 1970
In this Power Point presentation Jeff Schmidt took us on a journey to the past via photos and videos that enhanced the story of a drive to California and his experiences there.
Friday, October 23rd featured:
FROM EXILE TO REINSTATEMENT
Pastor Ralph Carl Wushke shared part of his story and experiences as a Lutheran pastor who came out at a time when homosexuality was grounds for exclusion from ministry. Four decades of gay activism in the church, culminating with his call and installation at First Lutheran Church, Toronto and his reinstatement to the clergy roster of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada in January 2020 will be discussed.
Pastor Ralph last came to us as the Chaplain of the Ecumenical Chaplaincy at the University of Toronto.
SAGA started as an LGBTQ support group at St. Andrew’s over 30 years ago. It is now a fellowship group for all people. SAGA normally meets in the Great Hall at 6pm on the fourth Friday of the month for a pot-luck supper and a special presentation by either one of the regular attendees or a special guest. SAGA welcomes new members and for more information on joining, please contact info@standrewstoronto.org
