Page 43 - PC Winter 2023-24

Connection
REFLECTIONS
Reflections from Time as Moderator
presbyterian.ca
WINTER 2023
PRESBYTERIAN
43
By the Rev. Dr. Alan McPherson
In 1994, the Moderator, the Rev. Dr. George Vais, presented the thoughtfully developed “Confes- sion of The Presbyterian Church in Canada” to Phil Fontaine, the National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations, in a ceremony at the Forks in Winnipeg. As Mod- erator of the General Assembly the following year, I was asked to visit the Mistawasis reserve near Prince Albert, Sask., and to pre- sent the Confession to the com- munity there.
It was and is a heartfelt apol- ogy for the part our denomination played in helping the government subdue and control the life and liberty of Canada’s Indigenous peoples. We had “agreed to take the children of Aboriginal peo- ples from their own homes and place them in residential schools” where, as so many news stories
since have made very clear, they were deprived of their traditional ways to try and achieve their as- similation with Euro-Canadian customs and values. And too of- ten treated very badly.
So, on an October Sunday morning, my wife and I joined the congregation in the little church on the Mistawasis Reserve. And when it was time, I read the whole text of the Confession to the congregation, and presented it to Laura Bird, one of the senior elders. While others had suffered from the distress and ill-treatment that so many experienced, her ex- perience had not been so painful, and her faith was strong. “Can I read something to you?” she asked. She opened her Bible at Ephesians 4 and read the final words of the chapter: “Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice.
Be kind to one another, tender- hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.”
It was a moment I will never forget. When I told a General As- sembly about it a few years later, the Presbyterian Record maga- zine reported that I was over- come with emotion. But there is another lasting memory from that long ago day. The conduct of the service was shared with a young Indigenous woman from the reserve, who served there as student minister. I made a note of her name on the schedule that guided my travels through North- ern Saskatchewan. Although we were never in personal contact, I kept track of her as she entered Vancouver School of Theology and was later ordained. The name I had quickly scribbled down was “Mary Fontaine.”
In June of this year that young woman, widely respected for her
The Rev. Mary Fontaine, current Moderator of the PCC, and the Rev. Dr. Alan M. McPherson, Moderator of the 121st General Assembly (1995).
ministry serving Indigenous peo- ple in the Vancouver area, became the Moderator of our General As- sembly. My wife, Maureen, and I made sure we were in Halifax to attend the opening of the Assem- bly and witness Mary Fontaine’s
election as Moderator.
With all the demands on her,
we only had time for a brief con- versation about that long ago oc- casion, but I was glad to be able to reconnect, and offer her my suppor t.
FALL 2023
THE PRESBYTERIAN HISTORY NEWSLETTER NEEDS YOU!
Presbyterian History, a twice yearly e-newsletter of the PCC’s Committee on History, is looking for topics to cover in upcoming issues.
Does your congregation have an interesting story or bit of folklore that you think your Presbyterian friends across the country would find interesting? What about a minister, director of music, educator, or missionary of note? Does your building have a story about its art and architecture that’s worth sharing?
Storytelling and sharing are important as congregations face uncertain futures and as the PCC adapts to a changing world. These stories bind us together with the communion of saints who have gone before us and with those who will come after us.
For more information, contact Ian McKechnie, editor, at ianmckechnie@trentu.ca. The Committee on History strives to make its newsletter a vehicle for us all to share in the rich heritage of The Presbyterian Church in Canada.