News

I’ll admit it – I was nervous when I accepted the offer to live at Conrad Grebel. I had visited a couple of times and knew the rooms were lovely, the food was fantastic, and the people were friendly. But as a bisexual person who grew up in a faith community, I had some doubts about how my queerness would be viewed in the Grebel residence. I moved into Grebel at an important time in my life – one where I was learning to accept who I am and to live with pride.

The Indigenous Mennonite Encounters in Time and Place: A Gathering of Body, Mind, and Spirit conference was held at Conrad Grebel University College on May 12-15, 2022. It was a valuable opportunity to hear stories of encounters and relationships between Indigenous peoples and Mennonite settlers on Turtle Island (aka Canada). 

Queerness and theology do not always play well together. Ever since the word “homosexual” entered the English-language Bible (1946, RSV,) many of our own local, western Christian groups have been working hard to exclude LGBTQ+ folks from the family of God. This intentional exclusion and constant discrimination has resulted in high rates of suicide and suicidal ideation, depression, anxiety, substance use, chronic stress, and general mistrust of religious institutions. No Christian space is exempt from this legacy, and we must all learn to do better.

“Writing illuminates our interior world and sometimes, illuminates the world for others,” wrote Sandy Conrad, Master of Theological Studies (MTS) student at Conrad Grebel University College. “Personal and honest stories have the greatest impact on the reader.” During the winter 2022 term, Sandy offered an eight-week creative writing workshop, where current MTS students and other alumni gathered to explore unique styles of writing and build confidence in their writing.

“First year at Grebel was like being in a musical. There never seemed to be dark days and we were always singing,” reminisced Kathleen Cleland Moyer, (BA 1981). “I loved every single day, just the feeling of waking up and wondering what fun I was going to have!”

It is with great sadness that we share the news of the passing of Kaitlyn Roth, a 3A Conrad Grebel University College undergraduate student in the Faculty of Arts. Kaitlyn passed away on April 28, 2022.

Tyler Allen works in the kitchen at Grebel, washing dishes and helping the cooks prepare and serve food. A few weeks ago, we celebrated Tyler’s “One Thousand Days Without Pop” at Grebel.

As we emerge from many months of a global pandemic, the Grebel community is eager for renewal of mind, spirit and direction. Our new strategic plan focuses on a relatively short time frame of three years, and centres on the work we need to do to recover and thrive following the unexpected upheavals of the past two years. 

Images reach into our lives in a different way than written text or even music. I remember sitting in church services as a little kid, paging through my Bible and looking for pictures. Children growing up in congregations with the new Voices Together hymnal will be shaped by the artwork they see week after week. 

As part of Grebel’s mission to nurture faith in service to church and society, the College has woven many threads of opportunity into its programming. While Grebel students are on diverse career paths, those who want to build church leadership skills find ways to develop those gifts.