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In 2019, Canada’s parliament designated the second week of September as Mennonite Heritage Week, granting special recognition to Mennonite resilience, cultural production, and peacemaking efforts. The designation encourages deeper public appreciation of Mennonite contributions to “building Canadian society.” This call comes alongside increasing acknowledgment among some Mennonites of all that past and current participation in nation-building has entailed - prominently, white settlers’ involvement in the state’s varied colonialist projects targeting Indigenous peoples. This year, we mark Mennonite Heritage Week by drawing attention to an upcoming conference, to be held at Conrad Grebel University College in May 2022, that invites reflection on these parts of Mennonite history, in Canada and in other contexts.

For complete information on the University of Waterloo's response to COVID-19, visit UWaterloo's Coronavirus website.

As the start of the fall 2021 school year approaches, Grebel is welcoming students, faculty, and staff back to campus. With a near-normal presence on campus, staff and faculty aim to be available to students by arranged meeting. Grebel is offering a mix of online and in-person courses with spacing and capacity limits for in-person classes.

This past June, scholars, practitioners, support workers, health care experts, and interested parties from across the globe gathered together virtually over the course of three weeks to advance the connections between spiritual practice and the effects of aging at the ninth International Conference on Aging and spirituality. Many health care support workers and religious/spiritual practitioners recognize the benefits to a broader approach of spiritual needs among all aging individuals and communities beyond end of life care, and recognize the diverse experiences of elder care around the world. The conference connected researchers with practitioners in a way that fosters community and advances this important intersection of care.

“I’ve learned a lot about what it takes to be an effective leader,” shared Katrina Steckle. “It takes incredible organization, commitment, and energy, but it also takes kindness and empathy.” Katrina has just graduated with a Psychology and English Literature and Rhetoric double major with a History minor at the University of Waterloo. She was a resident and later and associate at Conrad Grebel University College.

In recognition of Emerson and Elsie McDowell's commitment to the ministry of the Mennonite Church, their vision for ecumenism, and to support the Master of Theological Studies (MTS) program at Conrad Grebel University College, the Emerson and Elsie McDowell Theological Studies Scholarship has been established. The McDowells had a long relationship with Grebel as donors, parents, and grandparents. The McDowell family has a strong interest in church leadership and a passion for theological studies and ministry, and they have chosen to establish this award in honour of their parents. 

After two years of construction, a global pandemic, and a decade of dreaming and planning, Grebel's new kitchen and renovated dining room are complete! More than 1000 generous donors contributed to making this project a success, generously giving more than $4.2m to the Fill the Table capital campaign.

"The vitality of our Peace and Conflict Studies program at Grebel depends on enrolling students with diverse experiences,” announced Conrad Grebel University College President Marcus Shantz. "We are humbled and grateful that our friend Majid Mirza and several other donors chose to establish a scholarship at Grebel, named for Malcolm X, to support Black and Indigenous students in our Master of Peace and Conflict Studies program."

A '70s reunion on Zoom seems deliberately ironic. Afterall, most of us graduated from university before personal computers were even on our radar.  Typewriters were our thing! Nonetheless, the group of Grebel alumni who gathered on June 5 had obviously kept up with the times. Screens on, muted – or not, breakout rooms and chat were all just part of the pandemic fun. The major bonus, of course, was that no travel was required so it was great to see remembered faces while also meeting some new ones.

Today, we join with millions across Canada who are mourning the loss of the 215 children found buried at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School in an unmarked mass grave. We honour the memories of these children who were stolen from loving parents and families, and we offer our respect and our prayers for healing to the Tk'emlúps te Secwe̓pemc community, and to all residential school survivors.