Then a talk from Bob Cox, editor of the Winnipeg Free Press, who told us of his youth in a community church near Goderich, Ontario, and also of how his newspaper is now printing more "Faith coverage." He was funny and appreciated by the editors.

Then to dinner at the house with the 12th Bishop of Rupert's Land, Don Phillips, who greeted us and told us a bit about his diocese.

Hidden upstairs was the first Primate of the Church of England in Canada, who was the Bishop of Rupert's Land (Winnipeg and lots of area around it), Robert Machray.

Here's a picture of MacDonald, with his definitely inherited MacDonald nose.

Great coloured glass in a house that was rather dark. Don't know where the glass was from. MacDonald lived there from 1895 till his death in 1929.

In the evening we walked to Dalnavert, the former home of Hugh John MacDonald, former Manitoba premier and son of John A, which has been restored by the historical society. Very Victorian, now a museum, with a room for catered dining.

As was Paul Sherwood amused. Paul is editor for the Diocese of Nova Scotia and PEI.

It was a great deal of fun. Fiona Brownlee is highly amused by Bruce Hendricks instructions (he is in the green shirt), along with Bob Bettson.

The workshops were mostly about photography, today (despite this blown out shot--I had the ISO up too high. Here Inge Skliros shows how to pose people. The speaker was Bruce Hendricks, Manitoba Photgrapher of the Year.

A great contributor was Mary Ruth Snyder of the Diocese of BC who had plenty of ideas. She suggested many good ideas. I also liked Art Babych, who said we should get away from so much "offical" news: "I don't care about the programs. I don't really care where the church goes. What I care about is the conversion of people through their own stories."

Another day of the Anglican Editors. Jim Sweeney of Quebec in an animated discussion. We were talking about how to edit or papers and spread the Gospel, though not in an unsophisticated way, I think.

At dinner we had a very good beef dinner sponsored by Signal Star Publishing, who prints and mails most of the papers, with musical entertainment. Here Maggie Snyder, 9, daughter of Mary Ruth, editor of the Diocese of BC's Diocesan Post, sang a song for us. Later we had some wonderful Celtic harp playing by a local harpist whose name I have to get.

In the afternoon we received critiques of our papers from Doug Koop, editor of the Christian Current, a weekly paper somewhat like BC Christian News (I think), who generally thought we were too heavy on the machinery of church governance, and not lively enough. We seemed "tired" to him. He asked me, "What does it tell you when meetings, reports, repair work, consultants and budgets are primary topics in parish life?" My defense was that if the church is to be democratically (or somewhat democratically) run, people needed to know what their leaders were doing and what decisions had been made. He did like my interview of Stephen Toope, the UBC president. I think he made some good points--I can get too caught up in the business of the diocese, and not tell enough people stories. With him was Sarah Yates, a freelance writer, who critiqued other stories. She thought we should be a little harder on our writers by, as editors, having "a little bit bigger of an ego," to get better written and more passionate stories into the papers--much the same message as Doug's.

At lunch we heard from Jamie Howison, a priest at an urban mission in Winnipeg and a member of the Primate's Theological Commission (I think) speak about how we should "retext" our stories-that is, using the Bible stories as a base, get into the deep meaning of what's happening in the news and features we report. It was a bit abstract but I think I agree with what he was saying. Here he is after his talk with Leanne Larmondin, editor of the national paper.

Today, Friday, was taken up with the business and professional development meetings of the Anglican Editors. We sit at a square table in the hotel on the 12th floor.

Night time, and the view from the window is full of lights as far as one can see. The horizon in Winnipeg is so different from the West Coast, the sky so big.

So here I am in Winnipeg. Here's the view from my hotel window--the 27th floor--for the next 10 days or so. I've met up with fellow Anglican Editors, and we start the conference at 8:30 am tomorrow morning (Friday, June 15). It should be fun.

 

Well, I said the train is less polluting than airplanes. I think that is, it could be, if trains were fuller, if the fuel was cleaner (or the train track electrified). But the pollution isn't placed high in the air. This dark smoke appeared only when the train was straining to start, or going uphill--and there are a few squashed bugs on the windows, which were actually quite clean for most of the trip. The prairies were so flat and the sky so big, of course, something you know but again have to experience, mile after mile (and the mile signs were in miles, not kilometers). I sat in "Comfort Class," which is the term for coach, which I have to admit was pretty comfortable--and $1,000 cheaper than a sleeper. The service was fine. I was late to get on and got whisked down the platform by VIA staff. Leaving Jasper, a young couple had failed to return to their seat, so the train stopped while a truck raced to get them on board. Such service! Compare that to your airline.

 

This is Pyramid Falls on the way--you see a lot from the train. In particular, I really appreciated the size of Canada. There is just so much of it. You don't really feel that until you experience it on the ground--flying from airport to airport. It is a big, diverse, wonderful country.

Off to Winnipeg

 

I decided to take the train to Winnipeg. This picture is at Jasper. I took it for a rest (no one can reach you on the train), because it's supposedly more ecological than flying, and because the way airports are run these days make my blood boil. VIA was slow but friendly and we got to Winnipeg on time--left at 5:30 Tuesday, pulled into the station (downtown) at 11 am. Actually we were a few minutes early.