Winnipeg Anglican church that serves food to 300 people a week needs help to get a new roof

When word got out that St. Thomas Anglican Church in Winnipeg’s Weston-area needed money for a new roof, the first donation came from a man who depends on it each week for food. 

“It was some pocket change,” said Cassandra Golondrina, the deacon who leads the church. “It was like the widow’s mite in the Bible, small but so very significant.” 

It’s going to take a lot of pocket change to repair the roof of the church, which was built in 1906. In total, $50,000 is needed. 

The roof is failing, and there is a risk of long-term structural harm if it isn’t repaired—which might force the church to close. And that would be bad news for the more than 300 people in the lower-income neighbourhood who get a home-cooked meal from the church every week. 

About 60,000 meals have been prepared and served by volunteers who work out of the parish hall since the meal program began in 2019. 

Read my story about this remarkable church of 15-20 regular attenders in the Free Press.

You can donate online here.

Photo above: Deacon Cassandra Golondrina stands in the food pantry beneath a hole in the ceiling due to a leaky roof. 

Seniors and students grow vegetables and friendships using hydroponics

Seniors and high school students in North Kildonan are growing vegetables and community through a unique indoor gardening project. 

It began three years ago when Donwood Manor, which is owned by eight Mennonite Brethren churches in Winnipeg, purchased six three-tier indoor hydroponic gardens. 

Through the hydroponic gardening, seniors grow food like lettuce, tomatoes, peppers and herbs year-round—and friendships students from a nearby high school. 

Read my story in the Winnipeg Free Press. 

Photo above: River East Collegiate students Jenna Martino, Dhyani Patel and Dyana Kehler and Donwood tenant Melba Doerksen with freshly harvested  produce from the hydroponic garden. Credit: Jennifer Kappy.

Community enrichment coordinator Minoli Maharage hands lettuce to Donwood tenant Adina Goertzen. 

Mennonite congregations in Canada, the U.S. reach across border to defy Trump's tariffs and talk of annexation or invasion

Mennonite churches in Manitoba and Ohio and Illinois are reaching across the border to build relations through a new program called Called Companion Congregations. 

It was created last year by Mennonite Church Manitoba when U.S. President Donald Trump imposed tariffs against Canada — along with making threats about annexing or invading the country. 

“People in our congregations started talking about not going to the U.S. anymore,” said conference minister Michael Pahl of church events outside the country. 

Through the program, he hopes to create a practical way for churches to show that “the body of Christ transcends borders.” 

To date, four churches are participating: River East and Hope Mennonite in Winnipeg and First Mennonite in Bluffton, Ohio and Mennonite Church of Normal, Illinois.  

Read the article here in the Free Press.

Photo above: Keith Poysti and Don Loewen of River East show stained glass art they made to send to Bluffton Mennonite Church. 

 

Why are evangelicals and Roman Catholics so critical of Bill C-9, the Combatting Hate Act?

 

Why are Canadian evangelicals and Roman Catholics so critical of the government’s decision to remove the “good faith defence” from Bill C-9, the Combatting Hate Act? What do they want to preach and teach that might get their clergy into trouble if the Bill is passed into law with that provision removed? I asked the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada and the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops that question in order to find out. 

Click here to read their answers in my Free Press column. 

Image above from the Renew Church website. 

 

New horizon for me and for Winnipeg Free Press religion coverage: New partnership launched with Broadview Magazine

By: Paul Samyn

Posted: 12:00 PM CDT Friday, May. 1, 2026

In 2019, the Free Press launched our Religion in the News project on little more than a wing and a prayer. 

Seven years later, we can count more than 1,200 articles touching on all faiths as a testament to the value of that initiative — the only one of its kind among major Canadian daily newspapers. 

Today, I am pleased to announce a new chapter for this project that will broaden its reach and strengthen its journalism. 

As part of a new partnership, the Free Press will be working with Broadview, an independent Canadian magazine known for its award-winning coverage of progressive Christianity as well as its broader reporting on the diversity of religious and spiritual life. 

Broadview brings to our partnership an impressive track record since its founding in 1829, making it the oldest continuously published magazine in North America, and the second oldest in the English-speaking world. 

In its nearly 200-year history, Broadview has won international acclaim for journalistic excellence and garnered more editorial awards than any other faith-based publication in Canada.

By partnering with Broadview, donations to our Religion in News project will now be eligible for charitable tax receipts, a move that will help to ensure its long-term sustainability.

This new chapter will see Free Press editors work with the editorial team at Broadview on stories that will be published on both organizations’ platforms.

This new chapter will also see the addition of a new reporter as our longtime faith writer, John Longhurst, prepares to step down from the project he was instrumental in establishing.

Over the next few months, John will be working with Josiah Neufeld to guide him into the reporting role that has been key to the project’s success.

John’s body of work and passion for this project helped earn him the Order of Canada, an honour that speaks to his character and the importance of the work he has done for the Free Press.

In these increasingly polarized times, his reporting diversified our coverage and delivered a world of understanding.

I think Payam Towfigh, past-president of Manitoba Multifaith Council, may have said it best when he offered this perspective of the Religion in the News project: “Faith reporting by the Free Press helps create a space where the diversity of various faith-based communities can be showcased to create a just and caring society.”

I’m excited to welcome Broadview to the space we have created and to read what Josiah will bring to the project. 

And I am ever grateful for the faith readers put in the Free Press.

Paul Samyn is editor of the Free Press. Learn more about the Religion in the News project and make a tax-deductible donation here.

paul.samyn@freepres.mb.ca

The Free Press is committed to covering faith in Manitoba through our Religion in the News project. This reporting continues because readers like you step forward to fund it.

Donate now to support our reporting on religion.
Your donation is eligible for a charitable tax receipt.BECOME A FAITH JOURNALISM SUPPORTER

Paul Samyn

Spiritual directors share: "It’s a ministry of listening.”

Does God feel far away? Does your spiritual life feel flat? Is your prayer life unsatisfying? Or maybe things are going well, but you just want to feel closer to God or the divine in your life. 

If that describes your situation, you might want to consider spiritual direction, where a trained guide can help you enter into a deeper relationship with God — however you describe God — in order to grow spiritually. 

I spoke with three spiritual directors from Manitoba recently. Read their thoughts about how spiritual direction can help you become more aware of God’s movement in your life, and how you can respond to the promptings of the spirit. 

Read their thoughts and reflections in my recent Free Press column.

Study that shows "quiet revival" among youth in the UK retracted; no evidence it is happening in Canada

There’s been lots of media attention recently about the idea of youth religious revival — that young people, especially those from Gen Z, are flocking to church. But is it true? 

A survey in the UK a year ago suggested it was. But then it was retracted when it was found to be untrustworthy and unreliable, due to poor polling methods. This was no surprise to many, who noted that anyone who visited a church on a Sunday morning could see for themselves the lack of youth in the pews. 

A recent study in Canada confirmed there is no evidence of youth revival here. There are anecdotal stories about some churches seeing an influx of youth, but there is no firm evidence to suggest a national youth revival in this country, either. 

To learn more about this situation, I contacted scholars who study religion for their thoughts. Read about it in my latest Free Press column. 

To read the full responses from the scholars, click here. (I never have enough room in a column to include everything they share with me!)

Photo above from the Daily Declaration, Australia's largest Christian news site.