President and Vice-Chancellor
Renison University College
Waterloo, Ontario
As an Anglican who has been involved in higher education over the past three decades, I have been aware of the Anglican Foundation and its important work from its inception. My first direct encounter with the generosity of the Foundation and the difference it makes in people’s lives was when serving as Principal of Vancouver School of Theology. Several key initiatives of our Indigenous Studies Centre would not have been possible without the life-changing contributions of the Foundation to that work.
Currently, as President of Renison University College, I have seen the tremendous impact which support from the Foundation has had on our Inter-faith work. In particular, a grant given to Renison in the fall of 2015 allowed us to proceed with a ground-breaking initiative named, “Dealing with Our Darknesses,” a programmatic series of conversations between Anglicans and Muslims which addressed the themes of transgression, penitence, and transformation in our two faith groups. Those conversations opened up new pathways of understanding which created space for us to encounter each other across historic worlds of difference, thereby fashioning common ground upon which to build a more liveable future for us all.
