Canadian Mennonite
Volume 6, number 7
April 11, 2002

InConversation

Church leaders defend medicare...with changes

The national debate on medicare is about loving your neighbour as yourself, said several speakers at the Ottawa "roundtable" on February 28. The event was sponsored by the Ecumenical Health Care Network of the Canadian Council of Churches.

The 100 participants, including church leaders and health care providers, urged Canadians to bring this message to the hearings being held by the Romanow Commission, as well as to their members of parliament and Health Minister Anne McLellan.

The Romanow Commission on "The future of health care" is expected to bring in changes soon after its report is submitted in November.

Most speakers at the roundtable feared there will be some dismantling of the medicare system. They argued strongly that health care is not a commodity to be placed on the market, that Canadian society has a moral responsibility to provide it equitably, and that for-profit systems are not only less equitable but more expensive.

Nualla Kenny, a U.S.-born Roman Catholic nun and deputy minister of health in Nova Scotia, said she fears Canada is moving away from its communitarian ethic toward the more libertarian U.S. approach.

Michael Rachlis of Toronto pointed out that before the introduction of medicare, expenditures on health care in Canada, as a percentage of the gross domestic product, were about the same as those in the U.S. Under medicare, Canadian expenditures were lower than in the U.S. It was also noted that while Americans with money can get more "high end" services more quickly, some 40 million Americans are without insurance.

Though the speakers supported medicare, they said some things need to change. The current system, said Rachlis, follows a "battlefield model" Medicare From page 11 where you set up a hospital with doctors and nurses and then wait for the casualties to come in. The reality is that we have many people, especially older people, who need only a low level of care but on an ongoing basis.

This situation should lead to more out-patient care, to having essential drugs covered by medicare, and to multi-disciplinary health centres with social workers, chaplains, and counsellors, in addition to doctors and nurses. The speakers noted that many doctors are open to such an approach, but doctors' associations tend to object.

Speakers also said there should be more incentives for family doctors, noting that specialists work fewer hours and receive far more money. They also noted that advances in science and technology attract a lot of interest, but their high cost means they cannot be available for everyone. This raises the question whether people with money should then be prevented from buying them.

Speakers noted that the Walkerton water crisis brought things into perspective. Suddenly people thought less about MRIs and CAT-scans and more about investing in clean water systems. The former are individualistic health procedures while the latter are more communal and social.

Speakers said that the health of Canadians is better than ever but that we worry about it more. They also claimed that "spiritual" or "religious" people are healthier and that non-medical dimensions of health care should be given more scope, though not uncritically. They deplored the growing interest in cosmetic surgery as well as the idea that poor people from other countries should be allowed to sell their organs to Canadians.

Despite frustrations with long waiting lines, most ordinary Canadians want the medicare system saved, said speakers. But certain "elites" assume it cannot be done. That view, some said, is based not on realities, but on an ideological assumption that governments can't do anything well. Speakers said saving medicare would not require large amounts of new money, though the focus should be more on prevention and low level care than on hospital beds and technology.

Canada is at a turning point, speakers said, and people who believe that we are to bear one another's burdens must speak out now. More information is available from the Canadian Council of Churches, from Kairos, from the Catholic Health Association of Canada, and at the Romanow website: www.healthcarecommission.ca.


-Bill Janzen

The writer is director of the Ottawa Office of Mennonite Central Committee Canada.

 

 

 

Footprints on the toilet bowl

One of my first intercultural encounters took place in a shopping mall when my classmate came out of the public washroom to exclaim, "There are footprints on the toilet bowl!" This was new. Why would someone go to all that trouble, and put themselves in such a precarious position? That the incident remains so clearly etched in my memory is an indication of how perplexed I was.

Since arriving in China, I've often been perplexed. Usually it is just when I feel I am starting to understand what is going on around me that something completely unexpected and totally inexplicable occurs. The frustrating thing is that most of these actions that I dismiss as the senseless acts of people who know no better turn out to be perfectly reasonable.

When my students told me that their talent show would be broadcast on a Hong Kong TV station, I had a hard time hiding my disbelief. At the appointed time, though, there they were on channel 9, courtesy of the college's A-V department which had cut the Hong Kong feed and were broadcasting the show over the college's cable system. Were my students right? Yes. Was I relieved I hadn't told my students there was no way they would appear on Hong Kong TV? Very much so.

Sharing a common faith does not prevent misunderstandings. When a local pastor commented to my wife about the Christmas decorations plastered all over Nanchong's stores, hotels, and karaoke bars, she sympathized with him about the crass commercialization of something precious.

"You," he replied, "really don't understand our position here. The church is so very small in our society. Most people have never heard of Christianity. How could you understand that, coming from the West?" He feels that the acceptance and support of Christmas in the marketplace will legitimate its celebration in the church.

So how does one minimize intercultural misunderstandings? Much of what I have read, experienced, and learned (often the hard way) is summed up by Mary Doria Russell in her novel, Children of God, which depicts a close encounter between Jesuit priests and aliens. The beginning of intercultural understanding, a priest advises, is going from saying, "This doesn't make sense" to saying, "I don't understand." This necessitates relinquishing the stance of a patronizing judge and critic in order to approach another culture as a humble, receptive learner who is slow to pass judgement and quick to admit the limitations of his or her own understanding.

Paul writes of the gospel as foolishness to Gentiles. It could be nothing else to those who respond with, "This doesn't make sense." Those who admit that they don't understand it may come to understand the gospel as something else. This admission isn't easy, and my initial reflex is too often to dismiss actions I don't understand as simply what people do when they don't know how to do it the right (i.e. western) way.

I am making progress, though, and last week I taught my four-year-old daughter, who has grown up using squat toilets, how to stand on a public toilet. I did make a point of showing her how to wipe off her footprints.-Todd Hanson

The writer has been teaching in China since 1991 with Mennonite mission boards and China Educational Exchange. He is from Christopher Lake, Saskatchewan.

 


Gifts of young adults not being used

 

I am a young adult and would like to affirm the young adult ministry that Wendy Harder has organized in Saskatchewan. The churches should continue to seek paid ministry now that Wendy has resigned.

I am concerned about the low number of young adults participating in Mennonite churches (see article on Saskatchewan young adults, Jan. 14, page 15). I did not say "decreasing" number because this has been the case in our churches for some time. It seems to me that adults ages 19-30 tend to opt out of church altogether, only coming back after they have "settled" with families and careers.

Some would say this is normal-the busy schedules of people unfettered by family and business keeps them from involving themselves too heavily in the local church so that they have the freedom to move around as studies or employment opportunities demand.

I believe that this is not a sufficient reason to opt out of church responsibility. It seems more likely that the role of the church has changed. It has become a place that holds meaning for children (Christian education via Sunday school), for youth (social learning in the youth group), adults (family nurturing via worship) and seniors (comfort and tradition sharing via pastoral care).

Young adults who stay in the church find themselves in an awkward place. They are seeking their place in adulthood but still unable to provide financially. They are in the process of realizing their gifts, yet they often feel that there is no place for them in the church.

I admit this might be overly generalized. I have not mentioned the many young adults who have decided to involve themselves in various ways. For them, I am thankful. In regards to the dilemma I have described, my only hope is the memory of my experience.

I started playing guitar on the praise and worship team once a month at the request of "John" in North Kildonan Mennonite Church. At age 15, I felt that it was quite an honour to be asked to share my gifts in worship. I was so thrilled I didn't even think about the butterflies in my stomach when I was up front.

Slowly I became co-dependent with my congregation, and after I was baptized my involvement with teaching junior high Sunday school increased my co-dependency. The next step was working at camp and going to Bible college. My dreams of becoming an auto mechanic were laid aside as my passion to participate in church life increased.

During my college years, I was involved as a youth sponsor, while continuing as Sunday school teacher and guitar player for worship. Currently I have accepted a paid ministry as youth pastor at Rosthern Mennonite Church.

The point is, what got me hooked on church was that members saw the gifts I had and invited me to share them. Gift discernment is not an official program in our church; it was the careful observation of several adults that got the ball rolling. People need to open their eyes to the wonderful gifts of the young people in their church and then actively seek, on a person-to-person basis, to invite them to share their gifts with the congregation.

We young adults need to be open to sharing our gifts, for in doing so we help the church keep its vitality and faithfulness in mission to all ages. The point is not to start another "gift discernment" program; the change starts when we see that we are all gifted people. I encourage congregations to diligently seek new and creative ways to incorporate the gifts of young adults, and in doing so, they will give young adults purpose and meaning in the body of Christ.


-Marco Funk, Rosthern, Sask.

 

 

 

Letters

 

Thomas More also
had a dark side

I applaud the choice of Robert Bolt's "A Man for All Seasons" as the Canadian Mennonite University theatre debut. This play/movie still ranks as one of my favourites. The behaviour and convictions of Thomas More stand in stark contrast to those of other officials in the court of Henry VIII.

However, there was a darker side to More. He was seen by contemporary reformers (William Tyndale and John Foxe) as the cruellest of all persecutors. The stories of More whipping heretics in his garden may be exaggerated, but as Lord Chancellor he had more responsibility than any other person in the persecution of heretics.

More asserted that the most "monstrous of all heretics were the Anabaptists," who rejected infant baptism and believed that worldly goods should be held in common (like the inhabitants of More's Utopia!). His success in persecuting Anabaptists was such that none established a permanent congregation in England until some 70 years later.

There is a lesson in this: dogmatic convictions in faith, ethics or politics are at best a diluted virtue unless tempered with compassion and understanding of your opponents.


-Edward Bergen, Toronto, Ont.

 

 

Does Suderman agree
with Kraybill?

I read with great interest the article, "Our future is evangelical" (Feb. 11, page 6). Kraybill's article is clear and written with sincerity through experience and understanding. For me, Kraybill puts into focus our Anabaptist roots.

In contrast I am not clear as to what the article, "Winning and losing" by Robert J. Suderman (March 11, page 32), is driving at. Is the long preamble to his conclusion an attempt to reword the intent of the Kraybill article? Is Suderman raising a red flag?


-Abram Dyck, Winnipeg, Man.

 

 

 


 

 


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