Observations by Muriel Duncan Out of tattered brown business envelopes pours the history of The United Church of Canada told in brittle, old photos. Some are well-identified, others carry only clues, a faint date or place name. And here is Harriet Christie, the only woman to hold senior office at United Church House in the early 1970s. But they told a pioneer story, not necessarily one of great financial resources but of determination and imagination. They also hold up the past, good and bad.
History can be our school, our inspiration or our escape.
It depends how we use it. This 75th anniversary is a strange mix of celebration and mourning. We worked on this issue in the shadow of some fairly gloomy predictions for the church's future. We are dealing today with the bitter legacy of Native residential schools where abuse sometimes occurred although we thought we were doing good work. We have apologized for assumptions we made then about our culture and beliefs being superior to others'.