Dr. Barbara Pell, a Professor of English at Trinity Western University in Langley B.C., (right)has won the 2008 Leading Women Award for Education. Dr. Pell is considered one of the best-known Christian scholars of Canadian literature in the nation. The awards celebrate women who have made an “extraordinary contribution” in one of eight categories. They will be presented at the National Christian Leadership Conference for Women held on March 1 in Mississauga.

For over 21 years Dr. Pell has taught more than 2,000 students at TWU. One former student, Amber Butler Rock, said, "She evinced an amazing breadth of knowledge in her field; she knew every critics' opinion and every accepted interpretation of the literature she presented. But what also impressed me was her equally strong desire to help students succeed.” Pell has published numerous articles and several books including Faith and Fiction: A Theological Critique of the Narrative Strategies of Hugh MacLennan and Morley Callaghan and A Portrait of the Artist: Ernest Buckler’s “The Mountain and the Valley.” She is President of the Board of Vancouver’s Pacific Theatre and co-founder and Emeritus Chair of the Christianity and Literature Study Group which annually presents papers on religion and literature at the Congress of Humanities and Social Sciences.

Dr. Pell worships at the Church of the Resurrection in Hope, B.C. where her husband, the Rev. Archie Pell, is the rector. Their congregation was the first to join the Anglican Network in Canada last November.

BP COWAN OPPOSES VOTE

(Staff)   On Jan. 30 the Bishop of the Diocese of British Columbia (on Vancouver Island) wrote to all his diocesan clergy and parish officials saying that he is hearing “persistent rumours” that some Canadian parishes are considering separating from their diocese and the Anglican Church of Canada and warned that this action would be ultra vires (“beyond one’s power” or illegal). Bishop James Cowan threatened the immediate termination of any clergy or any member of parish council or any person employed by the Diocese found involved in planning such departures.

“No parish or congregation in the Diocese of British Columbia has any legal existence except as part of the Diocese, and any attempt by any person to remove a parish from the jurisdiction of the Bishop and Synod is schismatic,” he wrote.

He continued: “If a person is employed by the Diocese or parish and is found to be acquiescing in or to be actively promoting such separation, this is a ground for immediate termination of employment without notice or severance. People chairing official meetings of parishioners, whether incumbents or wardens, or other persons delegated by them, are obliged to rule such motions out of order.” 

Read Bishop Cowan’s full letter at www.vancouver.anglican.ca