On August 28th, CPCA Chaplains from across Canada connected on Zoom to continue our journey of education on interfaith. Close to 30 police chaplains registered for the session which to me demonstrates a willingness to embrace diversity and inclusion of all faith groups within the membership of the CPCA. Having served over 33 years in law enforcement, I'm well aware the diversity that exists within a law enforcement community regarding spiritual and cultural beliefs. In order to serve our law enforcement communities with excellence, we as chaplains need to continue to improve upon our knowledge and skill sets in order to adequately provide appropriate Member care, both emotionally and spiritually.
Our presenter Rev. Cathy Merchant joined us from Vancouver where she holds the position of the Interfaith Leader of the Living Interfaith Sanctuary, and also serves as the Minister of Community Life of Canadian Memorial United Church. Cathy has a Masters in Divinity from the Vancouver School of Theology and an MA in Middle East Studies from the University of Washington. She has been teaching Compassionate Listening in North America and in Israel and Palestine since 2009 and is an ordained Interfaith minister. Her faith tradition is Mahayana Buddhism, and her husband and children are Ismaili Muslims.
Cathy's presentation was excellent, and her experience as an interfaith leader was evident throughout her presentation. Although her faith tradition is Buddhism, she considers herself to be a bit of a "religious nerd" (Cathy's words) in that she has studied many religions and continues to seek knowledge from multiple sources. The insight she provided was invaluable and interactive conversations between our chaplains and Cathy covered sensitive areas such as how to appropriately engage a grieving family who has experienced the loss of their law enforcement family member through suicide or murder. I appreciated Cathy's heart for police officers and chaplains and her willingness to be a future resource to our CPCA Chaplains who serve officers and families of the Buddhist faith. I've also appreciated feedback from some of our participants who have described the session as fantastic, eye opener, informative, interesting, great information, and insightful.
A special thank you to our CPCA Affiliate Member Jennifer Schwartzentruber with Corrections Canada in Abbotsford, for connecting me with Rev. Merchant. All who registered for Chaplains Connect have received Cathy's Power Point presentation. In addition, for those who registered but were unable to attend or departed early, I've emailed the video recording of Cathy's presentation. Cathy has been generous in that she has given me permission to share this recording with all our CPCA Members. Since this was a free educational presentation, if any of our 2024 Full & Affiliate CPCA Members want the video to learn about Buddhism, I will send you the recording. Email me at bewanyshyn91@gmail.com
I will only send the video to Full and Affiliate CPCA Members who have renewed their membership for 2024. It's not too late to renew your membership for 2024, and you may do so through our CPCA website Memberships page link found here: https://www.canadianpolicechaplainassociation.com/memberships
If you are currently serving a Canadian law enforcement agency as their chaplain, please consider joining the CPCA for connection, training, and resources. If you are aspiring to serve a law enforcement agency in the future as a chaplain, consider applying to become a CPCA Affiliate Member to receive online training courses and become connected to the resources available from a national association of police chaplains.
Preparations are in the works for our next training webinar scheduled for the first week in October (more details will be forthcoming). This will be a CPCA certificate training course with an expert who has supervised law enforcement operations in the area of Human Trafficking. Learn how exposure to the realities of Human Trafficking can affect law enforcement officers through the experiences of a recently retired RCMP Staff Sergeant. There will be a registration cost to participate since this will be a certificate training session. More details will be forthcoming.
I look forward to seeing you in October. In the meanwhile, enjoy your summer and every opportunity to serve and encourage the women and men in your law enforcement community.
Warmest regards,
Rev. Bruce Ewanyshyn
CPCA President
ICPC Director of Region 1
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