My primer.

When I was a child, the Canadian Churchman was my primer about God, Jesus, and the Anglican church. As I matured in the church, the Churchman became the Journal. The paper had become for me the embodiment of that "inquiring and discerning heart" we Anglicans so cherish. I loved how the editors would never shy away from a spirited debate about women priests, the Book of Alternative Services, or whether people from other creeds would also make it into heaven.

By the time I was studying journalism in college, I had a new appreciation for how the Journal could do all that in a solid journalistic fashion, with a complete unwillingness to fall under the influence of dogmatic dictates.

We are blessed by the Journal. It keeps us informed, sometimes irritates us, and above all, helps us envision ourselves as the kind of people God hopes we will become.

Nancy Devine

Aurora, Ont.