Filed under: Afro-Canadian, Religion | Tags: Afro-Canadian, Audi A6S, black, BMW 7 Series, canada, Canada Revenue Agency, Canadian Council of Christian Charities, christian, evangelical, Florida, Gospel, Jane and Finch, Lexus RX 330, Mercedes-Benz CLK 320, Ontario, Paul Melnichuk, pentecostal, Pentecostalism, Porsche Cayenne, Prayer Palace, the Melnichuks, Tim Melnichuk, Tom Melnichuk, Toronto
A Star investigation into Toronto’s Prayer Palace congregation finds that despite the members’ dutiful tithing, the church spends little on charitable projects.
After worshipping at the Prayer Palace this morning, Hyacinthe Houghron will, as she does every second Sunday, stuff her tired green minivan with a small feast: six coolers of homemade soup, a mountain of sandwiches, cakes and sweets.
Loaded down with second-hand clothes pulled from the ceiling-high piles in her hair salon, she’ll give out the goods to homeless people on downtown Toronto’s grittiest streets.
Missions like this aren’t cheap for people like her and other volunteers at the church. “We’re poor folks,” says Houghron, describing the majority of the 3,000-strong congregation who attend the spaceship-shaped church at Hwy. 400 and Finch Ave.
The hairdresser scrapes together $600 of her own money each month to keep up the program because the Prayer Palace – one of Canada’s largest evangelical churches – stopped running it five years ago. Other charitable works, like a promised orphanage in Brazil, either dried up or never materialized.
Meanwhile, the three white pastors – Paul Melnichuk and his 40-year-old twin sons, Tim and Tom – lead lavish lives in contrast to the mainly working-class black families that make up the bulk of the church.
Between them, the pastors have amassed a real estate fortune worth about $12 million. Each owns a multi-million-dollar country estate north of Toronto (Tim’s is worth as much as $5.5 million), they share a Florida vacation villa, and the pastors and their wives drive luxurious cars – among them a Porsche Cayenne SUV, a Lexus RX 330 SUV and a Mercedes-Benz CLK 320 convertible.
Congregants are largely unaware of the pastors’ extravagant lifestyles.
Filed under: Issues | Tags: black, canada, ethnic, fear, intolerance, racism
Fear and intolerance, in some ways, is still true today in Canada. We are not as tolerance as we think? We claim that we are tolerant; however I bet that we are actually driven by fear. Let’s not get bent out of shape now! We get so ‘defensive’ when someone says “you are ignorant” or maybe “intolerant”. However, maybe we should just ask “are you scared”? We are a great multicultural society that tolerates all backgrounds. What we really see is a community, like many others, that is changing. People tend to fear change. We label what we ‘think’ we know and actually know nothing about it. Canada is a free and democratic country, but “are we afraid”? There is no shame in it. At least it’s a start to the discussion. If we value freedom, then let’s talk. However, if we value ‘fear’ then by all means only allow everything that only looks and feel like Canada, whatever that might be.
We do not have to look too far back to a time when African-Canadians were looked upon as a ‘lower classes’ or even ‘in-human’, to some. It’s a tough pill to swallow, but it’s true! How about how Canadian Sikhs and the discrimination they faced? How about Chinese-Canadians and their treatment in Canadian society, from our past? How about the Irish? And let’s not forget Jewish Canadians, along with others who have and still face discrimination today. We must endeavour to not be ignorant of other cultures that come to enrich Canada. On the same foot, immigrants must try to assimilate to Canadian society. Personally I never really liked the various enclaves of ethnic groups in the G.T.A; however, that problem is more linked to multiculturalism. We will leave that talk for another day, because there are pros and cons to this type of setup. I believe in integration and education, so that no one group is marginalized.
If we continue down this path I fear that we will tear apart, as a country. Just because someone, who does not look like us, moves into a community, it does not mean we have to move out. We are Canadians of many colours. We can learn from one another and discuss our opinions freely; not in fear.
By: Torontomatic
Filed under: Afro-Canadian | Tags: African, black, Caribbean, education, race
What is a highway? What is its purpose? Is it simply a transportation mechanism that allows us to travel at high speeds? So, what is our highway? Where is our direction? What are we headed to? For Canadians, of African / Caribbean origin, I am optimistic that our future is bright in this country of ours. However there is a lot of work to be done. For a group a people I feel that we can do better. However, under the circumstances, this is not to say that there has not been impediment to our development, as a people in general. From the time of slavery, until recent, we have lived in the shadow of our former greatness. We have been easily whipped into submission, and indoctrinated so well by our former masters. The images we have seen for years did not include us. With the conditioning of our minds to believe that we can reach no higher and go no farther. This is changing, but again there is still work to be done.
We can go as high as any other group of people or race. We do not have to believe that we cannot. Do not yield to the feeling that you are not great and you cannot go to the top. We are all important; however there is a cycle that must be broken amongst our people. At some point we, as individuals, must realize that we must help each other and ensure that a difference can be made in the lives of our brothers and sisters. Those in our community who are stuck in the gang life, uneducated and lost must be pulled off of that lost highway. Education a key to freedom and once those facts of life are passed to the next generation the cycle is broken. There will be a destination and a purpose to life. But we must acknowledge that there is a problem to be fixed. Just telling our children that an education is important is not good enough. Lead by example and show our children how important it is. Let is not continue to complain about how “marginalized” we are. Of course there are problems and obstructions to our development. But this is not an excuse and we cannot depend on someone else to fix that problem for us. Let’s not loose another generation, just because we could not see the destination ahead. Let us not focus on ourselves, leaving no investment in our own future generations of Afro-Canadians. A highway is a way for us to quickly move from one point to another, hopefully by-passing the traffic and obstacles in the way to that end. I do not really believe that we are lost. It’s just that some of us just need a little help to get off of that highway.
By: Torontomatic
