For Mike Moroz, meeting with faith leaders is all about community building. That’s why the NDP MLA, a cabinet minister, created a faith council for his River Heights constituency last year.
“It’s a way for me to get to know local clergy and other leaders,” he said about the meetings, which bring together leaders from the constituency’s 14 churches and four synagogues four times a year.
It’s also a chance for him to hear about the ways the various congregations are serving in the area — and how the provincial government can help.
Mike Moroz, MLA for River Heights, (back left) created a faith council for the constituency last year. People gathered at the parish hall at St. George’s Anglican Church last month.
“Faith groups do all sorts of important things for the community, addressing things like homelessness, poverty, food insecurity, but get very little support or recognition for what they do,” said Moroz, who was elected in 2023.
At the most recent meeting, held at St. George’s Anglican Church on Jan. 28, the 16 people shared how they are helping through things like community nursing, affordable housing, child care and services for LGBTTQ+ people. They also talked about how their groups could tackle the challenge of food waste.
“I’m incredibly proud of the work the faith groups are doing to address issues facing the community,” Moroz said.
Representatives from the various congregations also talked about the challenges they face due to declining attendance and aging members, along with the cost of maintaining older buildings.
“As they share, they see they are facing similar challenges,” Moroz said. “I am interested in knowing what I can do to help them with that.”
Moroz said as far as he knows, he is the only MLA to meet with representatives from the faith community at the council on a regular basis.
In addition to the quarterly meetings, Moroz — who is not a religious person — attends one of the four synagogues each Saturday and a different church each Sunday.
“I do it to be available to people, to make sure they have easy access to me,” he said, adding he “drinks a lot of coffee after the services.”
Members of the religious community who attend the meetings say the gatherings are valuable.
Sherpard Gwende, priest at St. George’s, said “It’s a joy to see people of different denominations and religions gathering together to talk about serving the community.”
Temple Shalom’s Myriam Saitman agreed, saying the council allows members to connect and build relationships.
“I think this is the first step of many possibilities,” she said.
Westworth United Church minister Tricia Gerhard said the meetings allow the provincial government to be aware of their plans and perhaps find ways to partner with congregations.
“It reminds me that we are not alone in doing the work God calls us to do,” she said.
Colin Dorrian, rector’s warden at St. Peter’s Anglican Church, said learning about other congregations is paramount.
“It’s so encouraging to listen to what others are doing and then look and figure out how we can maybe work together on some initiatives or ideas,” Dorrian said.
Leslie Emery agreed.
“It was good to meet our neighbours, hear what is working for them, what challenges they have and their successes. There were so many similarities around the table,” the cantor at Congregation Shaarey Zedek said.
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John Longhurst
Faith reporter
John Longhurst has been writing for Winnipeg’s faith pages since 2003. He also writes for Religion News Service in the U.S., and blogs about the media, marketing and communications at Making the News.
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