Mennonite Historical Society of Alberta

MHSA Archival Description Record

Title and Physical Description
Donald Stoesz (1954- ) fonds. — 2006. — 2 cm of textual records

Administrative/Biographical History
Donald Stoesz and his twin brother, Dennis, were born in 1954 to Erdman C. and Sara (nee Unger) Stoesz in Altona, Manitoba.  Donald married Naomi Brubacher in 1982 and they have four children, Matthew (1989), twins Kevin and Justin (1991), and Sonya (1993).  Donald and Dennis were educated at the former Canadian Mennonite Bible College,  Donald graduating in 1975 and Dennis in 1977 with a Bachelor of Theology. Donald went on to receive a B.A. Honours from the University of Manitoba in 1979, an M. Divinity from the Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminaries in Elkhart, Indiana in 1981, and a Ph.D. in theology from McGill University in 1991.  His dissertation was entitled, “The Confessional and Apologetics Aspects of Gordon Kaufman’s Thought: An Interpretation”.

Donald served as youth pastor at Foothills Mennonite Church in Calgary, Alberta from 1981-1983, as faculty assistant and part-time lecturer at McGill University from 1986-1997, as chaplain in the Quebec federal prison system from 1989-1998, and as prison chaplain at Bowden Institution in Central Alberta from 1998 to the present.  He has served on a variety of boards and committees, including the Canadian Theological Society, the Bowden Minor Hockey and Soccer League Boards, Bridge Ministries and COSA boards with Mennonite Central Committee in Alberta, and on the Bergthal Mennonite Church Council.  Both he and Naomi have been members of Bergthal Mennonite Church since 1999.

In addition to publishing a variety of articles in religious Journals, he contributed a chapter on Gordon Kaufman’s thought in a 1993 Festshrift in honour of Gordon Kaufman.  He has also written a spiritual journey book, entitled, The Intimate Presence of God, (2003) and is currently working on a book on prison ministry, entitled, “Glimpses of Grace: Personal Reflections of a Prison Chaplain.” 

Custodial History
The records were donated to the MHSA through Mennonite Church Historian, Henry D. Goerzen, in 2009

Scope & Content
The fonds consists of two self-published monographs

Source of Supplied Title
Title based on the contents of the fonds

Source of Acquisition
Gift from Donald Stoesz

Arrangement
According to subject

Access Restrictions
None

Finding Aids
See Files Inventory

Accruals
Not Expected

Notes
Accession 2009.010
Last updated 2 Jul 2009 - Judith Rempel

Files Inventory

1 - 1 "Mapping the Diverging Trajectories of the Manitoba Bergthaler-Sommerfelder Split of 1892" - 2006
1 - 2 Sermons and Services by Sommerfelder Stoeszs - 2006

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