 Dr. Higgins, president of St. Thomas University in Fredericton, N.B., is the author most recently of Stalking the Holy: In Pursuit of
Saint-Making [Anansi 2006], currently being re-aired on CBC Radio One’s Ideas .)
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Graham Greene, an ecclesiastical rebel |
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Written by Michael W. Higgins
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Thursday, 17 April 2008 |
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For many readers the notion of a Catholic novelist is simply Graham Greene. There is none better. After all, novels like The Power and the Glory, The Honorary Consul and Monsignor Quixote are replete with Catholic figures and themes. Other works, like The End of the Affair, The Heart of the Matter and A Burnt-Out Case, are strong Catholic meat, even if inedible for those of a more pious taste. |
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Heaven forbid we have religion in public realm |
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Written by Michael W. Higgins
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Thursday, 20 March 2008 |
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The role of religion in the public realm continues to command the attention and stir the fears of countless numbers. John Waters, the Irish biographer and music columnist, recently observed during an interview over his new book, the autobiographical Lapsed Agnostic, that there are only two subjects in contemporary Ireland that are politically incorrect: Eamon de Valera and God. Has it come to this? |
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Blessed are the peacemakers |
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Written by Michael W. Higgins
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Tuesday, 19 February 2008 |
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 We love to talk about peace and what it means or may mean, and yet we know how elusive the definition and the experience can actually be. I suspect that is why we look for people who embody the “reality” of peace, individuals who have given themselves over to a life of creating a culture of peace, people who understand directly the costs of peace.
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These are tough but inviting times for Jesuits |
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Written by Michael W. Higgins
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Friday, 18 January 2008 |
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 This is a momentous time for the Society of Jesus. The Jesuits are currently holding their 35th General Congregation in Rome, a gathering of 219 electors from around the world who will be considering such matters as promotion of justice, ecology, governance, Jesuit-lay collaboration, interreligious dialogue, etc., as well as electing their new general. As the respected historian and director of the Institute of Jesuit Sources, John Padberg, says in his "Preludes to General Congregation 35":
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Faith is no stranger in the political realm |
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Written by Michael W. Higgins
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Friday, 14 December 2007 |
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All of England appears to be waiting for confirmation that its former prime minister has at last crossed the Tiber. Given that if the average Brit had a choice between going to Westminster Abbey for Evensong or dropping by Leicester Square for a bit of celebrity gazing there would be no choice, the pending conversion of Tony Blair as a news item of national interest does appear at first blush to be surprising. |
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