Catholic Register Editorial
The Catholic Register's editorial is published in the print and digital editions every week. Read the current and past editorials below.
Silent night indeed
Few Christmas hymns are more admired than “Silent Night.” The lyrics were penned by a young German priest in 1816 and a schoolteacher added the melody two years later. Together these amateur musicians wrote a simple yet powerful song that lovingly depicts the peace and joy of the holy mother and her new child.
Beliveau's legacy
Several years ago Jean Beliveau was asked to name the book he would select if he could own just one.
“The Bible,” he told the Montreal Gazette. “It’s a book I could read the rest of my life.”
Rediscover our roots
Pope Francis issued a wake-up call in a frank address (or was it a scolding?) he delivered Nov. 25 to the European Parliament. Good for him. But let’s not be smug about it. His knuckle-rap that a “self-absorbed” Europe needs to recover its soul applies with equal weight to North America.
Feed the world
Jason Brown was making millions of dollars playing in the NFL when he suddenly quit last winter to answer a call to feed the poor.
Speaking of sex
Ontario’s Ministry of Education has launched an online survey regarding the sex-ed component of a new health and physical education curriculum for elementary schools. According to an information package, the ministry is seeking input from 4,000 selected parents — one from every elementary school in the province — as it finalizes a new curriculum for implementation next September.
Pick better battles
Four months after its health care policy for refugee claimants was ruled unconstitutional, Ottawa has grudgingly relented to a judge’s order and returned many — but not all — benefits to the needy people it had previously abandoned. We say grudgingly because the immigration minister remains determined to continue a court battle in defence of a policy that a federal court has already — and quite rightly — denounced as “cruel and unusual.”
Have mercy
There is nothing novel in a Pope rejecting the death penalty, but in typical style Pope Francis went a step further recently by also denouncing life sentences.
Tread carefully
After the attack on Parliament by a lone gunman the instinctive temptation is to respond aggressively. First, to respond politically by supporting new laws that empower police and security officers at the expense of some civil liberties. Second, to respond socially by waffling on Canadian principles that uphold tolerance and respect for all citizens of all backgrounds.
Risky business
Pope Francis sought a “sincere and open” discussion among Church leaders attending the extraordinary Synod of Bishops on the family. Well, he got it. And then some.
Model Canadians
The year-long celebration of the 350th anniversary of the founding of the Diocese of Quebec reached into the Vatican on Oct. 12 with a papal Mass to honour Canada’s two newest saints.