Michael Swan

The Register’s Resurrection mea culpa

April 26, 2012

I’m sorry. In writing about a controversial documentary earlier this month (Dramatic Jesus Discovery documentary lacks hard evidence), I never should have brought up the Resurrection in such an offhand way. I should never have imagined the Resurrection could be explained in a single paragraph of a newspaper article. Simcha Jacobovici’s documentary The Jesus Discovery provocatively asked “what if” a tomb now under an apartment complex in Jerusalem actually contains the bones of Jesus and His family. In my review, I took the bait and posed the question to myself.

Interfaith groups prayed for a ‘more progressive tax code’ for Ontario

April 25, 2012

From Catholics to Zoroastrians, faith leaders gathered at Queen’s Park to pray for prosperity and welcome the compromise Ontario budget passed April 24. The budget, which raised taxes on those earning $500,000 or more by two per cent, spared some day care centres from cuts and added one per cent to basic welfare rates was welcomed by Interfaith Social Assistance Reform Coalition president Rev. Susan Eagle.

Toronto's Out of the Cold program turns 25

April 23, 2012

TORONTO - Out of the Cold has been a success for 25 years, serving the homeless and hungry in 22 locations around the city with the help of Catholic, Protestant, Jewish and Muslim faith communities. But co-founder Sr. Susan Morin wishes it had never been necessary. “It’s not the answer,” Morin told people gathered April 28 to remember Out of the Cold co-founder Fr. John Murphy of the Basilians. “There shouldn’t be so many hungry people. There shouldn’t be people without shelter.”

The moral debate around safe injection drug sites

April 21, 2012

TORONTO - There are 9,000 injection drug users in Toronto and another 3,000 in Ottawa. They face arrest all the time. Many addicts live in neighbourhoods with a concentration of counselling and detox facilities. The federal government has launched anti-drug subway posters to combat the problem. Chances are there will still be 12,000 injection drug users in Ontario’s two biggest cities next year and the year after that.

Quebec churches on board for Earth Day protests

April 21, 2012

What could be the largest protest ever on the streets of Montreal has full Church backing. Earth Day protesters who gather next to the Place des Arts in downtown Montreal will be backed up by Church bells ringing from most of the city’s 230 Catholic churches. Organizers are predicting the April 22 protests will draw more people than March demonstrations against a 75-per-cent tuition hike. The student protest brought about 100,000 onto Montreal’s streets. Earth Day has a broader appeal in Quebec than the tuition fee issue, said Green Church director Norman Levesque.

Toronto artists lend voices to St. Francis Table

April 19, 2012

TORONTO - You don't often see a Capuchin friar in his brown habit prowling a nightclub dance floor while singers warm up the gathering crowd. But Br. John Frampton had a definite interest in the crowd that would gather at the storied El Mocambo in downtown Toronto April 17. A number of Toronto musicians volunteered their time and talent to raise money for St. Francis' Table in an event called Sing For Supper. The unusual venue for a Catholic fundraiser was perfect for reaching out to new supporters, said Frampton.

Fr. Crowe’s life dedicated to Lonergan’s philosophy

April 17, 2012

TORONTO - Jesuit Father Fred Crowe’s long, happy and productive life came to a peaceful end Easter Sunday, April 8. He was 96 years old and had spent 76 years living the vows of a Jesuit. “The last years of his life he just kept writing,” said Jesuit Father Gordon Rixon. “He was one of those Jesuits who was in the library by 5:30 in the morning.” For most of the last 60 years, Fr. Crowe was in the library carefully collecting, editing, explaining and interpreting the work of his seminary professor, Fr. Bernard Lonergan. Lonergan was a Canadian Jesuit who became a towering figure in philosophy and theology.

We can all do more, says 50-year Jesuit

April 12, 2012

CONCORD, ONT. - The Jesuits want more — more faith, more work, more justice, more truth, more hope, more for the love of Christ. Celebrating 50 years as a Jesuit, Fr. Bert Foliot preached the Jesuit demands for more prior to the annual Jesuit Provincial's Dinner. It was one of the last events in a year spent celebrating 400 years of Jesuit ministry in Canada. The April 11 evening was dedicated to the core Jesuit value of more — which in the traditional language of St. Ignatius of Loyola Jesuits call "the magis."

Does money lead to happiness?

April 12, 2012

TORONTO - Most Canadians are richer than their parents, far richer than their grandparents, infinitely richer than their great-grandparents. But are we happier for this? For plenty of indebted, stressed and uncertain Canadians, their country’s rising Gross Domestic Product has not translated into a more meaningful, more satisfying life, either individually or on the level of community. How many can claim to live in a more harmonious, more confident community than the generation that endured the Great Depression and two World Wars? What we measure matters. If our politics and our headlines are driven by the weekly, monthly and annual pulse of the GDP we end up living narrow, nervous lives on a shrinking and poisoned planet, according to Dennis Patrick O’Hara, a University of St. Michael’s College theology professor.

Clergy seek higher taxes — for themselves

April 11, 2012

The clergy have never been an outstanding revenue source for governments, yet some clergy are volunteering to pay more taxes. Rabbi Stephen Wise of Shaarei-Beth El Congregation in Oakville, Ont., is forming Faith Leaders for Fair Taxation. Modeled after Doctors for Fair Taxation and Lawyers for Fair Taxation, Wise wants to provide a platform for all clergy to ask governments to increase taxes. People have to stop thinking of taxes as a dirty word, said Wise.