Michael Swan

Hearing from other faith voices

September 23, 2008

Religion and politics are constant bedfellows, so it's no surprise that Catholics aren't the only ones weighing in on this election. Among the religious voices raised in the early going of the short, six-week campaign, Muslims and Jews each have their concerns.

The spirituality of politics

September 18, 2008

TORONTO - Guidance for participation in Canadian political life can be found in the church’s social teachings, but that doesn’t mean there is a simple formula for voting, according to Catholic observers interviewed by The Catholic Register in advance of the Oct. 14 federal election. “We do not believe people are just individuals. We really are about working for the common good,” explains Ottawa-based Jesuit Father William Ryan. “That’s the basic premise. We’re social beings. . . . We believe that you’re social by nature, and for that reason you’re political.”

Catholic family advocate highlights 'theology of the body'

September 17, 2008

TORONTO - The Catholic Organization For Life and Family wants families to discover the sexual liberation buried in long-neglected Catholic teaching. In its annual message to families, COLF uses the "theology of the body" as a way of talking about sexuality. COLF's goal is to disentangle thinking about sex from sexual politics, commercialization, media images and pornography.

Churches have lots of advice for voters

September 16, 2008

Catholics aren't the only Christians interested in politics. At www.ecumenism.net the ecumenical movement in Canada is highlighting all the election guides and kits put out by various churches.

Canadian bishops offer voting advice to Catholics

September 15, 2008

Canada's Catholic bishops have released a four-page Federal Election 2008 Guide on their web site. The bishops take on complacency and apathy. "Catholics have an obligation to be interested in politics," they write in the introduction.

Putting the focus on two-tier medicine

September 15, 2008

Two-tier medicine that puts the rich at the head of the line for everything from cancer therapy to hip replacements and legislation that would make cheap and easy euthanasia more readily available than quality palliative care are issues the Catholic Health Association hopes voters will question before they cast their ballots Oct. 14.

Viewing the election through ecological eyes

September 12, 2008

Jesuit Father Jim Profit is hopeful that political debate in Canada has begun to take notice of the state of the ecology. "Ultimately if the Earth doesn't survive the rest of us won't survive either. It's a key issue," said the director of the Jesuit Collaborative for Ecology, Forestry and Agriculture in Guelph.

Opus Dei welcomes left-wingers, too

September 12, 2008

It probably comes as no surprise to many Catholics that Nicole Charbonneau Barron, is running in the Montreal riding of St. Bruno-St. Hubert for the Conservatives. Charbonneau Barron is a member of Opus Dei, and the personnel prelature to the pope is generally associated with conservative, right wing politics.

Cardinal Turcotte returns Order of Canada

September 11, 2008

Cardinal Jean-Claude Turcotte, archbishop of Montreal, is returning his Order of Canada to protest the decision to honour Dr. Henry Morgantaler with Canada's highest civilian award.

Gratitude keeps our society human

September 11, 2008

TORONTO - Margaret Visser is much too civilized to tell about the incident which sparked her new book, The Gift of Thanks: The Roots, Persistence and Paradoxical Meanings of a Social Ritual. “There is a story, but I’m not telling it because it’s so horrible,” she told The Catholic Register.