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October 25, 2006
[images/stories/books/Graces.jpg]The Discipline of Grace: God’s Role and Our Role in the Pursuit of Holiness, by Jerry Bridges, (NavPress, 253 pages, paperback, $13.30 at amazon.ca). Rediscovering Daily Graces: Classic Voices on the Transforming Power of the Sacraments, by Robert Elmer (NavPress, 205 pages, paperback, $12.54 at amazon.ca). Evangelicals, as many of their leading protagonists have defined themselves, are those who hold a triad of beliefs and practices that the wider Christian church has too often overlooked: personal conversion, biblical authority and evangelistic witness. I grew up a Protestant evangelical, and like many in my church community, books that encouraged spiritual growth, devotional piety and developed Christian character were a large part of my reading repertoire.
30th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B) Oct. 29 (Jeremiah 31:7-9; Psalm 126; Hebrews 5:1-6; Mark 10:46-52) The seventh and sixth centuries BC were at least as violent and uncertain as our own times. Death and devastation came swiftly and mercilessly for nations and cities who failed to submit to the Assyrians. In 722 BC, the Northern Kingdom of Israel ceased to exist, as it was laid waste and its inhabitants dispersed or taken captive.
I have lately taken to reading about God’s holy ones, as we find their doings and sayings condensed and compiled in such compendia as Butler’s Lives of the Saints and The Oxford Books of Saints. It’s an activity I can recommend to anyone who wants to broaden his or her understanding of God’s wonderful work in transfiguring and renewing human life. It is also fascinating to visit far-distant Christians (and not so distant ones) and get a sense of their struggles — which are often quite similar to the ones we face in modern times.
“I like people who think like me,” I heard a college professor say in class, dismissing all objections to his claim to infallibility of his lecture on moral values.
It is very easy to forget that Christianity has something to teach us about our responsibility toward the environment. After all, ecotheology was not invented by Jesus of Nazareth, nor did humanity in first-century AD have the potential to destroy the planet.
[images/stories/misc/holloween.jpg]When I was growing up I can remember being so excited about going out and trick-or-treating. Images of costumes that didn’t quite fit, reduced vision and streets full of parents accompanying their children to neighbours’ houses resound in my memory.
October 27, 2006
Pope Benedict XVI [images/stories/PopeBenedictXVI/Benedict HS.jpg]VERONA, Italy - Navigating the murky waters of Italian ecclesial politics is no easy task, so interest was high when Pope Benedict XVI addressed the country’s most important Catholic gathering in 10 years.
Cardinal Marc Ouellet [images/stories/canada_bishops/Cardinal Ouellet.jpg]CORNWALL, Ont. - The primate of the Catholic Church in Canada has released the foundational theological document for the 2008 Eucharistic Congress, saying its “message brings as a main concern the memory of our Christian roots.”
TORONTO - After months of preparation, the archdiocese of Toronto’s new, improved and user-friendly web site — www.archtoronto.org — is available for use to the public.
[images/stories/logos/ShareLife.jpg]ShareLife , the fund-raising arm of the archdiocese of Toronto, has set the bar a little higher for its 2007 corporate campaign. At a campaign launch Oct. 19, it was announced that the goal for next year is $1.4 million.
TORONTO - Noel Martin thinks 42 years in Catholic education is not enough of a good thing. So he’s come back for more.
All my life, people have asked me what do I want to be when I grow up? With my graduation from university looming at the end of this school year, it seems that people expect me to know that fairly soon.
[images/stories/toronto/native-parish-2.jpg]EDMONTON - It’s not every day that students earn marks for attending Mass at an aboriginal parish. But Angela Bokenfohr, a theology student at St. Joseph’s College on the University of Alberta campus, is doing just that.
HALIFAX - When the doorbell rings on a rainy Saturday evening in mid-October, three enthusiastic young women, along with the smell of a homemade salmon casserole, welcomed me through the doors of the Queenship House. It’s a community for young Catholic lay women, currently home to Cristina Tersigni, 26, Jen MacDonald, 32, Ania Szymanska, 20, and Katherine McGee, 19.
TORONTO - Increasingly, more married and single fathers decide to stay home with their children rather than work full-time, according to Andrea Doucet
October 29, 2006
TORONTO - The University of Toronto and more than 25 sponsors will organize this year’s Peace Week on campus from Nov. 5 to 11.
My sister, Cecile, and her husband, Philip, who live in Florida, recently spent two weeks visiting in our area.
TORONTO - Salt + Light Television’s Opus Dei: Decoding God’s Work took the best TV documentary award at the Religion Today Festival in Trento, Italy, Oct. 14.
TORONTO - A gift of $15,000 is probably a lot easier to make if a $6,000 tax break goes along with it. That’s the new economics of giving stocks and bonds to charity, and it likely explains why the archdiocese of Toronto has received more donations of securities this year than in the last three years combined.
People might think of accountants as the guys with sharp pencils who keep the money safely in their clients’ pockets, but a chartered accountant might also be the ideal person to talk to about emptying those pockets.