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May 7, 2014
Fifth Sunday of Easter (Year A) May 18 (Acts 6:1-7; Psalm 33; 1 Peter 2:4-9; John 14:1-12) Tension between various groups has been a fact of life in the Christian Church right from the beginning. Human nature is fairly constant.
When I was a student in the seminary, I had two kinds of teachers: One kind, precisely because they were fiercely loyal to all that is Christian and Catholic, would have us read great secular thinkers but always with the intent of wanting to help show where these thinkers were wrong. Our intellectual task as Catholic seminarians, they would tell us, is to be able to defend Catholicism against the kinds of criticisms found in the writings of these secular, sometimes anti-Christian thinkers and to keep our own faith and teaching free of their influence.
VATICAN CITY - The Vatican issued an urgent appeal today for the release of more than 200 Nigerian schoolgirls kidnapped by the Islamist militant group Boko Haram.
OTTAWA - Pope Francis has sent a letter of encouragement to the thousands of people who converged on Parliament Hill today in the annual March for Life.
OTTAWA - Pope Francis sent greetings to the thousands of pro-life marchers who participated in the National March for Life here May 8.
May 8, 2014
I’ve always been one for planning my life ahead of schedule, even years in advance. I tend to go overboard often. The evidence is all over the day planner I use at school: a scribble in the margins here, a small number there, all marking just how long I have until the important dates coming up on my life, like graduation or signing up for classes for my first semester of university.
TORONTO - A good night’s sleep never did anyone harm. A bad night’s sleep killed 48 babies in Ontario in 2012.
May 9, 2014
The York Catholic District School Board is formally opposing the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association’s decision to participate in the World Pride Parade this June.
The Diocese of Charlottetown wants to know if young people are “Spiritually Hungry?” That’s the theme for Charlottetown’s inaugural Young Adult Summit in PEI that took place May 9-11.
OTTAWA - Arrested, forced to walk the death road, stripped of clothing and possessions, shot and then looted. This was the fate of many thousands of Holocaust victims across Eastern Europe whose tales went untold for generations — until Fr. Patrick Desbois, a French priest, unearthed the truth through painstaking interviews and archival research.
TORONTO - In recognition of Fr. Pat Fitzpatrick’s dedication to Catholic education and the faith in general, the Toronto Catholic District School Board presented him with its Award of Merit.
LVIV, Ukraine - Ukrainian Catholic bishops said their country's May 25 presidential election must proceed, despite any efforts to derail it.
Intercordia Canada is changing the world one heart at a time.
JERUSALEM - Ahead of Pope Francis’ Holy Land visit, the heads of Christian churches in the region plan to launch an international awareness campaign following a series of anti-Christian vandalism believed to have been carried out by Jewish extremists.
May 10, 2014
TORONTO - Salvation’s not cheap. It’s free — a gift of God. But what exactly is salvation? Salvation from what? Salvation for what?
TORONTO - Sr. Alice Walsh was excited to accept the position of pastoral minister of Our Lady of Fatima parish in Piccadilly, a remote town in Newfoundland and Labrador. But a month into her new post, the priest who arrived to celebrate Mass asked her if she realized that she was the one in charge. No, she said, I’m not. Yes, you are, he replied, telling her to read the bishop’s letter. And he was right.
The Catholic Church in the United States has taken a lot of heat over its stance against gay rights and for policies that often bar openly gay people from participating in church life.
The Archdiocese of Montreal is hoping to score some points with the faithful by encouraging parishioners to light digital prayer candles for the Montreal Canadiens.
May 11, 2014
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A Harvard-affiliated student club will host a Satanic “black Mass” May 12 as part of an educational exercise, a stunt that the Archdiocese of Boston says “places participants dangerously close to destructive works of evil.”