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April 2015

April 1

Christian leaders call for end to 'profound evil' of the death penalty

April 1, 2015

WASHINGTON - Hundreds of Christian religious leaders of various churches signed onto a Holy Week call to end the death penalty in the United States.

Syria mission a humanitarian necessity: Chaldean eparch

April 1, 2015

OTTAWA - The Chaldean Catholic Eparch of Canada says Canadian military intervention against the Islamic State is a humanitarian necessity to protect defenceless people in Iraq and Syria.

Can a Muslim president defeat Boko Haram? Nigerians are betting on it

April 1, 2015

A northern Nigeria Muslim leader who promised to pursue a nonreligious agenda as president will now have to deal with an Islamic terrorist insurgency that has wreaked chaos in the country’s north.

April 2

Faith is common life

April 2, 2015

The day the Supreme Court released its decision in the case involving Montreal’s Loyola High School, I thought it was merely more judicial zaniness on offer.

Easter invites us to choose the kingship of Christ

April 2, 2015

The drama of Holy Week is a story about a king. The crowd that welcomes Jesus on Sunday, waving their palm branches, acclaims Him: “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, the king of Israel!”

Going hungry to help feed the poor

April 2, 2015

What makes it possible is doing it together. Since Ash Wednesday, a colleague and I have been fasting — taking only one meal of soup and bread a day.

Easter play shows students 'God's love changes everything'

April 2, 2015

TORONTO - Toronto Catholic students are bringing the story of Jesus Christ to life for their peers during Holy Week.

Oneness of the community

April 2, 2015

Second Sunday of Easter (Year B) April 12 (Acts 4:32-35; Psalm 118; 1 John 5:1-6; John 20:19-31)

The joy of Easter overcomes the anger of winter

April 2, 2015

It’s been the winter of our discontent. After a practically snow-free December and January, the Maritime provinces were relentlessly buffeted by snowfall after snowfall during February and March. Two and sometimes three storms in a week left Nova Scotians scratching their heads and cussing their fortunes.

Halfway Christians

April 2, 2015

There should be no ifs, ands or buts. Christians are called to live like Christ.

Holy See calls for international effort to end Boko Haram insurgency

April 2, 2015

GENEVA - The Holy See's permanent observer to the United Nations in Geneva called on the international community to assist Nigeria and neighbouring countries to rid the region of Boko Haram insurgency.

Still astonishing good news 2,000 years later

April 2, 2015

Through the powerful Scripture readings of the Triduum, and especially the Gospels of the Easter Vigil and Easter morning, we catch glimpses of the profound meaning of the Paschal mystery. How can we give expression to the conquest of death and the harrowing of hell? We must honestly admit to ourselves that we have no words.

Indiana bishops call for 'mutual respect' in 'necessary dialogue' on RFRA

April 2, 2015

INDIANAPOLIS - Indiana's Catholic bishops April 1 urged people to show mutual respect for one another and allow "the necessary dialogue" to take place to make sure no one in the state will face discrimination, "whether it is for their sexual orientation or for living their religious beliefs."

New hope has been raised up for us

April 2, 2015

“You seek Jesus of Nazareth, the crucified. He has been raised. He is not here” Mark 16:6 (Gospel of the Easter Vigil).

St. John’s Bakery revives an Easter tradition

April 2, 2015

TORONTO - At St. John’s Bakery, the spiced, sweet scent of freshly baked hot cross buns fills the air. The bakery revives this popular tradition every year in anticipation of the joy of Jesus’ resurrection. But more than preparing an Easter treat, the hands that make the hot cross buns are symbols of hope and community.

The transcript of our trial

April 2, 2015

The biblical accounts of Jesus’ passion and death focus very much on His trial, describing it in length and in detail.

‘Code of silence’ keeps students in harm’s way, panel hears

April 2, 2015

TORONTO - Schools could be made safer by eliminating a “code of silence” among students that discourages them from informing on classmates, said the head of a panel on school safety.

Oils consecrated at chrism Mass central to Church’s sacraments, rituals

April 2, 2015

MIAMI - Some of the Church’s most ancient traditions and rituals are witnessed during Holy Week, including the preparation, blessing and distribution of oils central to the Catholic Church’s sacraments and rites.

Via Dolorosa pilgrims not troubled over exact route

April 2, 2015

JERUSALEM - Several pilgrim groups gathered in a sunny courtyard in Jerusalem’s Old City. They were preparing to follow a tradition reaching back at least to the fifth century: walking along the Via Dolorosa, through the cobbled streets of Jerusalem’s Old City.

Pope to priests: Exhaustion is part of ministry; find renewal in Christ

April 2, 2015

VATICAN CITY - Priestly ministry is hard, sometimes lonely or dangerous work serving the neediest with an open, vulnerable heart, Pope Francis told the world's priests.