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May 2015

May 14

Cold days in hell

May 14, 2015

For all the talk about global warming what we’re now seeing is a freezing trend that’s producing an ice sheet over Satan’s lake of fire. We know this is happening because events long thought possible only when the underworld’s climate turned entirely upside down — when hell froze over — have become the order of the day.

Beware of cheap grace

May 14, 2015

Pope Francis has declared a special jubilee to help the world encounter the awesome, awful and awe-filled mercy of God. The world prefers cheap grace, and thinks it can get it from the Holy Father. The world — represented recently by Raul Castro and Al Gore — will be disappointed.

Give him a chance

May 14, 2015

Among Omar Khadr’s first words after tasting freedom for the first time in 13 years was a vow to prove that the boy terrorist has become a law-abiding young man.

Praying for those not of this fold

May 14, 2015

An open letter to Roman Catholic bishops Dear Bishops I write to you as a loyal son of the Catholic Church, with a particular request: Could you make an addition to our eucharistic prayers to include an explicit invocation for other Christian churches and for those who lead them?

The Spirit is a source of unity

May 14, 2015

Pentecost Sunday (Year B) May 24 (Acts 2:1-11; Psalm 104; 1 Corinthians 12:3b-7, 12-13; John 20:19-23) In every age and in every place, the Holy Spirit has been present, doing the work of God and advancing spiritual consciousness. One need but read Luke’s infancy narrative to realize that nearly all of the individuals mentioned in the run-up to the birth of Jesus were guided by and filled with the Spirit.

Periphery pope: Bosnia trip aims to build bridges in divided nation

May 14, 2015

VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis' concern for those suffering on the margins and for small Catholic communities that have kept the faith alive through war or repression will take him to Bosnia-Herzegovina in early June.

Exhaustion, no hope: Bishop says life in Syria needs 'attitude of faith'

May 14, 2015

ROME - Chaldean Bishop Antoine Audo of Aleppo, Syria, and his people are exhausted.

Italians help flood of refugees in Francis’ vision of ‘a Church for the poor’

May 14, 2015

CATANIA, Italy - Sitting outside the central train station here in eastern Sicily, a 16-year-old who would only give his name as “Simon” hunched his knees up to his chest and wrapped himself up into a ball. With little spoken English, the teenager from Eritrea has taken to miming the way he travelled across the Mediterranean.

Topless protesters disrupt rally as 25,000 march for life in Ottawa

May 14, 2015

OTTAWA - About a half dozen half naked women tried to disrupt the National March for Life here May 14, disrobing and screaming while pro-life politicians addressed thousands on Parliament Hill.

May 15

Good news that comes from the bad

May 15, 2015

It’s unavoidable and it’s everywhere. In our newspapers, on our televisions and computers. No matter how hard you try to avoid it, it will always find a way to pop up. When it comes to bad news, we’re going to hear it one way or another.

King’s opens new centre for Catholic research

May 15, 2015

LONDON, Ont. - King’s University College has created a new research centre for Catholic thought.

Israel downplays media flurry over Vatican agreement with Palestine

May 15, 2015

JERUSALEM - Israel is downplaying the recent media flurry over reports the Vatican and Palestinian representatives have finalized the text of a formal agreement recognizing freedom of religion in the "State of Palestine" and outlining the rights and obligations of the Catholic Church, its agencies and its personnel in the territory.

Protecting people means protecting the planet, Turkson says

May 15, 2015

ROME - Pride, greed and selfishness are destroying the planet just as they destroy human lives, said Cardinal Peter Turkson.

LCWR goes on 'with our normal life' after mandate ends, official says

May 15, 2015

WASHINGTON - The president of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious said the organization is pleased to be "going on with our normal life, so to speak," now that the Vatican's mandate to reform the group has concluded.

Church workers reach out to quake victims in remote Himalayan villages

May 15, 2015

NAMJUNG, Nepal - "Sir, because of luck, we all survived. But, we may die of hunger," Mithuram Pariyar said when a church relief team arrived after a four-hour drive from Kathmandu.

May 16

Road travelled to who I am

May 16, 2015

The Man Who Learned to Walk Three Times by Peter Kavanagh (Knopf Canada, hard cover, 257 pages, $29.95). In a poem by the English poet Ted Hughes, a hawk contemplates its physical form: “It took the whole of creation to produce my foot, my each feather; now I hold creation in my foot.”

Pope gives coaches game plan for building team spirit, ethical players

May 16, 2015

VATICAN CITY - Coaches need to show integrity, fairness, patience, joy and kindness, especially toward those who are struggling, Pope Francis said.

God plants the idea, author writes about it

May 16, 2015

Irish Beth Maddock says she gets a lot of calls from God late at night or early in the morning. It is during these quiet hours of the night she “downloads” the ideas God plants in her mind.

May 17

New Palestinian saints highlight region’s beleaguered Christians

May 17, 2015

VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis will bestow sainthood on two Palestinian nuns May 17, a move that’s being seen as giving hope to the conflict-wracked Middle East and shining the spotlight on the plight of Christians in the region.

Dominicans open up the conversation

May 17, 2015

TORONTO - The biggest theological conference in Toronto since 1967 brought more than 200 scholars to the University of St. Michael’s College to look at the same subject theologians were wondering about then — the Second Vatican Council.