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December 2015

December 22

'Nostra Aetate' described as living, vibrant process that must endure

December 22, 2015

UNITED NATIONS - Fifty years after its promulgation, the Catholic Church retains a solid and irrevocable commitment to the Second Vatican Council's declaration on its relations with non-Christian religions.

Seasonal checkup: Pope prescribes spiritual virtues to fight curial ills

December 22, 2015

VATICAN CITY - If Pope Francis sees the Church as a field hospital after battle, then his annual Christmas address to the Roman Curia often looks like the triage tent, with him holding the charts.

Toronto family’s door is always open to refugees

December 22, 2015

TORONTO - A 13-hour flight to Toronto was nothing after three years spent living as refugees in Amman, Jordan, as an Armenian Orthodox family from Aleppo, Syria, launched its Canadian odyssey.

Dealing with grief at Christmas

December 22, 2015

It will be a sadder Christmas for Rick Campanelli and his family this year as they celebrate their first Christmas without family matriarch Antoinette, who passed away over the summer. Antoinette was the heart of the Campanelli family holidays. She prepared everything from the gifts to decorating the family home in Hamilton, Ont., and, of course, cooked Christmas brunch and dinner. The whole family rallied around Antoinette’s love for Christmas.

Pope to Vatican employees: Take care of your marriage, grandparents

December 22, 2015

VATICAN CITY - Take care of your marriage and aging parents, play with your kids, and always make peace at the end of the day, Pope Francis told Vatican employees and their families.

Quebec Court of Appeal allows Quebec euthanasia law to go ahead

December 22, 2015

OTTAWA - The battle to bring euthanasia to Canada heated up Dec. 22, when the Quebec Court of Appeal said the province could go ahead with its so-called 'medical aid' in dying law.

The family Christmas tree became my task

December 22, 2015

Christmas practices are developed and celebrated in different ways in families, and certain tasks and jobs become traditions. So how did it happen that growing up in my large family I became the one to go out into the forest and get the annual Christmas tree?

December 23

O come to church all ye faithful, sort of faithful and atheists, too

December 23, 2015

December means curtains up for church Christmas pageants, hand-bell concerts, caroling kiddie choirs and Nativity displays on the front lawns.

Muslims shield Christian passengers in militant attack on Kenyan bus

December 23, 2015

NAIROBI, Kenya - Christian leaders have hailed as an act of bravery and selflessness the shielding of some Christians by Muslims after suspected al-Shabab gunmen in Mandera County ambushed a passenger bus.

Pope Francis to receive Germany's Charlemagne Prize

December 23, 2015

VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis was selected to be the 2016 recipient of Germany's Charlemagne Prize for his commitment in promoting European unity.

December 24

This is Christ

December 24, 2015

In the final week of Advent, I was in an Ottawa sandwich shop having coffee with two photographer friends when a man behind us pitched himself into our conversation.

Catholics must face facts — euthanasia is here and it’s not going away

December 24, 2015

If Catholics are going to have any chance of limiting the damage of legal assisted suicide they’re going to have to get beyond outrage and suggest practical solutions, the lone Catholic representative to the Provincial- Territorial Expert Advisory Group On Physician-Assisted Dying told The Catholic Register.

December 25

2015 Video Message for Christmas from the CCCB President

December 25, 2015

The Most Reverend Douglas Crosby, O.M.I., Bishop of Hamilton and President of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB), has videotaped his message for Christmas and the New Year. Entitled Goodness abounds, Bishop Crosby refers similarly to the theme of mercy which the Church celebrates this month and throughout the coming year as the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy. The production of this video has been made possible thanks to the collaboration with Salt + Light Television.

The Virgin of Guadalupe is the star of the new evangelization

December 25, 2015

It was a good idea that didn’t work. Before the reform of the Roman calendar in the 1960s, the octave day of Christmas — Jan. 1 — was celebrated as the feast of the circumcision and holy name, as Jewish boys were named on the eighth day after birth. There was a minor feast of the divine maternity of Mary in the calendar on Oct. 11, which St. John XXIII chose for the opening of Vatican II, and now serves as his feast day.

Lessons learned

December 25, 2015

Newspapers typically select a “person of the year” based on noble deeds or towering accomplishments. The world certainly abounds with such people, but rather than acclaim one of these for 2015 we instead commemorate Alan Kurdi.

Capturing the spirit of youth

December 25, 2015

Since becoming The Catholic Register’s youth editor in February, I’ve been trying to recapture what it truly means to “give Catholic youth a voice.” To me, it means capturing the energy and the spirit of youth ministry.

Christ's birth can bring peace, hope to suffering world, Pope says

December 25, 2015

VATICAN CITY - Christmas is a reminder that through the birth of Christ, hope and peace are possible and that only through his grace can humanity find peaceful solutions to the world's most difficult problems, Pope Francis said.

Let us gaze upon the Child Jesus, the Son of God

December 25, 2015

Pope Francis has celebrated Christmas Mass at St Peter’s Basilica. Below, you can find the prepared text of the Holy Father’s homily for the Holy Mass of the Nativity of the Lord “during the Night”:

Teaching youth engagement

December 25, 2015

While there is evidence that youth are less civically engaged than the general population, Reid Locklin says it’s merely that they are differently engaged.

December 26

Jubilee spree: Year of Mercy beefs up Pope's already busy year

December 26, 2015

VATICAN CITY - When Pope Francis established the Year of Mercy, a full slate of Jubilee events were slotted into his already packed calendar for 2016.