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December 13, 2016
MONTREAL – Warren Allmand is being mourned as an exceptional and principled Roman Catholic politician who, as solicitor general in Pierre Trudeau’s cabinet in 1976, introduced the bill which abolished capital punishment in Canada.
There’s no better way to get ready for Christmas than to open your ears to a little Advent music — not the jingles in the mall but music that slows time down just enough to allow for some peace and reflection.
OTTAWA – The House of Commons unanimously passed a Conservative MP’s motion Dec. 8 instructing the Commons’ Health Committee to study the impact of violent online pornography.
OTTAWA – Pope Francis has said no to visiting Canada in 2017, but that hasn’t stopped Saskatchewan’s bishops and Indigenous leaders from planning a papal visit.
December 14, 2016
Every December, a package from the Holy Land arrives on Hikmat Dandan’s doorstep. Inside are 65 hand-drawn Christmas cards in different shapes, sizes and colours.
Will Month 13 unsettle thousands of Syrian refugees who have already settled in Canada?
YAMBIO, South Sudan – The Jubilee Year of Mercy was observed throughout the world but one bishop in South Sudan, suffering from war and famine, said it was especially needed in his country.
ABUJA, Nigeria – Nigeria’s national Christian umbrella group is criticizing lax enforcement of construction standards in the country following the collapse of a church during an ordination ceremony.
AUSTIN, Texas – Texas Catholic bishops and the state's Catholic cemeteries are working together on efforts to provide a proper burial for children lost to abortion.
TORONTO – September isn’t just the start of another school year.
MANILA, Philippines – Catholic prayer and protests greeted proposals to expand the use of the death penalty in the Philippines, with the move drawing outspoken opposition from the country's bishops.
OXFORD, England – Germany's churches denounced their country's growing arms sales to the Gulf states and demanded tighter export controls on weapons manufacturers.
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio Gov. John Kasich signed a bill that bans abortion in the state after 20 weeks of pregnancy, but also vetoed a bill that would have made abortion illegal when a fetal heartbeat can be detected, usually at about the sixth week of pregnancy.
MOSUL, Iraq – Christians, Muslims and other victims of ISIS feel relief over the terrorist group being pushed back from the Nineveh Plain area of Northern Iraq, but challenges remain for the region as winter sets in.
NEW YORK – With "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story," last year's promising reignition of the iconic franchise, "The Force Awakens," gains a worthy – and equally family-friendly – companion.
Earlier this fall, the bishops of Alberta and the Northwest Territories released guidelines to help priests offer pastoral care to individuals and families contemplating voluntary euthanasia and assisted suicide. The guidelines were fully Catholic, comprehensive, compassionate and courageous, as detailed then by Peter Stockland in these pages.
SAO PAULO – Cardinal Paulo Evaristo Arns, known as the "cardinal of the people" and one of the most active voices against Brazil's military dictatorship, died in Sao Paulo Dec. 14. The 95-year-old retired archbishop of Sao Paulo had been hospitalized since Nov. 28 with pneumonia.
December 15, 2016
We all look for signs of hope. Many Catholics cling to anything that points away from secular smugness to a world in which the name “Christ” is not used as an expletive.
OTTAWA – An Ottawa priest is hoping a book made for children can deliver a very serious Christmas message for adults, too.
I found myself rushing through a grocery store on a busy Friday afternoon at the end of an arduous week. There was Christmas music blaring throughout the store, my stomach was grumbling and I was frantically picking my way through the produce section before I had to be at work.