Browse › 2018 › August

August 2018

August 21

Canadian poverty plan big on promises, short on dollars

August 21, 2018

Over the next 12 years the federal government promises to raise 2.1 million Canadians out of poverty and take Canada’s poverty rate from one in every eight Canadians to one in every 17 by 2030.

August 22

Priest attacked in church; assailant cited retribution for church sex abuse

August 22, 2018

MERRILLVILLE, Ind. – A Byzantine Catholic priest was attacked Aug. 20 in the altar servers' sacristy of his church in Merrillville, near Gary in the northwestern part of the state.

Victims call for federal investigation of sex abuse in Catholic Church

August 22, 2018

WASHINGTON – Some victims of clergy sex abuse and their supporters are calling on federal and state entities to investigate sex abuse within the Catholic Church and root out abusers and anyone who has protected them.

Charity faces another court fight with federal government to defend their advocacy activity

August 22, 2018

OTTAWA – A poverty-fighting group, fresh from a victory over a law that threatened its status as a charity, is facing another round of legal fighting after the federal government appealed the court ruling.

WMF panel: Families urged to come up with 'media plan' to help protect minors from pornography

August 22, 2018

DUBLIN – Behavioral scientists and cybercrime experts talked to families about how digital distraction, pornography and the "online echo chamber" impact their lives, during one of the first panels at the international World Meeting of Families.

The culture of clericalism that enables abuse and insists on hiding it

August 22, 2018

VATICAN – Pope Francis blamed "clericalism" in the Catholic Church for creating a culture where criminal abuse was widespread and extraordinary efforts were made to keep the crimes hidden.

Indigenous elders take their knowledge to schools

August 22, 2018

EDMONTON – Betty Letendre recalls a time when Indigenous elders didn’t want to come into Edmonton, feeling tired of the discrimination and misconceptions that they faced on a daily basis.

Teachers are equipped with tools to better evangelize their students

August 22, 2018

It is impossible to teach about faith to students if the teachers themselves are not formed in the Catholic faith, says education consultant Patricia Dal Ben.

A preacher’s guide to a good homily

August 22, 2018

VANCOUVER – By the time Fr. Justin Huang stands before St. Anthony of Padua Church on a Sunday morning, he has done 10 hours of preparation and written about seven drafts of what he’ll say.

Tattoo-covered Lutheran pastor brings gospel message from different perspective

August 22, 2018

Like too many baby boomers, I probably spend too much time on Facebook. The other day, a friend posted a short video from a Lutheran pastor in the United States with this simple note: “This makes a lot of sense.”

Cathy Majtenyi: Basic income study meets untimely end

August 22, 2018

It was a made-in-Ontario experiment based on a concept put forth by such thinkers as Conservative Canadian Hugh Segal and American free-market advocate Milton Friedman: a basic income guarantee, something like Old Age Security and Guaranteed Income Supplement.

Editorial: Killing is never right

August 22, 2018

By categorically rejecting the death penalty, the Church has finally removed an unsettling contradiction to its teaching that all human life is sacred from conception to natural death.

Peter Stockland: Scandals put faith in Church to test

August 22, 2018

After Bill Cosby’s sexual assault trials and convictions, Canada’s great comedian Norm Macdonald delivered a piercing bit about public refusal to acknowledge the heinousness of the crimes.

Figure of Speech: Church music can build our stairway to Heaven

August 22, 2018

One of my favourite bloopers from a church bulletin reads like this: “Eight new choir robes are currently needed, due to the addition of several new members and to the deterioration of some older ones.”

August 23

World's bishops call for action on sex abuse; English bishop wants synod on clergy

August 23, 2018

MANCHESTER, England – A global synod on priests could help the church to end the "terrible" scandals of clerical child abuse, an English bishop told Pope Francis.

Cardinal Collins: ‘Evil’ must be rooted out to renew Church

August 23, 2018

The “evil” in the Church can and must be “rooted out,” Toronto Cardinal Thomas Collins says.

An epic pilgrimage trek at Lac Ste. Anne

August 23, 2018

LAC STE ANNE COUNTY, Alta. – She finally made it.

Fr. James Martin says gay people have been treated like 'lepers' by the church

August 23, 2018

DUBLIN (CNS) -- U.S. Jesuit Father James Martin set out a series of ways in which parishes can show welcome and respect to LGBT Catholics.

August 24

Prominent Irish abuse survivor defends Cardinal O'Malley

August 24, 2018

DUBLIN – Marie Collins, a survivor of Irish clerical sex abuse, has given her backing to Boston Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley as president of the Vatican's Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.

August 25

TV Mass brings its legacy to national stage

August 25, 2018

When Msgr. Brad Massman launched a Sunday Mass TV broadcast for shut-ins in 1987, its future was, at best, uncertain.