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May 13, 2020
ROME -- Sweden’s high death rate among the elderly raises questions about the government’s effectiveness in combating COVID-19, said the nation’s cardinal.
Doubt in your religious beliefs is that uncomfortable topic no one wants to broach. So … let’s talk about it!
Before COVID-19 essentially shut the world down in the middle of March, the young adult missionaries who serve National Evangelization Teams (NET) Canada were fully immersed in sharing the message of God’s love with Catholic youth at live retreats across the country.
VATICAN CITY -- Prayer is more than just a physical, emotional or intellectual act; it is an inner desire to encounter God, Pope Francis said.
I had promised myself that I wouldn’t write a COVID-19 column.
Canada’s bishops and their Indigenous partners in the Guadalupe Circle are calling for “a decarceration plan” — sending inmates home to reduce the risk of spreading COVID-19 in heavily Indigenous prison populations.
VATICAN CITY -- The Vatican Congregation for Catholic Education has asked pontifical universities and faculties to plan to reopen in the fall and teach with students present.
May 14, 2020
It’s not been difficult for Fr. John Mullins to practise social distancing in his ministry at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport.
OTTAWA -- In a country where thousands of babies are aborted each year before they can draw their first breath and euthanasia towards the end of life is now a legally protected aspect of the public health care system, Toronto Archbishop Cardinal Thomas Collins blessed Canadians on the frontline of the pro-life movement during a virtual candlelight vigil on May 13.
Medical experts worldwide are racing to create a COVID-19 vaccine. Of course, these efforts should be encouraged and well funded because normal life won’t return until an effective vaccine is developed and distributed around the world.
Domestic church I believe the present focus on streaming Masses is the wrong way to go.
There is not a lot to commend living in a quarantined world.
May 15, 2020
WASHINGTON -- When Catholics return to their churches as coronavirus-induced lockdowns ease up, they're not likely to be confronted with a bunch of unfamiliar words in Latin printed in some medieval-era typeface with notes in the shape of squares rather than ovals.
The doors may be locked at St. Mary Immaculate Church in Elora, Ont., but Christ is still open and welcoming parishioners.
It’s hard to tell how Giving Tuesday affected donations to Catholic charities in Canada, but ShareLife did see an uptick in donations from an e-mail blast sent to coincide with the annual charitable fundraising day May 5.
VATICAN CITY -- The continuity between St. John Paul II and Pope Francis is rooted in the message of God's divine mercy for all men and women, retired Pope Benedict XVI said in a letter commemorating his predecessor's birth.
When Jesuit Fr. Peter Larisey was 63 years old, a full professor at Regis College and on the edge of publishing a major book in 1993 that would be considered for the Governor General’s Award, he moved into a beat-up semi-detached house in east Toronto with a bunch of people in their 20s.
VATICAN CITY -- In preparation for the May 18 resumption of public liturgies in Italy and a morning Mass with Pope Francis at the tomb of St. John Paul II, Vatican workers cleaned and sanitized the inside of St. Peter's Basilica May 15.
ROME -- The postulator and the commission involved in investigating the life of Pope John Paul II for sainthood cause found no evidence that the pope knowingly neglected or covered up abuse scandals, the postulator said.
EDMONTON -- Having lived through their share of disaster, residents of Fort McMurray, Alta., are reeling in the aftermath of flooding that forced thousands to evacuate and damaged many buildings, including St. John The Baptist Church — the most central place of Catholic worship.