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February 2021

February 25

Peter Stockland: Homicide debate is long overdue

February 25, 2021

Sean Murphy was a Mountie for 37 years and a local coroner for years after that. Yet even he is astonished at how quickly Canadians have become comfortable with obliging health-care workers to perform medically-assisted homicide.

February 26

Court grants final extension to pass Bill C-7 on assisted-dying

February 26, 2021

OTTAWA -- The federal government was granted one more month Thursday to expand access to medical assistance in dying even as its efforts to do so stalled in the House of Commons.

Development and Peace cuts ties with 24 organizations following partner review

February 26, 2021

The Canadian bishops' conference and its international development agency will discontinue funding for 24 partners following the completion of a joint subcommittee’s review of international partner organizations that receive funding from Canadian Catholics.

Ontario enacts new human trafficking law

February 26, 2021

OTTAWA -- Ontario's government used the newly declared National Human Trafficking Awareness Day Feb. 22 to unveil major new funding and legislation as part of the province’s anti-human trafficking strategy, as governments in Canada continue to take action against what Pope Francis has called “a crime against humanity.”

Sr. Ortiz: Torture victim to peacemaker

February 26, 2021

CLEVELAND -- Ursuline Sr. Dianna Ortiz was teaching Indigenous children as a missionary in Guatemala in 1989 when her ministry was torn apart in the midst of the country’s brutal civil war.

New faith centre at St. Thomas More College just right for its time

February 26, 2021

Roughly a decade in development, the new Centre for Faith, Reason, Peace and Justice at St. Thomas More College couldn’t be more timely.

Supreme Court quashes pro-lifer Mary Wagner's final appeal

February 26, 2021

Vancouver -- Mary Wagner’s long road toward achieving legal recognition of the humanity of the unborn has come to an end as the Supreme Court of Canada dismissed her leave to appeal Feb. 18.

Luke Stocking: We come as beggars, but bearing a gift

February 26, 2021

I come like a beggar with a gift in my hand. These are the opening lyrics to a song by Sydney Carter that I learned as part of the Toronto Catholic Worker community many years ago. As we enter the season of Lent and its call to prayer, fasting and almsgiving, I find myself quietly singing it to myself. The song continues, “By the hungry I will feed you, by the poor I’ll make you rich, by the broken I will mend you, tell me which one is which.”

February 27

Teacher, track coach pays it forward

February 27, 2021

If Kurt Downes’ sixth grade students or fellow teachers are ever looking for him during his lunch break, they can usually find him where they can the rest of the school day — in his classroom.

At-home Ash Wednesday services include inter-church provisions

February 27, 2021

This year Lent began with ashes in Northern Ontario, just as it does every year and everywhere. But this year’s ashes up north are a little different because they’re likely the most ecumenical ashes in Canada.

St. Mary’s grad earns Indigenous award

February 27, 2021

Mere months removed her June 2020 convocation at Calgary’s St. Mary’s University, Kate Gillis’ days are full of Zoom call collaboration and deep-dive independent research.

Iraqi Christians continue to hope on Pope Francis' visit

February 27, 2021

While pundits in the West wonder whether Pope Francis really will brave out-of-control COVID-19 infections, shootings and bombings to visit Iraq, there’s not much doubt among Iraqis and others who know the Pope’s commitment to Christianity in the Middle East.

Leah Perrault: Simplicity as a spiritual survival strategy

February 27, 2021

As fall turned to winter, I found a prayer for life transitions in Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals. We were considering a move, in the middle of a pandemic. It all felt very complicated. And the opening line of the prayer resonated with me: “Lord, help me now to unclutter my life, to organize myself in the direction of simplicity.”

February 28

COVID won’t stop annual Ordinandi Dinner in Toronto

February 28, 2021

The annual Ordinandi Dinner last year went off without a hitch, celebrated just before COVID put Canada and the world in lockdown. But there was no such luck for this year’s event.

Dissertation will explore Christianity and Holocaust

February 28, 2021

A couple years ago, Prof. Robert Ventresca at King’s University College in London, Ont., was marking papers submitted to him by a precocious, intense, serious and curious undergraduate enrolled in his seminar on the role of religion in the Holocaust.

God's Word on Sunday: Commandments must be in hearts

February 28, 2021

Third Sunday of Lent, March 7 (Year B) Exodus 20:1-17; Psalm 19; 1 Corinthians 1:18, 22-25 John 2:13-25 Are the Ten Commandments unique? Were people ignorant of their content before Moses ascended Mount Sinai to receive them from God? In fact, many of the provisions of the commandments have parallels in the law codes of the ancient near east. They represent the basic building blocks of a just and humane society.

Social justice is investing’s future at Kings College

February 28, 2021

With Gen-Zs touted as a morally conscious generation bent on addressing the many ills in today’s society, King’s University College Capital Management Club fund manager Serge Muhirwa sees social justice defining the future of investment.