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August 12, 2021
National effort Re: The campaign that fell well short (June 27): The article is another indictment of the Catholic Church’s efforts to atone for its involvement in the horrors of the residential school system. “Well short” indeed! Do the math. With over 10 million Canadian Catholics, it is unbelievable that the Church’s “best efforts” could only raise 15 per cent of the $25 million promised to help fund reconciliation efforts. Little wonder many view the Church as lacking leadership and accountability.
The Global Catholic Climate Movement is no more. A new name has been given to the planet-spanning network of Catholic climate activists and has been personally endorsed by the Pope.
What is the role of the state — the civil power, be it the crown or another form of government — in evangelization?
August 13, 2021
When Ann Konkel stepped into the chapel at St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton for a Mass commemorating her 106th birthday this summer, she was moved to tears. Due to COVID-19 it was the first time she had attended a church service in over a year.
Another $132 million from Ottawa is going to mean 233 more affordable and supportive homes in Toronto in 2022. At The Good Shepherd shelter and services to the homeless on Queen Street East, any new housing is welcome. But 233 units hardly begins to house the homeless lined up for a bed at The Good Shepherd.
My most recent conversation with an avid COVID-denier came during one of my frequent walks in Edmonton’s North Saskatchewan River Valley. According to my interlocutor, the COVID pandemic is a hoax and a mysterious “they” are hiding data which would show that tens of thousands of people have died from anti-COVID vaccines.
August 14, 2021
Fr. Ivan Nachachewsky is taking some vacation time this month, well-earned after completing a gruelling 2,000-kilometre bike ride to raise money for wheelchairs to those in need in Ukraine.
One of my favourite sights when driving along the increasingly paved landscape of Calgary is an ospreys’ nest that has been built atop the metal girder that supports a ubiquitous piece of highway signage. My children and I have marvelled for many years at the site of this large nest, perched out in the open on unprotected steel, which has supported generations of fledgling hawks. So imagine my disappointment driving past the spot recently only to discover that workers had covered the nest with a wooden pyramid. It is impossible not to personify the forlorn hawk, who sat miserably beside this intervention, appearing lost and confused.
August 15, 2021
Dollar-a-meal lunches and suppers are back on at St. Francis Table in Toronto’s Parkdale neighbourhood come Sept. 1, when there will be fully vaccinated cooks and wait staff ready to serve up meals to sit-down customers inside the restaurant.
21st Sunday in Ordinary Time, Aug. 22 (Year B) Joshua 24:1-2a, 15-17,18b; Psalm 34; Ephesians 4:32-5:1-2, 21-32; John 6:53, 60-69 Each day, billions of people on this planet make choices. Some of them are quite mundane — what to have for dinner or what to wear. For far too many, these are not choices — it is a matter of having something, anything, to eat or wear.
August 16, 2021
LES CAYES, Haiti -- The magnitude 7.2 earthquake that struck Haiti collapsed the bishop's residence in Les Cayes, killing one priest, leaving one missing and injuring Cardinal Chibly Langlois.
VATICAN CITY -- Hours before the Taliban took control of Afghanistan's capital, Kabul, Pope Francis expressed his hope for the peace and safety of the country's citizens.
August 18, 2021
NAIROBI, Kenya -- Two Catholic nuns were shot and killed along a highway in South Sudan Aug. 16 as they were returning home to Juba. Seven other sisters survived the attack.
VATICAN CITY -- U.S. Cardinal Raymond L. Burke remains hospitalized, on a ventilator, "in serious but stable condition" with COVID-19, a spokesman said late Aug. 17.
August 20, 2021
BERLIN -- German bishops are concerned that a decision guaranteeing German health insurers will pay for pregnant women's blood tests to detect Down syndrome will lead to abortion.
August 22, 2021
22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Aug. 29 (Year B) Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-8; Psalm 15; James 1:17-18, 21-22, 27; Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23 The teaching of Deuteronomy left no wiggle room at all.
August 23, 2021
VATICAN CITY -- God can be found in the humanity of Jesus and in the people one meets in life, Pope Francis said.
LA CROSSE, Wis. -- Cardinal Raymond L. Burke remained hospitalized for COVID-19 but as of Aug. 21 he was taken off a ventilator that he had been on for some days and taken out of the ICU to be returned to a regular hospital room, according to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Crosse.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Although three in five Canadians felt having a federal election this fall was not important to them, the country is headed to its second general election in less than two years.
MEXICO CITY -- A Mexican diocese has condemned the murder of a journalist in Veracruz state, saying the crime threatens freedom of expression.