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December 2021

December 1

St. Joseph’s year of healing

December 1, 2021

It was a great year for the Year of St. Joseph, but not because it was a great year. It was a year spent in and out of COVID lockdowns, a year of natural disasters fuelled by climate change and a year for Canadians to confront the hard truths of their history in the form of forgotten graves for Indigenous children who died at residential schools.

Database tracks attacks on churches in Canada

December 1, 2021

There have been 57 reported attacks on Catholic churches across Canada so far in 2021, the highest number for any single year stretching back to 2010, according to a new database tracking such attacks.

Speaking Out: Is Christmas still about Christ?

December 1, 2021

As the weather turns chillier and Halloween decorations give way to garlands and twinkling lights, modern society alerts us that Christmastime has arrived. It employs many techniques to achieve this effect, but they can all be categorized under one broad word: marketing.

Catholic student brings faith into public school

December 1, 2021

VANCOUVER -- A 16-year-old Vancouver student is receiving praise for his courage in standing up for his faith by establishing a Catholic Club at his public high school.

Charles Lewis: Spare a moment for the voiceless

December 1, 2021

I’ve had the luxury of having a voice over the past 40 years. It’s a privilege to have had my words read. I hope at times those words have moved readers and perhaps moved them enough to act or at least think more deeply about the important issues of our times.

U.S. Supreme Court seems willing to allow Mississippi's 15-week abortion ban

December 1, 2021

WASHINGTON -- In the Supreme Court's first major abortion case in decades -- which looked at Mississippi's ban on abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy -- the majority of justices Dec. 1 seemed willing to let that ban stay in place.

December 2

AFN seeking ‘justice’ in papal meeting

December 2, 2021

In one hour gathered in a room with Pope Francis, 13 Assembly of First Nations delegates plan to lay down heavy burdens and raise up the hope of nations.

Editorial: Fix social safety nets

December 2, 2021

It’s full throttle on the Christmas shopping season now and even a pandemic isn’t about to put the brakes on people rushing to line up outside stores by buy gifts.

Readers Speak Out: December 5, 2021

December 2, 2021

Address crimes The consequences of crimes committed to Indigenous people in Canada, the first owners of land, lakes and rivers, over the last century, must be addressed to all Canadian institutions that were involved in the crimes by being deaf, dumb and blind on the crimes committed, or encouraged the crimes, then, each of them to be charged for the full damage it has done, and Canada to ensure that the crimes committed will never repeat again.

Students hopeful semblance of ‘normal’ will return

December 2, 2021

AnnaMaria Amato is hopeful that a normal graduation ceremony might be possible at the end of the 2021-22 school year.

Fr. Raymond de Souza: Catholic media must do better on Indigenous file

December 2, 2021

Catholic Register columnist Glen Argan failed. To his credit he admitted it. After writing a gravely inaccurate column on the residential schools issue, he corrected the facts in his next one.

Meeting Cypriot leaders, Pope Francis urges dialogue for peace, care for migrants

December 2, 2021

NICOSIA, Cyprus -- Sympathizing with the Cypriot government and citizens feeling overwhelmed by an influx of migrants and refugees, Pope Francis urged them to remember their history as a crossroads and meeting place of people of different cultures and traditions.

December 3

Rally mobilizes support for pregnancy care centres

December 3, 2021

Carol Butler does not get into a regular habit of engaging in political demonstrations.

Mary Marrocco: Gentleness is a power of its own

December 3, 2021

I remember once hearing a speaker marvelling at the “gentleness of God.” My reaction was incredulity. Gentleness? Many in that very room were experiencing great anguish, while around us swirled life’s turbulence and trouble. Of all things one could assert about God, this one seemed the most indefensible. What good could gentleness do, anyway, in a harsh and chaotic world? What is needed is strength and power to assist people whose lives and dilemmas are anything but gentle.

Bishops condemn human trafficking

December 3, 2021

In a new pastoral letter on human trafficking and sexual exploitation, Canada’s bishops are calling for the continued criminalization of prostitution while also decrying treating sex as work.

Vatican announces Pope Francis will bring migrants from Cyprus to Italy

December 3, 2021

NICOSIA, Cyprus -- After Pope Francis denounced putting up "barbed wire" to keep out migrants and the practice of pushing boats back to countries where they face conditions similar to a "lager," the Vatican announced he would help move a dozen migrants from Cyprus to Italy before Christmas.

Indigenous, disabled at highest risk of poverty

December 3, 2021

Campaign 2000’s annual in-depth look at poverty reveals that being poor in Canada is perfectly predictable. Canada’s poor are overwhelmingly Indigenous or they are disabled.

December 4

Pieta returned to Red Deer church home after 30 years

December 4, 2021

A life-sized pieta of Mary holding Jesus’ body that has spent more than 30 years at the city’s museum has been returned to Sacred Heart Church in Red Deer, Alta

Harry McAvoy: Meet me in Cincinnati…

December 4, 2021

It would be a long journey, which I suspected would end badly. The American border had been closed for almost two years due to the pandemic, when the Bride decided she was going home to visit her mother.

December 5

Artist shares process behind lifetime dream of Saint John's Bible

December 5, 2021

Achieving absolute flawlessness is not on calligrapher Donald Jackson’s mind when he sits down to work in his Welsh studio.