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November 16, 2023
As Catholics, as people of faith, as pilgrims seeking peace, Catholics for Justice and Peace in the Holy Land is appalled by the editorial The Catholic Register printed on Oct. 19.
Does liberalism get the big questions right? The question was the subject of a Munk Debate on the evening of Nov. 3 in Toronto. My short answer is yes. Better put, it gets more things right than competing philosophies. Capitalism, it has been said, is the worst economic system except for all the others. Liberalism is a better solution for our common lives than socialism or communism. Yet at the end of the night, the winning side of the debate were those who were opposed. How have we arrived at a point where so many appear to be questioning liberalism?
The full text of the address by His Grace Most Rev. Francis Leo, Metropolitan Archbishop of Toronto at the 44th annual Cardinal's Dinner, 14 November, 2023.
In Catholic tradition, November is both the last month of the faith year, and the month where we remember and celebrate all souls. We write in a book of remembrance the names of loved ones lost and light candles for them. We pray for and with those who have gone to eternity before us. The practices remind me of Ash Wednesday: “Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return.”
November 17, 2023
Archbishop Francis Leo and over 300 pastors of the Toronto archdiocese have taken another step in learning about compassionate palliative and end-of-life care.
Toronto Police Service has been in touch with our office to make us aware of a missing person.
November 18, 2023
More than two years since a suspicious fire destroyed St. Jean Baptiste Parish in Morinville, Alta., the criminal investigation has borne no suspects or arrests.
David Agren · November 20, 2023
Upstart presidential candidate Javier Milei, who attacked Pope Francis as "filthy leftist," overwhelmingly won Argentina's presidential election on a radical libertarian platform of dollarizing the economy and shrinking the state in a country beset by recurring economic crises and triple-digit inflation.
Jonathan Luxmoore · November 21, 2023
The president of the Spanish bishops' conference has appealed for calm following mass protests against the planned release of jailed Catalan separatists under a deal with the new socialist-led government.
Carol Glatz · November 21, 2023
Pope Francis expressed his concern about concrete initiatives individual dioceses and the Catholic Church in Germany as a whole are taking, including the establishment of a synodal council, which, he said, threaten to steer it away from the universal church.
From the Web Archive
November 21, 2023
A recent attack on a hospital in Haiti underscores the desperate condition of that nation's civilians, a Catholic Relief Services official told OSV News.
When Pope Francis visits Dubai in the United Arab Emirates Dec. 1-3 to address the opening of the UN Climate Change Conference, he will be the first pope ever to attend one of the global gatherings that began in 1995.
November 22, 2023
In a surprise announcement, prominent Canadian human rights lawyer Julius Grey told a group of anti-euthanasia protesters he is prepared to launch a legal action against the law that allows Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) for those with mental health problems.
Asia Bibi, the Pakistani Catholic who moved to Canada after several years of imprisonment and a death sentence for blasphemy in her homeland, was cited by Pope Francis as an example of “continuous martyrdom.”
November 23, 2023
Fr. Thomas Rosica wasn’t in Rome last month for the first session of the XVI Synod of Bishops, but to hear him tell it, it was almost as if he was there.
It seemed like one of Antonio Gaudí's dreams come true. On Nov. 12, the papal nuncio to Spain, Archbishop Bernardito Auza, blessed the towers of the Evangelists of the famous Sagrada Familía basilica in Barcelona. Gaudí, a legendary Catalan architect, started working on the now-iconic basilica 140 years ago. Five generations now have watched the temple’s progress.
Haven’t been to Confession for a while? One question: How can you stay away?! All right, I know it can be very difficult to even find Confession offered beyond 30 to 45 minutes right before a Saturday evening Mass, or “by appointment.” But no matter what you must do, what hoops you must jump through, how many kilometres you must drive, Confession is totally worth it. You and I need frequent Confession because we are sinners. I will now try to shoot down some “excuses” for not going to Confession.
I love Israel. But I hate what it is doing in Gaza. I yearn for the establishment of a Palestinian state in the Middle East. But Hamas, especially its Oct. 7 raids on Israel, is the greatest obstacle to that state becoming reality.
November 24, 2023
With hopes growing for a temporary, humanitarian cease-fire, Pope Francis met at the Vatican Nov. 22 with relatives of Israelis held hostage by Hamas and, separately, with relatives of Palestinians suffering under the Israeli siege of Gaza.
The University of St. Michael’s College, in conjunction with the Irish embassy, is seeking scholarly papers for a proposed conference tentatively called “Canada, Ireland, and Transatlantic Colonialism: Historical Perspectives” which it hopes to run in May.