April 2024

Ad Orientem

Friendship as the path to sainthood

Dcn. Andrew Bennett · April 18, 2024

Have you watched the series The Chosen? If yes, then you like me have been treated to a well-produced and Biblically-faithful, yet embellished account of Our Lord’s earthly ministry.

Calgary finds sheep returning to flock

Confirmation First Communion numbers on the rise

Quinton Amundson · April 18, 2024

Anecdotes, facts and figures spotlighted in the Diocese of Calgary’s 2023 Impact Report, unveiled on April 7, exemplify a Catholic community on the upswing. Based on the data, the most remarkable success story of the previous calendar year was the stupefying rise in sacramental celebrations.

Former trustee feels vindicated by dicastery’s dignity document

Quinton Amundson · April 18, 2024

Reading the passages about gender theory written in the new Vatican document Dignitas Infinita (Infinite Dignity) offered Francine Champagne, a former school trustee in Winnipeg, a feeling of vindication.

Hope and resilience rise as Notre Dame reopens

April 18, 2024

Comment from the editorial board of the Our Sunday Visitor website. The April 15, 2019, tragedy transcended borders, uniting the world in a shared sense of loss. For the Catholic Church, Notre Dame is, first and foremost, a place of worship. However, the cathedral also stands as a monument to the Church’s indelible and unrivaled contribution to art, architecture and culture. As we mark this somber anniversary, it is also a moment to celebrate the Church’s role in nurturing and preserving the cultural and artistic heritage of the West.

D&P aid enables Haitian partners’ work

Susan Korah · April 19, 2024

“Just going to work is an act of bravery. Our partners on the ground in Haiti are working in a very difficult context,” Mary Durran, the Montreal-based program officer responsible for Latin America (including Haiti) for the Catholic charity Development and Peace-Caritas Canada, told The Catholic Register. “Yet they continue to be the advocates of the poorest people suffering violence and hunger, and inform international organizations such as ours.”

Editorial

Morality should be clear

April 19, 2024

Among its many aspects, Iran’s outrageous April 13 attack on the sovereign nation of Israel was a trifecta of shadows, schadenfreude, and antisemitism.

Excerpt from a speech by Pierre Poilievre to the Canada Strong and Free conference

Catholic Register Staff · April 19, 2024

Excerpt from a speech by Canada’s Leader of the Official Opposition, Pierre Poilievre, to the Canada Strong and Free conference in Ottawa on April 11, 2024.

The Bible done differently

Imagery lends an elegant aesthetic, provokes deeper thought

Luke Mandato · April 19, 2024

In a world where having access to a Bible is as easy as opening up your phone, I figured I would never again need to dust off the physical copy stored away and collecting dust on a shelf somewhere in my house. Nonetheless, I fondly remember my trek to the bookstore the week before I moved out to attend college to pick up a pocket copy to take with me.

Donkey tales: hitching a ride to God

An author’s journey to Catholicism

Luke Mandato · April 19, 2024

Born in communist Poland in 1982, Izabela Ciesinska’s appreciation for visual storytelling and illustration began as far back as she can remember.

Film a glimpse of Benedictines via stranger’s eyes

April 19, 2024

At the heart of the documentary De l’autre côté is the unlikely friendship between the Brazilian-Canadian filmmaker Lessandro Sócrates and the cloistered nuns of the Abbey of Sainte-Marie des Deux-Montagnes, Que.

Hellish cold

April 19, 2024

It was an overcast sky and I despaired of any sighting when the miracle occurred.

‘A thousand lifetimes of service’

April 20, 2024

From humble beginnings when four of their Sisters arrived in Halifax from New York in the mid-19th century, the Sisters of Charity Halifax are set to mark 175 years of service on May 11.

Reflections from ‘Nun arrested at Toronto bank protest’

Care for the Earth is a matter of faith

Sr. Mary-Ellen Francouer · April 22, 2024

I was said nun who was among those arrested at a “pray in” at a downtown Toronto bank.

Haiti violence, lawlessness forces longtime U.S. missionary priest to evacuate

Gina Christian · April 22, 2024

As Haiti's capital spirals into lawlessness, a longtime U.S. missionary has been forced to evacuate -- while Haitian Catholics in the U.S. are doubling down on prayer for their troubled homeland.

Columnist admits he ‘MAiD’ an error

Anna Farrow · April 23, 2024

Pundits generally, and perhaps columnists in particular, do not often admit to making mistakes. So, it is a special kind of pundit who can step away from previously professed opinions and admit to getting things wrong.

Abortion push abroad ‘ideological colonization’

Anna Farrow · April 23, 2024

The Canadian government continues to allocate billions of dollars for the promotion of sexual and reproductive health rights in the developing world, while slashing funds to other priorities like national defence.

St. John’s closures ‘canonically unsound’

Archdiocese can’t ‘usurp’ parish finances, dicastery says

Quinton Amundson · April 24, 2024

Having ruled that the Archdiocese of St. John’s closing of a number of parishes was canonically unsound, the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Clergy has further said that civil law does not trump canonical rights.

Pro-life flag won’t fly at Toronto schools

Toronto Catholic District School Board trustees voted against a motion to fly the flag at area schools this May

Quinton Amundson · April 24, 2024

The International Pro-Life Flag will not fly over Toronto Catholic schools this May.

Homeless policy before U.S. Supreme Court

Kate Scanlon · April 24, 2024

The Supreme Court on April 22 heard a case concerning the constitutionality of local laws that ban public camping and their impact on people who are homeless.

Trump in pro-life ‘retreat,’ Pence says

Kate Scanlon · April 24, 2024

Former Vice President Mike Pence argued his ex-running mate, former President Donald Trump, betrayed the pro-life movement by stating his opposition to implementing federal abortion restrictions should he be elected to another term in 2024.