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Browse › 2024 › December
Assad dynasty crumbles in Islamist onslaught
Susan Korah · December 11, 2024
Gunfire and shouts of jubilation echoed through the streets of Damascus, Syria’s capital, as rebel forces opposed to Bashar Assad’s government took control of the city on Dec. 7. But Christians in Syria are not ready to join the victory dance.
Hard work, respect, honour
Quinton Amundson · December 11, 2024
Based on the personal recollections of Toronto's Cardinal Francis Leo, the only period of his life when he didn’t feel a call to religious life was when he was a young child growing up in the Villeray neighbourhood near Montreal’s Little Italy.
Cindy Wooden · December 11, 2024
The "most beautiful gift" the Catholic Church and its members can give the world is a reason to live with hope, Pope Francis said.
Figure of Speech
Gerry Turcotte · December 12, 2024
Driving to work one cold January day in 2016, I heard an announcement on the radio that the Bishop of the Diocese of Calgary, Frederick B. Henry, was officially announcing his retirement after 19 years as a bishop. I can’t say I was surprised, but I certainly felt a tug of sadness.
Jesus is the light shining bright this season
Harry McAvoy · December 12, 2024
In the early days of Advent, the ‘Prayer after Communion’ included the words, “for even now, as we walk amid passing things, you teach us by them to love the things of Heaven and hold fast to what endures.” Having experienced many Advent seasons, I know the truth of the words, “We walk amid passing things.” Still, I prefer to contemplate the words, “Love the things of Heaven and hold fast to what endures”.
The Mustard Seed
Glen Argan · December 12, 2024
Long ago, I learned that when I wrote letters, newspaper articles and any other form of writing by hand, they were more personal, quirky and self-revelatory than when I hammered them out on a typewriter. I also discovered that my writing was less precise, concise and grammatically correct when I took pen in hand. So, before I dared to submit my writing to a prof or an editor, I did a significant amount of editing to make my handiwork acceptable.
Editorial
Anna Farrow · December 12, 2024
Bishop Frederick Bernard Henry fulsomely lived out his episcopal motto, Dabo Vobis Pastores, a quote from the prophet Jeremiah which translates, “I will give you pastors.”
Culture à la Carte
Sr. Helena Burns · December 12, 2024
What should we do when faced with a crisis too big to handle? How do we get ourselves out of the depths of despair, a worst case scenario, an unexpected downturn, a sudden tragedy, a seemingly unsolvable dilemma, a grief that never seems to end? Often, there’s no way out but through, and as in all things, we must turn to God.
Cindy Wooden · December 12, 2024
As the fighting in Gaza drags on, Pope Francis welcomed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to the Vatican.
David Agren · December 12, 2024
Mexico's Catholic clergy have called for a truce on Dec. 12, the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, and on Christmas Day as criminal violence wracks swaths of the country and clergy working in conflictive regions come under threat.
‘A sham’
Terry O'Neill · December 13, 2024
B.C. pro-life leaders are crying foul over what they charge is a rigged Health Canada consultation on medical assistance in dying (MAiD), saying it’s aimed at suppressing opposition to the legalization of advance requests as Quebec is doing.
Lea Karen Kivi · December 13, 2024
Bible book(s)/chapter(s) to read this week: Sunday, December 15 to Saturday, December 21, 2024.
Anna Farrow · December 13, 2024
Durham MP Jamil Jivani has joined forces with a group of Protestant pastors to ignite a national conversation on the challenges faced by Canadian Christians in the public square – just as Quebec’s premier is threatening to ban all prayer in public spaces.
Luke Mandato · December 14, 2024
Students from Toronto's Neil McNeil High School have brought their school’s long-lost chapel back to life, completing the story of a sacred space that has been woven into the very identity of the all-boys' Catholic school for decades.
Kanesatake elder completes Bible that will be presented in Indigenous language to Pope
Luke Mandato · December 15, 2024
Since being named co-chair of the Roman Catholic Evangelical Dialogue Group in 2018, Bishop Joseph Dabrowski has done extensive work promoting unity and understanding among Christian traditions.
Kate Scanlon · December 16, 2024
Police in Madison, Wisconsin, said they are investigating a mass shooting at that city's Abundant Life Christian School Dec. 16 that left at least two killed and six injured, authorities said. The gunman is also dead, they said.
Caroline de Sury · December 16, 2024
Firefighters and police officers formed a human chain to rescue the crown of thorns from the inferno at Notre Dame on April 15, 2019. On Dec. 13, 2024, this holiest relic of Paris' cathedral was returned to its proper home on the Île de la Cité.
Cindy Wooden · December 16, 2024
Making his customary visit to the Rome Basilica of St. Mary Major to pray before his trip to the French island of Corsica, Pope Francis also met and prayed with dozens of actors staging a living Nativity scene.
Justin McLellan · December 16, 2024
As Pope Francis became the first pope to celebrate Mass on the French island of Corsica Dec. 15, the usual excitement of an open-air Mass with the pope was combined with the flair and pageantry of a Renaissance fair.
Book excerpt says suicide bombers tried to kill Pope during 2021 visit
Carol Glatz · December 17, 2024
On Pope Francis' 88th birthday, two major newspapers on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean published two different excerpts from his new book on hope.