More than 7,000 Honduran migrants including children have crossed the Guatemalan and Mexican borders and are marching toward the United States. Some people, including the American president, are describing them as murderers, rapists, “very bad criminals.” Helicopters are hovering over them, while the border patrol and the military have been alerted. There are calls to close the border.

Published in Guest Columnists

A caravan of up to 7,000 migrants heading north through Mexico toward a possible showdown at the American border are highlighting an urgent issue in Canadian refugee policy. 

Published in International
TAPACHULA, Mexico – Bishop Jaime Calderón Calderón of Tapachula, Mexico praised the generosity of lay people and priests aiding migrants in his diocese.
Published in International

EDMONTON – Thirteen-year-old Emmanuel Eremionkhale knows one or two words in Esan, and a couple more in Igbo, the Nigerian languages of his father and mother.

Published in Canada

The victory of the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) in the recent Quebec election reflects the growing acceptance of political parties vowing to tighten immigration policies and numbers. 

Published in Register Columnists
VATICAN – Helping young migrants hold fast to their cultural and religious identity, especially in situations where they are a minority, was a recurring topic at the Synod of Bishops.
Published in International

OTTAWA – A new survey shows Canada’s high levels of immigration are making the country more religious and heightening the need to respect religion’s place in the public square, says Andrew Bennett, Canada’s former ambassador for religious freedom.

Published in Canada

How little it takes. How few people cross our borders before we allow narratives of fear to start taking hold of us. 

Published in Guest Columnists
WARSAW, Poland – German Catholic leaders condemned anti-immigrant riots in an eastern Germany town that erupted after a German man was killed in a brawl with migrants.
Published in International

The recess bell rings and a child dives for cover underneath her desk. A teacher is at the front of the classroom but a student is wandering from desk to desk starting conversations of his own. The lunch bell rings and several pupils have arrived without lunch, or uniforms, or gym clothes. A six-year-old turns up in school mid-morning, but doesn’t have enough English to tell the school secretary who she is, where she’s from or where she’s supposed to be.

Published in Catholic Education

Prophetic letter

Re: Canada took wrong side in Humane Vitae debate (July 8-15):

Thank you Fr. Raymond de Souza for revisiting Humanae Vitae and the Canadian bishops’ undermining of the wisdom and beauty of Pope Paul VI’s encyclical on human life.

It is worth reading afresh this prophetic love letter from Pope Paul VI, readily available on the vatican.va website. 

Artificial contraception/birth control has resulted in worldwide misery. Dr. Janet Smith has done exceptional work in recording this. 

As artificial birth control grew in use, so did the rate of divorces and the rate of STIs. Fr. Silvestre Birngruber in his 1954 book, Morals for Lay People, wrote: If artificial contraception becomes widely practised, abortion on demand will follow as a natural consequence. 

We know the truth of this prediction. Pope Paul VI also foresaw the tragedy if public authorities/governments became involved in artificial birth control. 

One doesn’t need advanced degrees in medicine to realize that one cannot keep pumping chemicals into a woman’s body and not expect undesirable consequences.

David Hogg,

Toronto, Ont.

Published in Letters to the editor

Anyone who has stepped inside a church in the last 40 years doesn’t need a nationwide poll to tell them that the most religious Canadians are the newest Canadians. Immigrants are driving the bus for almost every faith community in Canada, but none more-so than Catholics.

Published in Canada

The Church, with its long history of serving the poor and the persecuted, must play a key role in dealing with the global migration crisis.

Published in Canada
MCALLEN, Texas – The journey for many of the new migrants entering the U.S. near the border town of McAllen involves a mix of hardship and blessings.
Published in International

OTTAWA – Storm clouds continue to gather over the controversial Safe Third Country Agreement.

Published in Canada