Arts
Piano virtuoso, only 16, hits right notes
TORONTO - Tony Yang thought so little of his chances at the world’s most prestigious piano contest that he arrived in Poland with an early ticket home already in hand.
Biblical epic Ben-Hur story to be told again
NEW YORK - The horses have been harnessed and the chariot wheels greased for the new take on the classic film Ben-Hur that will roll into cinemas early next year.
Jesuit story goes hand-in-hand with building of Canada
Teachers of a Nation: Jesuits in English Canada, Jesuit History Series, vol. 1, by Joseph B. Gavin S.J. (Novalis, 288 pages, hardcover, $34.95).
Builders of a Nation: Jesuits in English Canada, Jesuit History Series, vol. 2, Jacques Monet S.J. editor (Novalis, 288 pages, hardcover, $34.95).
Talk of Canada’s Jesuits and their history usually conjures images of St. Jean de Brebeuf and his seven companions martyred in the 17th century at the hands of the Iroquois. Those dramatic events, famously recounted in the Jesuit Relations, would inspire and encourage future generations of the Society of Jesus to missionary work and to the care and feeding of the cult of their martyr-confrères.
Where the euthanasia slippery slope lies
Do You Call This A Life? Blurred Boundaries in the Netherlands Right-to-Die-Laws, by Gerbert van Loenen (Ross Lattner, 196 pages, softcover, $20).
Canadian judges and Members of Parliament should read this book.
A funny thing happened in that Joke with the Pope contest …
The Joke with the Pope contest is over and the winner is … a rabbi.
How ABC’s ‘The Muppets’ killed Jim Henson’s vision of making the world a kinder place
The Muppets are back — and they’re having a lot of sex.
Author tackles atheism with humour
Laughter might truly be the best medicine if it can encourage friendly conversation between Christians and atheists. That was Andy Bannister’s goal when he wrote The Atheist Who Didn’t Exist.
Philip Neri’s ‘mysticism’ bursts forth in love
Over the exactly 500 years since the birth at Florence of Philip Neri, each age has fashioned a portrait of the saint in colours suggested by its own needs, fashions, tastes. There is an Italian baroque Philip, for example, all miracles and raptures and surprises. The Enlightenment gave us Goethe’s anti-establishment, sceptical Philip, while 19th-century Catholic romanticism proposed a pious “reformer from within” for veneration.
Farrow’s thoughts won’t make for a better country
Desiring a Better Country: Forays in Political Theology by Douglas Farrow (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 192 pages, softcover, $29.95)
As Douglas Farrow’s Desiring a Better Country: Forays in Political Theology arrived on my desk, I was in a conversation about whether we still live in a nation state or a corporate state. If in a corporate state, what does this say about democracy and the role left to us, the citizens of international free trade agreements? Are we just spectators to the drama being played out between Greece and the European Union?
A better life on the road to Heaven
Don Piper died instantly when an oncoming semi-trailer truck crashed into his car on his way home from a conference on Jan. 18, 1989. By the time paramedics were on the scene, they found his body crushed by the roof of his Ford Escort. He had no pulse and the paramedics were just waiting for the medical examiner to arrive to make it official.
Ingrid Bergman: Portrayer of nuns and saints, but much more
NEW YORK - You must remember Ingrid Bergman.
The occasion of the Swedish-born actress' centennial — she was born Aug. 29, 1915 — has spurred lavish retrospectives of her films worldwide, including events at New York's Museum of Modern Art in and the American Film Institute in Silver Spring, Maryland.
Tomics tickle the Catholic funny bone
If God truly has a sense of humour, He would probably enjoy reading the Tomics Collection book by Tom Gould.
Tomics are weekly “religious funnies” published by The Catholic Fellows, a lay ministry that fosters men’s spiritual fellowship. Every Friday, their website features a new comic strip inspired by Scripture readings, lives of the saints or Catholic teaching.