exclamation

Important notice: To continue serving our valued readers during the postal disruption, complete unrestricted access to the digital edition is available at no extra cost. This will ensure uninterrupted digital access to your copies. Click here to view the digital edition, or learn more.

Arts

Gravity opens the door to the reality of God

Alfonso Cuaron’s Gravity is the most visually arresting movie since Avatar. Its special effects have been quite rightly characterized as revolutionary and groundbreaking. But what is perhaps most surprising about this stunning film is its clear and profound religious import. 

Taking aim at ‘dumbed-down’ Catholicism

The Church is not on a mission, it is a mission.

 

Bringing the Church to life

TORONTO - Salt + Light, Canada’s Catholic broadcaster, is launching The Church Alive, “a series for the New Evangelization on the New Evangelization,” says co-host Sebastian Gomes.

Francis’ clandestine network saved Argentine dissidents

VATICAN CITY - While a military-backed dictatorship in Argentina was conducting a clandestine war on suspected dissidents, then-Fr. Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the future Pope, masterminded a secret strategy to save those being targeted, according to a new book.

Wartime diaries unveil more on Pope Pius XII

TORONTO - The only published diary of a high-ranking Holy See official from the Second World War will soon be available in English.

Catholic film censor to re-examine its role

OTTAWA - A Quebec organization founded by the Canadian bishops more than 50 years ago to censor films will be re-examining its mission under a new CEO.

This Sinner is working on being a Saint

TORONTO - Lino Rulli wants to be the patron saint of kissing — after all, he says he’s so good at it. He’s also good at being The Catholic Guy, the radio host known to champion the faith with wit and humour on Sirius XM Satellite Radio’s Catholic channel.

Our treatment of animals wrapped in inconsistencies

For the Love of Animals: Christian Ethics, Consistent Action, by Charles Camosy (Franciscan Media, 136 pages, softcover, $16.72).

“You are what you eat from your head down to your feet!” So said Time for Timer, a character in public service announcements that appeared between Saturday morning cartoons in the 1970s. He encouraged kids to listen to their bodies and to think about what goes in. After all, as Timer said, “You are what you swallow.”

Work and prayer put to song

There’s a very thin layer between heaven and Earth. That’s how Monica Fitzgibbons describes her experience listening to the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles Sisters as they recorded Angels and Saints at Ephesus.

Simple ways to a better world

To live simply is not simple in our over-consuming culture. But it should be our goal if we want to be healthier, more ethical and better connected to God and the green Earth we’ve been given to watch over.

Rohr offers daily dose of meditations

When I picked up this hefty tome, a compendium of snippets from Franciscan Father Richard Rohr’s many writings (some of it previously unpublished), I expected a series of reflections in familiar groupings: personal faith, compassion, social justice, the natural world, grief — the standard mix that is often a blessing to preachers or educators who need a little help getting started on a selected topic or biblical passage.

Mary Stuart takes Stratford by storm

STRATFORD, ONT. - The surprise hit at this year’s Stratford Festival has been captivating audiences by using the Catholic-Protestant divide of 1500s England and Scotland as a mirror of post-9/11 society.

RED 2

NEW YORK - Those "retired and extremely dangerous" (RED) secret agents are back on the case in "RED 2" (Summit), a lively sequel to the 2010 film based on the graphic novels by Warren Ellis and Cully Hamner.