
Michael Swan, The Catholic Register
Michael is Associate Editor of The Catholic Register.
He is an award-winning writer and photographer and holds a Master of Arts degree from New York University.
Follow him on Twitter @MmmSwan, or click here to email him.
Schools grapple with strategies for teen violence
From stabbing and killing a homeless man to swarming TTC bus drivers to random BB gun attacks, some of the most disturbing incidents of violence in Toronto over the last two months involve teens.
Bishops put Reconciliation commitments in writing
Canada's Catholics are not done with reconciliation. Four pastoral letters from Canada’s bishops released today urge Indigenous and non-Indigenous Catholics to seek ways to journey together, build relationships, know and understand their history and end the two solitudes in the country and in the Church of Indigenous and settler societies.
Yanomami tragedy called ‘genocide’
At least 570 children dead, images of emaciated women desperately trying to feed babies who seem to be swimming in and out of consciousness, adults with skin stretched over shoulders and rib cages — these revelations strewn across Brazilian media have missionaries, Brazil’s bishops and even newly installed Brazilian President Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva using the word “genocide.”
Canadians rank low in Mass attendance
In Nigeria, 94 per cent of Catholics say they go to Mass at least once a week. In Canada, 14 per cent. In Quebec, two per cent.
Report reveals Vanier’s history as abuser
Single, married and even nuns, Jean Vanier abused at least 25 adult women over six decades even while he founded the international movements of L’Arche and Faith and Light, and inspired millions of Catholics around the world with his insight into the Christian life.
Ouellet’s Rome service comes to an end
Cardinal Marc Ouellet’s long career in the highest ranks of Church leadership is coming to a close. Pope Francis has accepted his resignation, sending him off into retirement.
The good, the true and the beautiful… of horror
Lots of people read Aquinas and ignore horror movies. Lots of people watch horror movies and ignore Aquinas. The opportunity we have is to bring these things together.
Alcohol warnings go beyond public health
If you know you’re risking cancer, if what you’re doing damages cells throughout your body and degrades your DNA — that basic building block of life that scientist Francis Crick, head of the human genome project, called “the language of God” — would you keep doing it?
As the Ontario government rolls out plans for more surgeries outside of hospitals in “independent clinics,” Catholic health-care providers are eyeing the opportunity to expand services and revenue streams, yet remain cautious of warnings that private, for-profit care is a moral minefield persist.
Going beyond words to reconciliation’s heart
Boring, pro-forma, rote recitations of land acknowledgements before every school board meeting, at the start of every school day and at every event just annoy Arriane Chua.