After years writing about euthanasia as the religion reporter for the National Post, followed by two years of public talks to convince Canadians that government-sanctioned killing would be a disaster, I think I have finally figured out what bothers me the most about what is taking place in our country: the disturbing lack of imagination that has taken over the public psyche about how to deal with people who are suffering.
The Virgin of Guadalupe is the star of the new evangelization
By Fr. Raymond J. de SouzaIt was a good idea that didn’t work. Before the reform of the Roman calendar in the 1960s, the octave day of Christmas — Jan. 1 — was celebrated as the feast of the circumcision and holy name, as Jewish boys were named on the eighth day after birth. There was a minor feast of the divine maternity of Mary in the calendar on Oct. 11, which St. John XXIII chose for the opening of Vatican II, and now serves as his feast day.
This is Christ
By Erik CIn the final week of Advent, I was in an Ottawa sandwich shop having coffee with two photographer friends when a man behind us pitched himself into our conversation.
My most memorable Christmas gift
By Robert BrehlAt a recent dinner party, talk turned to most memorable Christmas gifts received. There was a first bicycle, some jewelry and a couple “bucket-list” trips mentioned.
Prayer is the answer
By Peter StocklandIt seems unimaginable that America’s incomprehensible deadlock over gun control could become any stranger. Yet somehow the quasi-ritualized mass slaughter of citizens by other citizens with high-powered weapons has produced the unfathomable effect of making prayer a victim.
Understanding ‘why’
By Peter StocklandEven as the world was reacting in horror to the slaughter in Paris on Nov. 13, Fr. John Walsh was moving past the how and what to asking why.
Beyond absurdity
By Peter StocklandLast week, two vibrant Catholic voices spoke on the same night in venues across the street from each other in downtown Toronto.
Harriet’s spirit wins out in the long run
By Robert KinghornThe brutality of life on the streets could not defeat this ‘I used to be famous’ woman
There are evenings when I am walking the streets that deep theological insights come abruptly to my mind. This was one such evening.
The Synod’s curious biblical commentary
By Fr. Raymond J. de SouzaVATICAN CITY - One of the most repeated themes during the Synod on the Family was the need for a more biblically based approach. The original working document for the Synod — the Instrumentum Laboris — came in for repeated and severe criticism for taking as its starting point sociological data rather than the Word of God.
Which Canadian way will alter the Tiber?
By Fr. Raymond J. de SouzaVATICAN CITY - Canadians had a rather prominent role in the first week of the Synod on the Family. Two of the language- based discussion groups elected Canadians as their moderators — Cardinal Thomas Collins of Toronto for one of the English groups, and Cardinal Gerald Lacroix for one of the French.
Pope set-up says plenty about rifts in Church
By Robert BrehlFrancis caught up in smear job by social ideologues