Fr. Raymond de Souza: Let's set record straight on papal apologies
Somehow a story about hundreds of unmarked graves at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School became a story about what Pope Francis should do, not a story about the lives lost or why Prime Minister Justin Trudeau only rushed to provide money for documenting such graves when Kamloops was in the headlines, five years after he first promised to do so.
Charles Lewis: Truth stands against lies of evil, oppression
We live in a time in which truth has lost its meaning. We live in a time in which truth is replaced by feelings. When something no longer feels right it cannot be the truth. Every opinion is valid and none is greater than another.
Cathy Majtenyi: Time to admit sins of our past
One of the greatest gifts a human being can give is the gift of acknowledgement: a nod, a smile, saying the person’s name out loud.
Gerry Turcotte: Carrying the bones
The discovery of 215 bodies of children in unmarked graves on the site of the former Kamloops Residential School in British Columbia understandably triggered a national response of outrage and mourning. Less understandable is why this particular discovery has unleashed an outpouring of grief and accountability by community leaders and politicians when the evidence of these atrocities is so well known, and when the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) Report highlighted this issue for special mention.
Glen Argan: We have a duty to listen to survivors
Residents of my Edmonton neighbourhood are setting up front yard signs of solidarity to honour the 215 former students at the Kamloops Residential School whose remains were found outside the school. As well, demonstrations were held in some centres regarding the detection of these unmarked graves. This discovery has moved people in a way that earlier revelations about the schools did not.
- By Glen Argan
Sr. Helena Burns: Dealing with ‘the gender talk’
Parents generally loathe having “the sex talk” with their children. Today they will also need to have “the gender talk.” Let me explain.
Robert Kinghorn: Little by little, broken lives can be healed
Have you ever had an experience in your life and you are not sure if you dreamt it or lived it? Mine goes back at least 50 years and it is as vivid today as if it happened yesterday.
Peter Stockland: Kamloops discovery wallops the Church
There’s a unique wallop in seeing your hometown linked by national and international media to the finding of a “mass grave” full of children.
Charles Lewis: Uighurs need a Good Samaritan
One of the greatest passages in the Bible is the story of the Good Samaritan.
Peter Stockland: Living faith within the realities of life
Five minutes into a recent online retreat, I felt myself going spiritually backwards.
Glen Argan: Mother Mary is ‘our tainted nature’s solitary boast’
Marian devotion and the Church’s preferential option for the poor come together in the feast of the Visitation, celebrated May 31. The feast marks the beginning of Mary’s three-month visit to her cousin Elizabeth.
- By Glen Argan