Editor’s note: The following is excerpted from a brief presented to the Ontario Legislature’s standing committee on finance and economic affairs last month by Catholic Charities. The next provincial budget is expected to be revealed March 22.
There is a crisis that continues to grow in our midst. It is one that affects the poor and marginalized and the most vulnerable in our society.
We need to take action to save the world’s water
By Janet Malone, Catholic Register Special
World Water Day, March 22, affords us the opportunity to stand up, speak out and act to ensure our earth’s fresh water is protected as a public trust. Water is a right for the common good of all life forms, not a commodity for buying and selling to the rich by the rich. Service to others can bring us closer to God
By Lisa PetscheLetting go of the ways that I fall down
The old can be made new, the lost can be found.
Superchick, Christian band
There’s a wealth of contemporary Christian music being produced these days, and I tune in to it whenever I can. Often, too, I hear it wafting (or blasting) out of my daughter’s bedroom stereo. Lately these lyrics by one of her favourite bands, Skillet, have been stuck in my head: “Rebirthing now/I wanna live my life, wanna give you everything/Breathe for the first time now/I come alive somehow.” The song, “Rebirthing,” is about finding meaning and purpose in Christ and feeling fully alive as a result.
Fr. Raby’s world never got tired or old
By Fr. Raymond J. De Souza, Catholic Register Special
Like many Register readers, I read the news of Msgr. Tom Raby’s retirement from The Little World column with sadness. Unlike most Register readers though, for me Msgr. Raby is not only a byline and a photo; he is a brother priest in the archdiocese of Kingston, an occasional advisor and confessor, and a model of priestly evangelization in the newspaper world.
What the Lord is transcends what we understand of Him
By Michael HigginsAt the recent meeting of the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities in Washington, discussion was rife in the corridors and around the dining table on the relationship of reason and faith. The times demand it.
Debating Christian ‘fascism’
By Peter Kavanagh, Catholic Register SpecialConventional wisdom can only take you so far. Take the notion that talk is better than fighting. On the surface it seems obvious. With experience you learn that it all depends on the nature of the talk and the people doing the talking. The perfect lesson for this took place at Innis Hall at the University of Toronto on Feb. 6.
A modern Passion
By Michael Higgins
I have long been a keen student of writers from Atlantic Canada. Wayne Johnston, Alister MacLeod and Lisa Moore are but a few of the more recent novelists who have managed to capture not only a national but an international audience. And their work is good. Very good.
Anything goes now
By Ian Hunter, Catholic Register SpecialFive-year-old D. — in the brave new world parlance of the Ontario Court of Appeal — has "two mums." He has three parents: B., his biological father; C., his birth mother; and A., his mother's lesbian partner. Two parents are enough for most of us, sometimes more than enough; but thanks to the wisdom of our judges, D. now has three parents.
Toxic knowledge or needed information?
By Peter Kavanagh, Catholic Register SpecialAs of Feb. 1 the Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Canada and its equivalent in the United States will recommend that the rules on the use of amniocentesis change. It is the primary test used to discover if a fetus is afflicted with Down Syndrome and a number of other genetic disorders.
Stay connected with elder in retirement setting
By Lisa PetscheWhy we wait
By John Moore, Catholic Register SpecialRecently, after putting myself through a crash course in selecting ladies' rings and cashing some Canada Savings Bonds, I proposed to my beautiful girlfriend. On bended knee I spoke of love and the future. She tallied up the pros and cons and fortunately the former outnumbered the latter.