Rabbi David Seed: Free speech still needs prudent words
We find ourselves in difficult times as Canadians, and in her Feb. 9 column, “Divide and conquer? Never in Canada,” Sr. Helena Burns is attempting to bring us together — particularly now, when there are people who are seeking to divide us. In our Jewish tradition, we learn that humanity was created through one being so that no one could ever say that someone is better than another.
Andrea Mrozek: Where have all the children gone?
At least since the 1960s publication of The Population Bomb, many of us have believed there are too many people on this planet. Today, some overbearing environmentalists propel this myth forward by asking everyone from Prince William on down whether it is wise to have a third child. Or even a second. In Vancouver in 2020, a public campaign offered this slogan: “The most loving gift you can give your first child is not to have another.”
Ian Hunter: Rejoice in hope
The Christian faith acknowledges three theological virtues: faith, hope and charity (today usually rendered “love”). The greatest of these may well be love (as St. Paul told the Corinthians) but in real life the most difficult virtue to practise — particularly in this broodingly ominous time — is hope.
- By Ian Hunter
I saw a mob; it wasn’t truckers
A true mob is terrible to witness, much less get stuck in. Something happens when humans are pressed together in fear and anger: a feral scent is emitted, an emboldening and anxious spirit. Once unleashed, it crashes over and draws down all in its wake.
Why there’s no ‘I’ in pregnancy
Pregnancy. An injury? Run-of-the-mill event? Special circumstance? Choice? A recent report in the National Post highlighted the indignation of Olympic athletes in learning that pregnancy is often categorized by the I-word — “injury” — in their contracts.
The saints who kept church doors open
Amidst the bustling liturgical season that runs from the feast of the Lord’s Nativity to the Epiphany, it is easy to lose sight of the memorial of Dec. 29 on the Roman calendar. St Thomas Becket, the 12th-century Archbishop of Canterbury and martyr that the Church commemorates on the fifth day of the Octave of Christmas, is truly worth remembering here and now.
Francis Campbell: Return to in-person Mass will be in God’s hands
Leisurely work-day walks provide a welcome respite from renewed restrictions brought on by the Omicron variant of COVID-19.
Francis Campbell: Halifax diocese writes its own Nativity narrative
It’s coming on Christmas and the Halifax-Yarmouth archdiocese is writing its own inspirational story of Bethlehem.
Harry McAvoy: Meet me in Cincinnati…
It would be a long journey, which I suspected would end badly. The American border had been closed for almost two years due to the pandemic, when the Bride decided she was going home to visit her mother.
- By Harry McAvoy
Francis Campbell: Rising to the challenge of giving until it hurts
Give until it hurts. That famous phrase was uttered by Mother Teresa of Calcutta at a national prayer breakfast in Washington 50 years ago.
Francis Campbell: Forget possessions, all we need is God
Plunking down in a pew for Sunday Mass on Thanksgiving weekend brought a good deal of satisfaction and relief.