Blessed are the peacemakers
{mosimage}We love to talk about peace and what it means or may mean, and yet we know how elusive the definition and the experience can actually be. I suspect that is why we look for people who embody the “reality” of peace, individuals who have given themselves over to a life of creating a culture of peace, people who understand directly the costs of peace.
There's hope for the pro-life cause
{mosimage}Charles Moore wrote a column not long ago in England’s Daily Telegraph so politically incorrect as to take my breath away.
Freedom of expression can go too far
I believe firmly in freedom of speech, but I do draw the line. Incitements to violence and murder are illegal in Canada, and well they should be. Libel, treason and sedition are also illegal. It is also wrong to pass off another’s words as one’s own. Meanwhile, I am not at all interested in freedom to create images — especially pornographic images.
The good, bad, ugly of Valentine's Day
It is only days away, that fatal day, that day with the power to cast single women into abject gloom and to send married men into a frenzy of procrastination; that day that crushes the joy out of men who love and rarely fails to disappoint the women who love them; that day that sends boys and girls hand in hand to their local Catholic college campus to watch The Vagina Monologues. Yes, my friends, Valentine’s Day is upon us again.
Jesus paves our path to salvation
{mosimage}Lent is both a question and an answer. It is the Christian’s way of asking the fundamental human question of why there is evil if God is good. But in the asking the answer is found.
Lessons can be learned from illness
Next week (Feb. 11) the Catholic Church will observe World Day of the Sick, instituted in 1992 by Pope John Paul II.
As a medical social worker, I’ve been privileged to journey with sick people and learn from them the lessons serious illness can teach those who are receptive. I would like to share some of these insights.
- By Lisa Petsche
Change our ways for changing days
The pastoral arena or terrain in the Greater Toronto Area is considerably changing every year. The latest numbers from the 2006 Census show quick and dramatic changes in the demographic composition of the metropolis. There were reports that one out of four Torontonians is foreign born. What does this mean? What are the pastoral implications of these data?
The intolerance of the secular
{mosimage}If it wasn’t so serious it might be funny, the way perceptions and conventional wisdoms can be turned on their head. Intolerance is often seen as the hallmark of religion, the critique raised when the secularist wants to curtail or restrict the role religion occupies in modern societies.
Zimbabwe politics reaches Canadian shores
{mosimage}A week ago, I wrote an opinion piece titled “Zimbabwe in 2008: What ought to happen versus what will happen.” I distributed the article to journalist colleagues in Canada, the United Kingdom, South Africa and the United States through an e-mail list. I am not aware if the article was used in any publication.
Wrong message sent by response
{mosimage}The vigorous letter of Dr. Andrew Caruk in the Catholic Register of Dec. 30—Jan. 6, about what constitutes courage in upholding Catholic teaching on sexual orientation, got me thinking hard about the difficult ecclesial times in which we live.
These are tough but inviting times for Jesuits
{mosimage}This is a momentous time for the Society of Jesus. The Jesuits are currently holding their 35th General Congregation in Rome, a gathering of 219 electors from around the world who will be considering such matters as promotion of justice, ecology, governance, Jesuit-lay collaboration, interreligious dialogue, etc., as well as electing their new general. As the respected historian and director of the Institute of Jesuit Sources, John Padberg, says in his "Preludes to General Congregation 35":