Conscience matters
Governments are usually criticized for political flipflops, but the federal Liberals deserve at least faint praise for hitting the pause button on a daft plan to deny party members a free vote on upcoming assisted suicide legislation.
40 years of Catholic mercy and compassion
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.
Jesus gave us the Beatitudes to remind us that we are called to show compassion to our brothers and sisters in Christ. The eight Beatitudes, from the Gospel of Matthew, provide an opportunity to reflect on how we live out these values in our daily lives.
A question thousands of years in the asking
Standing recently inside one of the oldest tombs in the world, with about 200,000 tonnes of stone above and around me, strange thoughts manifested in the darkness. The thoughts were not of fear but of perplexity about today’s materialistic, even hedonistic, culture.
- By Robert Brehl
It is genocide
Speaking on Ash Wednesday Cardinal Thomas Collins said the start of Lent was not a day that Christians in Syria could line up for the blessing of ashes. Instead, the ashes in their lives are what remains of the churches and homes they fled at gunpoint.
Compassion for vulnerable, not death
In a presentation made Feb. 3 in Ottawa to the Special Joint Committee on Physician-assisted Dying, Cardinal Thomas Collins, appearing on behalf of the Coalition for HealthCARE and Conscience, opposed physician-assisted suicide and urged lawmakers to protect the conscience rights of health-care providers. Here is a text of his submission.
Rare, last resort
There comes a point as flames are consuming a house that a homeowner realizes it’s time to drop the fire extinguisher and grab the family jewels in the sad realization that the battle is lost.
Seeing Christ in the face of all: we are worthy of love
It was a sight of beauty. Perhaps as beautiful a thing as I have ever seen. I saw it during morning rush hour on a freezing cold day in front of a busy Toronto bus stop. I was driving and fortunately the light turned red, allowing me to look more closely at what was taking place.
It’s a start
A remarkable statement signed by more than 200 prominent political and religious leaders from the Muslim world has boldly asserted that Islamic persecution of Christians and others is “unconscionable” and must end if the world is to find peace.
For the irrational, there will always be a never-ending battle
I was surprised recently to read that defunding Catholic schools was the leading piece of advice the Ontario Government had received so far in its budget consultations. And I couldn’t help thinking that just because you have a thought, an idea, a proposal, it doesn’t mean you have to say it out loud. And even if you feel compelled to utter it, forcing the rest of us to listen, it doesn’t mean we have to pay serious attention.
Step back for peace
A historic treaty between the Vatican and Palestine came into effect on Jan. 2 with little fanfare. But it warrants discussion now on the heels of an Israeli land grab that underlines how far removed the Holy Land remains from peace.
Long shot worth taking
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.