All politics is local so get out and vote
They say all politics is local and that municipal politics is closer to our everyday lives than any level of government. It’s about water, sewage and garbage pickup. It’s about street-light repairs, safe pedestrian crosswalks and parks where our children can play.
- By Robert Brehl
A Pope visits Queen’s
I was not about to miss seeing the pope on our Queen’s University campus. Perhaps not “the” pope — but a pope nonetheless, and surely the first ever papal visit to Kingston.
Zero tolerance
In a widely reported statement Pope Francis recently told bishops to protect minors with “utmost care” and warned that anyone who failed would “be held accountable.”
We owe our children a better discussion
This month 673,000 students were registered to attend English and French Catholic schools in Ontario. Their registration is a choice made by parents who value and acknowledge the importance of Catholic education for their children.
Parents are addicted to micro-managing
Early September found our family sitting in front of a university, again.
A voice for life
Not so long ago, it would have been considered the kiss of death for Canada’s Catholic bishops to launch a national campaign against medicalized killing.
Daunting challenge
The extraordinary Synod of Bishops on the family will examine a broad range of important issues but, even before the Oct. 5 opening session, one question dominates: Will Pope Francis entertain a reinterpretation of doctrine to permit full participation in the sacraments for civilly divorced and remarried Catholics who have not received a Church annulment? In short, will they be welcomed back to Communion?
Pope Francis could get the Synod he didn’t want
Pope Francis has asked that Sept. 28 be a day of prayer for next month’s meeting of bishops on the family. Given the crisis in family life, the Holy Father called this extraordinary Synod to address the pastoral care of the family in the context of evangelization. However, the preparation for the Synod has been entirely dominated by one topic: Will Catholics who are divorced and have entered a second civil marriage be permitted to receive Holy Communion? At the moment they should not receive Holy Communion, as any Catholic who is in a state of mortal sin is not to receive Holy Communion.
Canada’s rich history of missionary zeal
One of the exciting aspects of Pope Francis’ pontificate is how he is making fresh the profound teaching of his predecessors. For example, the Holy Father insists that “missionary discipleship” is the Church’s fundamental identity and it forms the heart of his preaching. The Church exists to make disciples who are eager then to share their faith in Jesus with others. If the Church forgets this and turns inward, neglecting her missionary dimension, she becomes less of who she should be.
NFL is little more than the National Felons League
Ten years ago, a friend took his then eight-year-old son to Buffalo to see their favourite football team, the St. Louis Rams, play the Bills. Both father and son are diehard Rams fans and the son wore a Rams jersey to the game.
- By Robert Brehl
Burying hatred
One of the 20th century’s most vocal Church antagonists is dead. The Rev. Ian Paisley died peacefully in Northern Ireland on Sept. 12, ending a life that for most of its 88 years was spent stoking division and inciting violence between Protestants and Catholics in his troubled homeland.