{mosimage}Canadian parents are likely breathing a sigh of relief over a recent decision by the Ontario Supreme Court. In the ruling by Madam Justice Cheryl Robertson released March 31, a father was acquitted of assault in an incident in which he used modest force to prevent his 15-year-old daughter from attending a drug party.

{mosimage}When a pet dies, it’s often a child’s first experience with death. This was the case with my son and his  Betta fish, Noel, a Christmas gift several years ago.

{mosimage}Human beings have an inalienable dignity. This means that their dignity is an aspect of their being that cannot be removed. If people are treated in accordance with who they are, they will be treated with dignity. 

{mosimage}Recently it would appear that top Vatican officials are joining the attack on liturgy changes approved by Pope Paul VI after the Second Vatican Council.

{mosimage}In the years since the Second Vatican Council, the various traditions of Christian faith have participated in an ecumenical gift exchange for their mutual enrichment. Catholics have embraced Protestant strong points like singing the faith and closer familiarity with the Word of God. Protestants have increased their celebrations of the Eucharist and rediscovered helpful practices like spiritual direction.

{mosimage}Robert Latimer’s highly publicized campaign to obtain a reversal of his second-degree murder conviction should force Canadians to think twice about our seemingly unstoppable “progress” toward legalized euthanasia and doctor-assisted suicide.

{mosimage}For many Catholics around the world, including this one, the joy of this Easter season has been shadowed by the sadness and rage we feel at the kidnapping and death of Paulos Faraj Rahho, Chaldean Catholic archbishop of the northern Iraqi city of Mosul.

My mother and I had just settled in front of the television to watch a movie. Foolishly (at least it seems so, afterwards, to my teenage self), I mentioned that the movie had been condemned by the Legion of Decency. I promptly found myself looking for something else to do. There wouldn’t be any TV for me that night.

{mosimage}The bellwether of the Canadian consensus, The National with Peter Mansbridge, recently played up the story of the Vatican allegedly proclaiming a new list of deadly sins. The implication was that the old seven — pride, envy, gluttony, lust, anger, greed and sloth — just didn’t cut it today, so Rome had invented new sins to lay upon gullible believers.

{mosimage}The showdown in Tibet between Chinese troops and Tibetans demonstrating to protest Beijing’s oppressive rule have achieved the kind of global prominence in the media that religiously minded Chinese can only dream about. It’s the usual sad fare: dozens of deaths and violent repression of riots and protest marches remind the world that China is still the world’s largest dictatorship.