Catholic Register Staff

Catholic Register Staff

May 22, 2007

Turn on the tap

All those letter-writing campaigns and petitions do occasionally hit their mark. Recent evidence can be found in the growing tide of opinion against the current mega-fashion of buying bottled water.
Is the current challenge to Ontario’s publicly funded Catholic education system a tempest in a teapot? Perhaps, or perhaps not. Regardless, there is never a time when Catholics can be complacent about their cherished separate schools in Ontario, or anywhere in the country.
June 7, 2007

Ode to fathers

It’s customary for some segments of society to view Father’s Day and Mother’s Day, not to mention Valentine’s Day, as marketing occasions for greeting cards, florists and golf retailers. Cynicism should be set aside, however, as these special days mark important aspects of human relationships that deserve special recognition in this Age of the Individual.
Children are the latest hot marketing tool, used not just to sell sugar-coated cereal to Mom, but also to pry open wallets by appeals to the heart from a wide assortment of public lobby groups.
November 30, 2007

What he didn't say

{mosimage}Cardinal Marc Ouellet appears to be taking a page from Calgary Bishop Fred Henry’s book when it comes to media coverage. The archbishop of Quebec has found himself on the front pages of daily newspapers well outside his province talking about — wait for it — religion.

November 23, 2007

Focus on caring

{mosimage} In Canada, all too often, the debate over “health care” focuses on dollars and cents. It is about technical fixes, efficiencies and accountability. All important things, surely. However, rarely is it ever about the second word in that phrase --— care.

{mosimage}Remember 1989, when all politicians in the House of Commons voted in favour of “eliminating poverty among Canadian children by the year 2000”? Surely the politicians would rather forget, because today — seven years after that deadline — poverty is alive and well among Canadian children.

November 8, 2007

Quebec's spiritual void

{mosimage}The Reasonable Accommodation Commission hearings in Quebec have been described by some observers as a “horror show” or “circus” demonstrating some of the more xenophobic aspects of Quebecois culture. For that, however, they should be lauded rather than condemned. They have done all Canadians a favour.

November 2, 2007

The newly fallen

{mosimage}Since 2002, Remembrance Days have taken on a special poignancy. The memories of loved ones fallen in battle are no longer from the distant past. Today, they include those who have died in Afghanistan.

{mosimage}The Speech from the Throne, read with pomp and ceremony by the Governor General of Canada, is supposed to represent a vision of hope and ambition for the entire nation. In fact, this is just what Stephen Harper’s Conservative government promised in its Oct. 16 address to Parliament. Unfortunately, this vision appears myopic and stunted, a thing focused less on building a grand nation than winning the next election.