St. Michael's Choir School

Award-winning columnist Deacon Robert Kinghorn has assembled a collection of his Catholic Register columns into a new book, The Church on the Street. In this excerpt, he explains his calling to minister to the forsaken on the streets of Toronto.

Generation after generation have shared the classic Christmas poem “Twas the Night Before Christmas.” 

BUDAPEST, Hungary -- Speakers at the second International Conference on Christian Persecution called upon governments to shed the "fear of working with the churches."

Amusingly, and confusingly, two signs were posted, one above the other, on the charming wrought-iron gate leading to a country estate: “Welcome” and “No trespassing.” The place seemed to say simultaneously, “Come in, we want you,” and “Stay away, we’re afraid of you.”

VATICAN CITY -- Pope Francis and his international Council of Cardinals reviewed aspects of the draft of the apostolic constitution that would govern the Roman Curia, including a greater role for lay men and women.

Sad reminder

Re: Nine priests identified in Archdiocese of Vancouver report on sexual abuse (Dec. 1):

If it’s true that the best ideas are often the simplest ones, then give credit to Pope Francis for endorsing an 800-year-old strategy to place Christ at the centre of Christmas.

The two young people sitting in front of me were deeply in love. They stared into each other’s eyes as if they were the only two people in the world — which, come to think of it, is the very definition of being deeply in love. They did not speak at all. Just with their eyes. I watched them for a full hour.

INDIANAPOLIS -- Megan Davis, Elizabeth Eberhard and Allison Dible were fired up after the opening evening session of the biennial National Catholic Youth Conference in Indianapolis, but it was only a precursor to what was to come.

Taking time to reflect is one of the hallmarks of the Advent season, which prompted us to dig into The Catholic Register Archives to see how our Youth Speak News writers have tackled this special time of year. From the Dec. 19, 2010 issue, Jason Coelho, then a Grade 12 student at Brebeuf College in Toronto, presented his own timeless view of this special season: