Arts and Culture

Nuns among the nudes at Montreal art exhibit

November 21, 2015

MONTREAL - Two paintings of Montreal’s St. Patrick’s Basilica bathed in the amber glow of a late winter afternoon serve as something of a muted introduction to the Colours of Jazz, a dynamic exhibition of artwork turning heads in Montreal.

Pixar’s ‘Sanjay’s Super Team’ takes a gamble on Hindu theme

November 21, 2015

Pixar, the computer animation studio beloved for its kid-friendly fare such as “Finding Nemo” and “Inside Out,” is not known for taking on religious themes.

Out of the Cold: A history of caring

November 14, 2015

Editor’s note: Launched almost 30 years ago as a project at Toronto’s St. Michael’s College School, the Out of the Cold program is a remarkable story of Christian outreach that last winter provided food and shelter to more than 12,000 homeless men and women. That success is celebrated in a just-released book by Catholic Register associate editor Michael Swan. In this excerpt from Out of the Cold: A history of caring, Swan recounts how the program found a home in one downtown Toronto church.

Film puts Boston clergy abuse crisis in Spotlight

November 14, 2015

The clergy abuse-themed drama Spotlight is a movie no Catholic will want to see. Whether it’s a film many mature Catholics ought to see is a different question entirely.

Piano virtuoso, only 16, hits right notes

November 8, 2015

TORONTO - Tony Yang thought so little of his chances at the world’s most prestigious piano contest that he arrived in Poland with an early ticket home already in hand.

Biblical epic Ben-Hur story to be told again

November 7, 2015

NEW YORK - The horses have been harnessed and the chariot wheels greased for the new take on the classic film Ben-Hur that will roll into cinemas early next year.

Jesuit story goes hand-in-hand with building of Canada

October 24, 2015

Teachers of a Nation: Jesuits in English Canada, Jesuit History Series, vol. 1, by Joseph B. Gavin S.J. (Novalis, 288 pages, hardcover, $34.95). Builders of a Nation: Jesuits in English Canada, Jesuit History Series, vol. 2, Jacques Monet S.J. editor (Novalis, 288 pages, hardcover, $34.95). Talk of Canada’s Jesuits and their history usually conjures images of St. Jean de Brebeuf and his seven companions martyred in the 17th century at the hands of the Iroquois. Those dramatic events, famously recounted in the Jesuit Relations, would inspire and encourage future generations of the Society of Jesus to missionary work and to the care and feeding of the cult of their martyr-confrères.

Where the euthanasia slippery slope lies

October 17, 2015

Do You Call This A Life? Blurred Boundaries in the Netherlands Right-to-Die-Laws, by Gerbert van Loenen (Ross Lattner, 196 pages, softcover, $20). Canadian judges and Members of Parliament should read this book.

A funny thing happened in that Joke with the Pope contest …

October 10, 2015

The Joke with the Pope contest is over and the winner is … a rabbi.

Faith overcomes doubt in moment of trial

October 10, 2015

“Where there is doubt, faith.”