Arts and Culture

Church sticks with the familiar in its art

April 25, 2007

TORONTO - Artist Elizabeth Adams has been making art for churches for 30 years. Her latest commission, titled Unbind Them, is on view at St. Philip the Apostle Anglican Church in Toronto. Despite her years spent studying in Italy, and her love of Romanesque architecture on display in the front hall of her home and studio, almost none of Adams’ work has seen the inside of a Catholic church.

Ireland Park will bring immigrant experience to life

April 20, 2007

TORONTO - When Ireland Park opens at the foot of Bathurst Street June 21, the 25-metre-long wall commemorating those who died on Toronto’s waterfront in 1847 will display 663 names. Blank spaces have been left for the 461 whose names have disappeared from the historical record.

Some lessons in spiritual life

April 17, 2007

At the beginning of March, Philip Groning’s film Into Great Silence came into a theatre in New York that specializes in foreign films. It was advertised as having a two-week run. But when each of the three daily showings continued to sell out, the theatre owners put “Held Over” up on the marquis. Now, at month’s end, it’s still playing to full houses. The DVD went on sale in Canada April 3.

Pope remembered on film

April 13, 2007

TORONTO - The first Canadian theater screening of the film “Karol: The Pope, The Man” will be shown at the Ontario Place IMAX Cinesphere in English and Polish on Mar . 31 and in Italian Apr. 1. It is being sponsored by Catholic Youth Studio-KSM Inc.

Following Christ’s lead on devotion to peace

March 9, 2007

transfiguration [images/stories/books/transfiguration.gif]Transfiguration: A Meditation on Transforming Ourselves and Our World by John Dear (Image Books, soft cover, 238 pages, $14.95 list) If there is one lesson we can never learn too many times it is how to read the Bible. Jesuit Father John Dear’s Transfiguration shows us clearly and concretely how it’s done.

There is more to Africa than poverty, pestilence

March 6, 2007

faceofafrica [images/stories/books/faceofafrica.jpg]Fr. Stan Chu Ilo is a Catholic priest from Nigeria, now based in the diocese of Peterborough. He is an Igbo, a tribe from the Eastern part of Nigeria. The aim of his book is to present a true story of Africa, with a message that “Beyond the shadows of the present gloom lies the true face of Africa.”

Jesus tomb discovery ‘nonsense’

February 27, 2007

last-tomb-of-jesus [images/stories/movies/last-tomb-of-jesus.jpg]TORONTO - The claim by a Toronto filmmaker that he had found the true burial site of Jesus of Nazareth — along with Jesus’ wife and child — began to sink under withering criticism almost as soon as he revealed his new film Feb. 26.

Movie review: Black Snake Moan

February 25, 2007

Black Snake Moan takes a great starting point and turns it into a bad movie.

Jesus charmed men and women alike

February 18, 2007

jesus_women [images/stories/books/jesus_women.jpg]Jesus: A Meditation on His Stories and His Relationships with Women, by Andrew M. Greeley (Forge Books, 176 pages, $21.95, hardcover). Many know Andrew Greeley primarily as as the writer of a long-running series of crime novels featuring Irish-American sleuths such as Fr. Blackie Ryan. Others know him as a sociologist of religion, a frequent political and spiritual pundit on network TV. But what is often forgotten is that, first and foremost, Andrew Greeley is a diocesan priest — Fr. Andrew Greeley — with more than 40 years experience as a pastor and homilist.

‘The Gospels still work’

February 12, 2007

secularity [images/stories/books/secularity.jpg]The title of this book may be surprising. When the terms “secularity” and “Gospel” are included in the same sentence, they are usually contrasted. We naturally look for the word “versus” between them.