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June 5, 2018

Pilgrims walk hundreds of miles to join Uganda martyrs day Mass

In this 2015 file photo, faithful near Kampala, Uganda, pray at the Uganda Martyrs Shrine, Namugongo.
NAMUGONGO, Uganda – John Ole, 67, has a smile on his face, knowing he just completed a 300-mile trek on foot with hundreds of Catholic pilgrims to Namugongo from Uganda's northeast district of Arua to celebrate Uganda martyrs day.
Published in International
June 4, 2018

Book review: Fire Sermon flames out in tedious detail

Jamie Quatro’s first novel is a disappointing tale of a woman whose grasp on Christianity lacks maturity.

Fire Sermon by Jamie Quatro (Anansi International, 256 pages, softcover, $17.96 on Amazon.ca)

Published in Arts News
May 4, 2018

Trump signs order to give faith groups stronger voice in government

President Donald Trump holds up an executive order he signed during a White House ceremony May 3 to establish a faith-based office, the White House Faith and Opportunity Initiative.
WASHINGTON – In front of a small crowd of cabinet members and religious leaders at the White House Rose Garden May 3, President Donald Trump announced, and then signed, an executive order giving faith-based groups a stronger voice in the federal government.
Published in International
April 20, 2018

Bob Brehl: Author speaks up for liberal Christians

Liberal Christians like herself are still out there but many are hesitant to speak up about their beliefs for fear of attack from Fox News and others, Brehl writes.

The other night I was watching TVO’s The Agenda and an erudite, award-winning author was talking about two taboos: politics and religion. It was fascinating television on several levels as she linked the two in Trump’s America.

Published in Robert Brehl
April 18, 2018

Iceland's Catholic leaders condemn circumcision law as anti-Semitic

People walk outside the Icelandic parliament building in the country's capital, Reykjavik, in 2017. A new bill, presented by seven members of the Icelandic parliament in February, seeks to ban nonmedically indicated circumcision of male children under age 18.
The Catholic Church in Iceland is speaking out against a popular proposed law that could land Jewish and Muslim parents in prison for up to six years for circumcising their infant boys.
Published in International
April 4, 2018

Pope, Martin Luther King share common dream, Vatican official says

A group of teenagers from Pearl, Miss., walk along U.S. Highway 61 just south of Memphis, Tenn., April 2, on their 50-mile "March to Memphis" tribute to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. April 2. April 4 marks the 50th anniversary of the death of the civil rights leader in Memphis.
VATICAN – The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream of a dignified life for all men and women regardless of color or creed continues to live on in the teachings of one his most influential admirers, Pope Francis, a Vatican representative said.
Published in International
March 22, 2018

At pre-synod, atheist says he is optimistic about church's future

Sandro Bucher (second left) represents Swiss youth in Rome.
VATICAN – Religious and nonreligious people today must learn to engage in fair and objective dialogue so that they may unite the world and make it better as a whole, a young atheist said.
Published in International
March 22, 2018

Hong Kong cardinal: Dialogue between Christianity, China indispensable

About 200 worshippers attend a prayer service Feb. 12 in Hong Kong after news emerge that China and the Vatican had reached a deal on bishop appointments. As rumors fly of an imminent Vatican-China deal, a Belgian priest known as an expert on China said he thinks an agreement might really happen.
VATICAN – Dialogue and respectful understanding are the prerequisites for social harmony and world peace, Hong Kong Cardinal John Tong Hon told a symposium on Christianity and China.
Published in International
March 1, 2018

Youth celebrate religious diversity with their faith stories

Catholic participants in the Celebrating Our Diversity Now event in February included, from left, Fr. Prakash Lohale, Monica Marcelli-Chu, Leslie Gyulay, Catherine Morley and Fr. Tim MacDonald.

Monica Marcelli-Chu had to go halfway around the world to figure out her life path, and it led her right back home.

Published in Canada: Toronto-GTA
February 28, 2018

Christianity's holiest site caught in tax protest

Tourists pray outside the locked doors of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher Feb. 26 in Jerusalem's Old City. Protesting several recent actions they described as a "systematic campaign against the churches and the Christian community in the Holy Land," the heads of Christian churches announced Feb. 25 they were closing of the doors of the church.
JERUSALEM – Christian leaders in the Holy Land reopened the Church of the Holy Sepulcher Feb. 28 after the Israeli government set up a negotiating team to resolve a municipal dispute over property taxes.
Published in International
June 8, 2017

Denmark repeals blasphemy law, Canada considers the same

The Danish parliament recently repealed it’s 46-year-old blasphemy law. The Canadian government is considering the same with the June 6 introduction of Bill C-51.

COPENHAGEN, Denmark – The Danish parliament has repealed an anti-blasphemy law at a time when such laws are still used around the world.

Published in International
May 15, 2017

North Korean defector: Despite horrific persecution, Christianity is growing

Pictures of North Korean parishes are seen Nov. 24, 2015 inside the Myongdong Cathedral in Seoul, South Korea. A North Korean defector said during a summit held May 11-12 that, despite persecution, Christianity is growing in his country.

WASHINGTON – Although the North Korean government is doing everything it can to suppress Christianity, the faith continues to spread, said a defector and missionary who called for prayers and action to increase religious freedom in the country.

Published in International
April 21, 2017

Comment: We can’t be bystanders in Islamophobia fight

Pope Francis accepts a program from Iman Khalid Latif during an interreligious gathering in New York in 2015.

Perhaps the greatest Roman Catholic voice to oppose Jewish prejudice was Pope John Paul II. He, more than any other Church leader, continues to enjoy the favour of the Jews. It was Pope John Paul II who categorically instructed the faithful that anti-Semitism is a serious sin.

Published in Guest Columns
April 6, 2017

Christianity's growth will be in global South, Pew study shows

Children jump on a trampolines in 2016 in Johannesburg. Most of Christianity's future growth is likely to be in the global South, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, where the Christian population is relatively young, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis.

CAPE TOWN, South Africa – Most of Christianity's future growth is likely to be in the global South, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, where the Christian population is relatively young, according to a new analysis from the U.S.-based Pew Research Center.

Published in Faith
November 22, 2016

Christianity returns to the towns of Iraq's Nineveh Plain

An Iraqi soldier guards St. Barbara Church Oct. 30 after it was recaptured from Islamic State militants in Qaraqosh. Similarly, in the town of Bashiqa, north of Mosul, the Mar Korkeis church was reopened after two years under Islamic State control.

MOSUL, IRAQ – Two years after the sound of church bells was replaced by the sound of explosives in Bashiqa, Iraq, just north of Mosul, Christians are again celebrating Mass after forcing the Islamic State out of their homeland.

Published in International
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