Tolerance for religious minorities was written into the very establishment of Canada, more than a century before the country was established in 1867. Today, religious liberty and religious pluralism are under siege the world over. The 150 years – and more – of the Canadian experience have much to offer.
Read MoreCoast to coast. It is a defining element of Canada, the sheer vastness of a land mass that extends, extends, extends to the horizon and beyond, finding an end in the only thing more vast than the land itself — the sea.
Read MoreOver seven days of formation and fellowship at a new seminar on Wolfe Island, thirteen young Catholics inspired me by their commitment to witness to the transcendent dignity and destiny of the human person in every sphere of society.
Read MoreNewfoundland is so fittingly Canadian, it is hard to imagine it was ever otherwise: the sea, the coast, the north, the indigenous people and the first European explorers, the closeness to Europe and the opening to a new continent. And the moose.
Read MoreThe visit two weeks ago to Rome of the leading bishops of Venezuela may well have been unprecedented, a highly public visit aimed at, apparently, clarifying that the pope was on their side, and not that of Venezuela’s dictator, Nicolás Maduro.
Read MoreIn this year of looking back, many on both sides of the Atlantic might think that there is nothing of great religious significance in the 150th anniversary of the Canadian Confederation, to be marked on July 1, 2017.
Read MoreThe death on May 31 of Cardinal Lubomyr Husar, patriarch emeritus of Kyiv, former head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC), resonated in Canada where, outside of Ukraine, the largest Ukrainian Catholic community is found.
Read MoreThe recent death of Cardinal Husar of Kiev, and the forthcoming beatification of the first Lithuanian martyr of the Soviet era, remind us of one of the most noble periods in Church history: the great lions of the East, the bishops who were heroic witnesses and pastors under totalitarian persecution.
Read MoreTruth-telling about history, acknowledging both lights and shadows, is always a challenge. Two temptations have to be resisted
Read MoreThree weeks ago, Justin Trudeau knelt in the Sistine Chapel before The Last Judgement, Michelangelo’s depiction of the Risen Christ returning in awesome glory to render final judgement upon the saints and the damned.
Read MoreThe answers that Pope Francis gave to workers at a steel plant in Genoa, Italy, last month suggested an important distinction in the Holy Father’s economic thinking, one that addresses the increasing importance of the financial sector in the contemporary economy.
Read MoreThe Six Day War, which gave the Arab-Israeli conflict and the wider Middle East its current shape, is an anniversary that is going mostly unmarked this week in the Christian world.
Read MoreOur world was significantly shaped 50 years ago this week by war in the promised land. Six days changed the Middle East; a week changed the world.
Read MoreThe day before President Trump met with Pope Francis, Cardinal Peter Turkson juxtaposed the president’s speech in Saudi Arabia with what the Pope said in Egypt.
Read MoreSixteen Muslim countries – Algeria, Bangladesh, Brunei, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Malaysia, Oman, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, United Arab Emirates, Yemen – simply forbid Israeli passport holders entry. Period.
Read MoreReading Frank Deford’s long pieces — it really didn’t matter the subject — in Sports Illustrated as a teenager was for me an important introduction to the power of the word.
Read MoreIt is puzzling why the commissioners of the TRC think an apology would be a good idea. Or, more precisely, why they think it would be a good idea again.
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