Articles — Fr. Raymond J. de Souza

Re-Reading Father Richard Neuhaus’ ‘American Babylon’ in Light of U.S. Capitol Attack

Father Neuhaus, who died in 2009, had great faith in the American people, but he would have been worried these last years, and last Wednesday.

Newman House ManagerJanuary 12, 2021Culture, National Catholic Register

Getting the big picture on those globe-trotting public servants

To a certain degree, public health directives, aimed broadly as they are, are always at least partially false.

Newman House ManagerJanuary 9, 2021National Post, Culture

Becket’s freedom fight echoes in pandemic

Today religious liberty questions arise in the context of pandemic protocols. Are those who protest them guilty of Becket-like intransigent extremism, or are they Becket-like in a heroic defence of inalienable rights?

Newman House ManagerJanuary 7, 2021Faith, Catholic Register

Siege of the U.S. Capitol is an ominous sign of things to come

The poison spilled on Wednesday in Washington will leach out across the land.

Newman House ManagerJanuary 7, 2021Politics

Pope Francis, the Improvisational Pontiff

The Holy Father’s style was best exemplified in 2020 by eight key occasions.

Newman House ManagerJanuary 6, 2021Church Affairs, National Catholic Register

Why Does the US Electoral Process Breed Suspicion?

Americans’ weakened trust in elections is attributed in part to the electoral institution itself and to high-profile cases of alleged stolen elections.

Newman House ManagerJanuary 6, 2021Politics, National Catholic Register

The high cost of safety

What that price actually was in 2020 will be a key matter for investigation in 2021.

Newman House ManagerJanuary 2, 2021Culture, National Post

Which Designated Year Should Catholics Celebrate?

Next Spring, the Church will be simultaneously observing four specially designated years: Our Lady of Loreto, St. Joseph, Laudato Si and Amoris Laetitia.

Newman House ManagerDecember 31, 2020Church Affairs, National Catholic Register

Like JFK, the most momentous decision Biden will make impacts his family

He faces a dilemma no president has had to confront in 60 years: how to choose an attorney general whose department will decide on whether to prosecute his family?

Newman House ManagerDecember 30, 2020Politics, National Post

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks remembered

Rabbi Sacks was a master at making people sit up and take notice of things which they had long seen, but did not understand.

Newman House ManagerDecember 28, 2020Catholic Herald, Culture

Sunday Mass Obligation Was a Casualty of 2020

While public controversy focused on whether the government considered worship an ‘essential activity,’ the far more important question is whether the Catholic faithful consider Sunday Mass as ‘essential activity.’

Newman House ManagerDecember 28, 2020Faith, National Catholic Register

The 'Divine Comedy' of hope

Are there grounds for hope in this life, in the present, or are our circumstances set like the past is already fixed? Are we condemned to an unchanging reality like the souls Dante encounters in hell?

Newman House ManagerDecember 26, 2020Faith, National Post

NP View: Seeking God's love on a lonely Christmas

With increasing parts of the country in lockdown, the official advice for Christmas gatherings is not to gather. It makes for a sobering Christmas this year.

Newman House ManagerDecember 25, 2020Faith, National Post

Capital Punishment: It’s About Both the Penalty and the Death

It matters if the penalty is just or unjust, although it could be argued that today capital punishment is ‘inadmissible’ because the modern state is no longer competent to administer it.

Newman House ManagerDecember 23, 2020Culture, National Catholic Register

Carbon is life. Liberals will tax it anyway

Given the vast amounts of polluting dry ice that the government is welcoming into Canada, might it be permissible to suggest, even as the government proposes to more than triple the carbon tax, that CO2 is not pollution?

Newman House ManagerDecember 19, 2020Culture, National Post

Lack of clean water in First Nations communities should come as no surprise

Clean drinking water in Canada is not hard to get. What might be the difference for Indigenous-Canadians?

Newman House ManagerDecember 17, 2020National Post, Culture

Clearing the Air Regarding St. John Paul II and Theodore McCarrick

If carefully read, the McCarrick Report helps to explain what John Paul did know about the allegations against McCarrick, what he did with that knowledge, and why he may have done it.

Newman House ManagerDecember 16, 2020Church Affairs, National Catholic Register

CBC scribes worry about their reputations, but not so much about a major news story

Why did a big news story about the federal government’s cravenness to China receive no mention from our national broadcaster this week?

Newman House ManagerDecember 11, 2020Culture, National Post