The Catholic Register's weekly editorial appears here online (http://www.CatholicRegister.org/opinion/editorial) and in our print and digital editions.
Readers Speak Out
You can also write to the editor.
Write to The Editor:
Catholic Register, 1155 Yonge St., Toronto, Ontario M4T 1W2
FAX: (416) 934-3409
E-mail:editor@catholicregister.org
Letters should be brief and must include full name, address and phone number (street and phone number will not be published). Letters may be edited for length.
Also, speak to us digitally via Facebook (facebook.com/TheCatholicRegister) or Twitter (twitter.com/CatholicRegistr)
The Catholic Register offers its readers dependable information and opinion as a joyful servant of God's pilgrim church.
Following half a century of hostility, and guided by the intervention of Pope Francis, the United States and Cuba have agreed to try to become good neighbours. The detente announced between the two nations on Dec. 17 is welcomed news to end a year that witnessed too much hatred.
Silent night indeed
By Catholic Register EditorialFew Christmas hymns are more admired than “Silent Night.” The lyrics were penned by a young German priest in 1816 and a schoolteacher added the melody two years later. Together these amateur musicians wrote a simple yet powerful song that lovingly depicts the peace and joy of the holy mother and her new child.
Beliveau's legacy
By Catholic Register EditorialSeveral years ago Jean Beliveau was asked to name the book he would select if he could own just one.
“The Bible,” he told the Montreal Gazette. “It’s a book I could read the rest of my life.”
Rediscover our roots
By Catholic Register EditorialPope Francis issued a wake-up call in a frank address (or was it a scolding?) he delivered Nov. 25 to the European Parliament. Good for him. But let’s not be smug about it. His knuckle-rap that a “self-absorbed” Europe needs to recover its soul applies with equal weight to North America.
Feed the world
By Catholic Register EditorialJason Brown was making millions of dollars playing in the NFL when he suddenly quit last winter to answer a call to feed the poor.
Speaking of sex
By Catholic Register EditorialOntario’s Ministry of Education has launched an online survey regarding the sex-ed component of a new health and physical education curriculum for elementary schools. According to an information package, the ministry is seeking input from 4,000 selected parents — one from every elementary school in the province — as it finalizes a new curriculum for implementation next September.
Pick better battles
By Catholic Register EditorialFour months after its health care policy for refugee claimants was ruled unconstitutional, Ottawa has grudgingly relented to a judge’s order and returned many — but not all — benefits to the needy people it had previously abandoned. We say grudgingly because the immigration minister remains determined to continue a court battle in defence of a policy that a federal court has already — and quite rightly — denounced as “cruel and unusual.”
Have mercy
By Catholic Register EditorialThere is nothing novel in a Pope rejecting the death penalty, but in typical style Pope Francis went a step further recently by also denouncing life sentences.
Tread carefully
By Catholic Register EditorialAfter the attack on Parliament by a lone gunman the instinctive temptation is to respond aggressively. First, to respond politically by supporting new laws that empower police and security officers at the expense of some civil liberties. Second, to respond socially by waffling on Canadian principles that uphold tolerance and respect for all citizens of all backgrounds.
Risky business
By Catholic Register EditorialPope Francis sought a “sincere and open” discussion among Church leaders attending the extraordinary Synod of Bishops on the family. Well, he got it. And then some.
Model Canadians
By Catholic Register EditorialThe year-long celebration of the 350th anniversary of the founding of the Diocese of Quebec reached into the Vatican on Oct. 12 with a papal Mass to honour Canada’s two newest saints.