Vanessa Santilli-Raimondo: Iceland offers a history rich in faith and harmony
By Vanessa Santilli-Raimondo, The Catholic Register
In Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland, the church of Hallgrímur (Hallgrímskirkja) towers above the city. It is the tallest church in Iceland, rising almost 75 metres. Locals boast that you can see its spire from almost anywhere in the city — like a compass of sorts.
Trump bashers
What is happening to The Catholic Register? It used to report about Catholic Canadian values. Now it consistently bashes Donald Trump. Trump is not perfect, but which politician is? However, he is pro-life. Because of his pro-life belief, the tide may be turning in the United States. Millions of children can be saved.
It is fashionable for columnists to devote the first column of the new year to resolutions — those kept and those broken. For the record, I’ve done both.
Donald Trump has become a hero of the pro-life movement and the darling of conservative Christians. But there is ample evidence to question whether he is worthy of that mantle or even of our respect. Does he really live up to a Christian ideal of respecting life?
Young people are not the future of the Church — they are the present.
Changing the current toxic cultural narrative around and about the Church consumes enormous Christian energy through a range of means and methods.
Shortly after U.S. president Richard Nixon resigned in disgrace, the Washington Post’s two young reporters who played such a pivotal role in uncovering Watergate received a personal letter from their gutsy publisher Katharine Graham.
End all persecution
Re: Persecution hits close to home (Jan. 13):
Bob Brehl states “we can go on and on about the persecutions of Christians around the world,” then abruptly switches to a story from The New York Times which discusses the homosexual individual from a Catholic San Diego parish who was harassed. Am I the only one who sees a disconnect?
It was one of those nights when I was challenged by Pope Francis’ insightful observation in The Joy of the Gospel: “The Gospel tells us constantly to run the risk of a face-to-face encounter with others, with their physical presence which challenges us, with their pain and their pleas.”
The cover headline on the December issue of Sojourners magazine caught my eye — “Decolonizing the Spiritual Life: Contemplation, healing, and activism centred on people of colour.” It pointed to an article inside the U.S. magazine, an interview with Teresa Mateus of the Mystic Soul Project.
Remember the good old days.