In his recent letter to Register readers, Publisher-Editor Jim O’Leary reminded us all that “the need has seldom been greater for us to unite spiritually as communities of faith.”

The sign on the door may read “Closed until further notice” at Loyola House Ignatius Jesuit Centre and other retreat centres around the country, but that doesn’t mean spiritual life needs to take a break.

Cardinal Thomas Collins will participate in a live online interaction with parents and children as part of extensive Holy Week and Easter activities and services announced by the Archdiocese of Toronto.

A little quiet time — away from work and the constant interruptions of daily life — ought to be just what the doctor ordered for those seeking more spiritual focus in their lives.

In hospital hallways, where the virus wages psychological warfare on doctors, nurses, cleaners and orderlies, hospital chaplain John Zamiska fears evil.

A young woman told me how she almost took her own life at 21. Not because she had no friends or family (she knew she did) but because she felt alone in her pain, isolated in the anguish she had carried so long, and convinced nobody could hear.

Facing a steep drop in revenue due to the COVID-19 crisis, charities and non-profits are seeking a multi-billion-dollar lifeline from governments and foundations.

The COVID-19 pandemic is forcing society to take a hard look at what is essential and what is optional or even superfluous in our daily lives. In some respects, this material downsizing is a secular version of the spiritual exercise Catholics embrace every year at Lent.

What are priests to do in a pandemic? Much fewer things than they would ordinarily do. But the one thing they must do is to keep doing the one thing which only they can do. They cannot abandon the sacraments.

With Ontario schools officially shuttered until at least the start of May, education partners are ramping up plans to continue teaching students at home.

The COVID-19 pandemic is forcing Catholic youth around the world to cope with Mass cancellations, isolation and increasing fear. Yet even in this darkness, their faith is lighting the way. 

“You better not have any excuses for being bored.”

That was always my parents’ warning at the start of every summer as we had books, board games, bikes and other various activities to enjoy. What they really meant was for us to “take advantage of the situation and appreciate the present as much as possible because there might be something in the future that will make this a fond memory.”

OTTAWA -- Two Ottawa-based faith leaders have joined together to offer comforting words to Canadians during the COVID-19 health crisis that has closed most places of worship across the country.

ROME -- While many churches in Italy remain open, visiting a church to pray is not a valid excuse for leaving one's home during Italy's COVID-19 lockdown, said a note from the Ministry for Internal Affairs.

In a crisis, hard decisions have to be made.

When there aren’t enough ventilators or Intensive Care Unit beds for everyone who needs one, it’s left to medical ethicists to provide guidance to clinicians faced with dire decisions about who lives and who dies.