Catholic universities take next step in Truth and Reconciliation
By Jean Ko Din, The Catholic Register
The Truth and Reconciliation process examining past wrongs done to Canada’s First Nations people may be complete, but for Catholic universities the time to respond to the TRC’s “Call to Action” has just begun.
Journalists, taxi drivers, musicians and motels have all had their economic apple carts upset by the Internet. Theology professors are discovering they too are not immune from the game-changing, democratizing effect of the world wide web.
TORONTO - Ever since Sodom and Gomorrah got their just desserts, no city has enjoyed a reputation for kindness, compassion, tranquility or Christian morality. At best the city is indifferent. More often urban anonymity bleeds into the darkness of sin. There are more sin cities than any other kind of city.
TORONTO - Conversations with Andrea Frizon can take a while. Words don’t come easily. The best way is to sit across from her and hold out both hands. She will lightly lay her hands on yours then withdraw them. Ask her questions that call for a choice and indicate the choice with your hands. “Does painting make you happy (indicate your right hand) or unhappy (indicate your left).” Andrea chooses the right hand with a light touch.
SAN CRISTOBAL DE LAS CASAS, MEXICO - Long before Pope Francis spoke of a poor Church for the poor and taking the Church to the peripheries, Bishop Samuel Ruiz Garcia of San Cristobal de Las Casas built the Church in southern Chiapas state.
BRAMPTON, ONT. - Almost seven years ago the Shakar family fled to Canada as war refugees from Iraq with little beyond the clothes on their backs.
Part of the road to reconciliation has to involve a change in culture and nothing moves culture forward more than art.
Few artists have left as lasting a legacy as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. In just 35 years of life he composed more than 600 musical works that are acknowledged as the pinnacle of symphonic, operatic, orchestral and choral music.
OTTAWA - When Brigadier General Guy Chapdelaine, Canada’s new Chaplain General, spent Christmas in Afghanistan in 2006, he took no chances on what might be in store for him.
Post-earthquake Haiti makes one forget their troubles in Canada
By Kristen Curtis, The Catholic Register
Jan. 12 marks the sixth anniversary of the magnitude 7.0 earthquake that devastated Haiti in 2010. The anniversary always takes me back to time spent in Haiti two years after the earthquake. It was a life- changing experience.
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Christ's birth can bring peace, hope to suffering world, Pope says
By Junno Arocho Esteves, Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY - Christmas is a reminder that through the birth of Christ, hope and peace are possible and that only through his grace can humanity find peaceful solutions to the world's most difficult problems, Pope Francis said.
O come to church all ye faithful, sort of faithful and atheists, too
By Cathy Lynn Grossman, Religion News Service
December means curtains up for church Christmas pageants, hand-bell concerts, caroling kiddie choirs and Nativity displays on the front lawns.
Christmas practices are developed and celebrated in different ways in families, and certain tasks and jobs become traditions. So how did it happen that growing up in my large family I became the one to go out into the forest and get the annual Christmas tree?
My hands are covered in flour and my mom is wrist deep in dough. The oven is preheated and the cookie trays are lined with parchment paper. She asks me to choose the cookie cutter for this year, and I select the angel.