Features

On the first National Day of Truth and Reconciliation, 6,509 orange ribbons spanned the banisters in the foyer at All Saints Catholic Secondary School in Whitby, Ont., each representing a child from an unmarked grave at a former residential school.

Denise and Joshua Grimard and their children were away visiting family when they received word that their community of Telegraph Creek in the northern British Columbia interior was among the communities decimated by raging wildfires that swept over the province in August 2018.

SURREY, B.C. -- Doriano and Patricia Baisi’s eldest daughter Jenny was the kind of person you’d find first in line if you mentioned you needed some help.

Becoming a priest at age 47 is a day Fr. Chad Franklin won’t soon forget.

The Notre Dame de Lorette Council of The Catholic Women’s League (CWL) has been honoured by the province of Manitoba with the Premier’s Volunteer Service Award.

Student trustee Julia Vo wants every student to know they belong.

On the spring morning of Saturday,  May 8, 2004, I was ordained a priest. Just after the spirit-filled and joyful ceremony at St. Michael’s Cathedral, the Director of Priest Personnel gave me my letter of appointment from the archbishop. The letter reminded me of the motto that my classmates had chosen for our ordination: “As the Father has sent me, so I send you” (John 20:21). After a few weeks of vacation, I reported to my pastor at St. Rose of Lima Parish on Canada Day to begin my new faith journey.

During a recent Daily TV Mass, the homilist mentioned Ignatius Loyola, the saint who used to speak of finding God in all things. Hearing that got me thinking about my garden. As far as I’m concerned, nowhere is the work of His hands more evident than in the birds, blooms and bugs that make the garden a place of delight.

The Season of Creation, which began Sept. 1 and lasts through the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi Oct. 4, has always been a time for prayer, reflection and thanksgiving, a time to open our eyes and see the beauty of God’s creation. But this year our prayers are meant to spur action — concerted, global, political action.

For nearly 100 years, popes have set aside time for an annual retreat and meditation on spiritual exercises. It’s more than a custom — it’s become an essential part of papal life.