Gerry Turcotte: Change is always seen as radical
Recently I was listening to a report that explained why margarine was bad for you, which concluded that we would all be much better switching to butter.
Speaking Out: Change the world by changing me
When the afternoon of May 12 comes, I will walk across the stage, robed in a graduation gown, ready to take on the world.
The committed will bring change, healing
Thirteenth Sunday Ordinary Time (Year C) June 26 (1 Kings 19:16b, 19-21; Psalm 16; Galatians 5:1, 13-18; Luke 9:51-62)
Many personnel managers would envy Elijah’s situation. God not only told him when it was time to train a successor, but also whom he should choose. Finding Elisha, the designated successor, Elijah threw his mantle over him in a traditional prophetic gesture of selection and empowerment. Elisha’s response was immediate and positive — he was willing, but needed just enough time to say goodbye to his parents. Elijah was rather nonchalant, and indicated that Elisha was a free man and could do as he liked. No one was forcing him to follow in the prophet’s footsteps. Elisha slaughtered the oxen and threw a farewell feast for his family and the people, and then he followed Elijah.
Catholic education can never be neutral
Pope Francis, speaking to Italian school teachers and parents, said, “Education cannot be neutral. It is either positive or negative; either it enriches or it impoverishes; either it enables a person to grow or it lessens, even corrupts him. The mission of the school is to develop a sense of truth of what is good and beautiful.”
VATICAN CITY - Heads of state discussing carbon emission limits must create a global and "transformative" agreement built on justice, solidarity and fairness, a papal representative told the U.N. climate conference in Paris.
Times change and Christians must change continually
Pope Francis said on Friday (23rd October) that the times are changing and we Christians must change continually, freely but within the truth of the faith. He urged Christians to look at the signs of the times and warned them against succumbing to the comfort of conformity. The Pope’s remarks came during his homily at the morning Mass celebrated at the Santa Marta residence.
D&P goes back to the basics
Climate change has refocused the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace’s commitments in Africa and worldwide.
The alternative to change is the cross
“Change is good!” So proclaimed a brightly smiling instructor to her dismayed class, who’d just learned their school was being moved to a different corner of the city. Somehow it didn’t feel quite as good as the neon smile and cheery voice pronounced it should.
SANTA CRUZ, Bolivia - Fernando Fernande brought toilet paper, soap and food to the Palmasola prison, where his son has been locked up for the past two years.
ROME - Religious leaders from across the globe led a “Many Faiths — One Planet” march to the Vatican June 28, to show their support of Pope Francis’ groundbreaking environmental encyclical.
WARSAW, Poland - Poland's Catholic bishops pledged to resist changes to Catholic teaching on marriage and family life at October's synod on the family at the Vatican and rejected demands for reform by German-speaking Catholics.
Pope Francis met Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, while outside in St. Peter’s Square anti-abortion protesters drew attention to one of the most controversial topics up for discussion between the two leaders June 5.
A new report mapping the Catholic Church’s more than 1.2 billion souls — on track to reach 1.64 billion by 2050 — holds some surprises.
And not all bode well for the Church’s future as it faces major demographic and social shifts.
Church moving forward on sex abuse, but issues still to be resolved
MONTREAL - The Roman Catholic Church is moving forward in the aftermath of the devastating child abuse crisis, yet a sense of helplessness around the issue still has to be resolved before the damage can be fully repaired, says a leading clinical psychologist and member of a papal committee examining child abuse.