GUELPH, Ont. - Jesuit Father Jim Profit wants everyone to have a merry, metric Christmas. He’s selling square metres of Christmas spirit for $20.

{mosimage}Editor's note: Canada's Catholic bishops have waded into the national debate over global warming. On March 7, the social affairs commission of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops released its new statement called Our Relationship with the Environment: The Need for Conversion. In this document, the bishops insist that Christians must lead a global effort to curb mass consumption and our governments must develop concrete plans to reduce pollution.

For the complete text of the statement can be downloaded in pdf format here. For our own report on the issue, read below.

 

Over 1,500 years ago, a young man named Benedict (480-547) abandoned his life of wealth and privilege in a morally decaying Rome and went in search of the kind of pious existence exemplified in the Gospels. For years he took refuge in a cave, living a life of discipline, prayer and contemplation. In time, Benedict, who would later be canonized, established a community of monks based on a set of rules of conduct that focused on devotion to God. What would be known as The Rule of St. Benedict became the foundation for monasticism and monastery life within the Catholic Church and played a crucial role in the expansion of Christianity throughout Europe.

NEWMARKET, Ont. - When Tabatha Spooner was 16 years old she imagined herself becoming a dance instructor. That was when she was just a kid. Now, she has a kid. His name is Joshua Crilly and he’s 14 months old.

Having a child has changed a lot of things in 19-year-old Spooner’s life. The biggest change is her mind.

TORONTO - Christian media in Canada are feeling the heat to modernize their news delivery and increase subscriptions if they want to keep their publications alive.

The Canadian Church Press (CCP), which in conjunction with the Association of Roman Catholic Communicators of Canada (ARCCC) held its annual conference here May 13-15, has seen its members suffer a two-per-cent decrease in subscriptions across the board in the past year. The theme of the conference? “We’re all in the same boat.”

{mosimage}Christians have debated Mary almost as long as they have been devoted to Mary. A renewed effort to persuade Pope Benedict XVI to declare a fifth Marian dogma may be setting the stage for a renewed tussle over Our Lady.

{mosimage}TORONTO - Twenty-six per cent of Canadians between the ages of two and 17 are overweight or obese. That’s three times the obesity rate of 25 years ago. In 2004 eight per cent of kids were obese, as opposed to just overweight, compared with only three per cent in 1978.

{mosimage}What does it mean to be an Easter people? The Creed will give us some clues. Crafted as a testimony to the far-reaching significance of the presence in our midst of the Risen Lord, the Creed is our particular take on reality that in turn sets the course of our lives. It makes categorical claims about how we understand God, creation, humanity, the culmination of human history and the ultimate meaning of existence.

{mosimage}TORONTO - Though often portrayed as the far-out fringes of Catholic religious life, nuns and sisters who have dedicated themselves to ecological causes actually represent a new kind of traditionalism within the church, according to an American religious studies professor.

{mosimage}TORONTO - Jazz isn’t just the American art form. It’s also the art of the possible.

Nobody knows whether the Paulist Fathers got rhythm, but for 150 years this quintessentially North American community of priests has been riffing on themes laid down by St. Paul the Apostle 1,900 years ago. “It’s not I who live but Christ who lives in me,” wrote St. Paul. That nugget has led Paulists to conclude Christ expresses himself in the individuality of every Christian — that the charisms bestowed by the Holy Spirit are the essence of who we are.