Michael Swan, The Catholic Register
Michael is Associate Editor of The Catholic Register.
He is an award-winning writer and photographer and holds a Master of Arts degree from New York University.
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Caring for the Earth and its people
The retreat master’s job is all about the big reveal — showing people what’s already there. For Jesuit spiritual director Fr. Greg Kennedy the job is a delight, a joy and at the same time a humbling experience.
Laudato Si’ key to prof’s eco-theology
In a time and place where Christians, and especially Catholics, are at each other’s throats over basic truths about the world we’re living in, how we teach theology matters a great deal to the University of St. Michael’s College’s newest theology professor.
Compassion drives exiled Belarus leader
Some small part of the revolution now on display in the streets of Minsk and other Belarusian cities may have begun in Catholic, rural Ireland in the 1990s. It was there that Belarus’ likely-elected president who is currently in exile visited for a month each summer for 10 years, when she was between the ages of 12 and 22.
Parish finances looking for rebound
If you ever doubted the miracle of the loaves and the fishes, check out your parish’s COVID-era finances. After months of closed doors and no revenue, followed by months of full-cost operations for Sunday congregations that are a fraction of normal attendance, somehow your parish is still up and running.
Bishops join D&P national council
A nearly three-year process of investigation and review at the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace has resulted in a slimmed-down national council with four bishops appointed to the development agency’s governing body.
Aid groups help the poor caught in Ukraine conflict
Ceasefires in Ukraine aren’t quite ceasefires.
Showing the beauty in Fatima’s truth
When Mary steps out of the blinding light of the sun and into view for three children who have broken away from watching over a few sheep to pray the rosary, she isn’t surrounded by angels. No trumpets blare. Before the musical score rises to support this moment in the new film Fatima, there are crickets and birdsong and distant bleats of sheep. Mary is surrounded by hills, trees, fields and blue sky.
Caritas youth leap into action
Long before the shock of the huge, Aug. 4 explosion in Beirut’s port had worn off, Caritas Lebanon had unleashed a powerful force for good onto the streets of the shattered city — kids. This was the moment for the Catholic organization’s 750 youth volunteers to shine.
City Hall’s eternal flame not so eternal
COVID-19 has put a damper on a lot of things the last few months. Add to that list eternity.
Hiroshima survivor Setsuko Thurlow keeps fighting spirit
Setsuko Thurlow, 88, isn’t just disappointed. She’s choking back tears of frustration and grief as she describes the response she’s had from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on nuclear disarmament over the last four years.