Fr. Raymond J. de Souza
Coming full circle with St. John Paul II
VATICAN CITY - Permit, if you will indulge me, a lapse into autobiography. That was, after all, one of the signal achievements of St. John Paul II, that his biography became part of so many autobiographies. The story of his life shaped the story of so many lives.
Divine providence, divine mercy
ROME - John Paul will be canonized a saint on Divine Mercy Sunday, just as he was beatified in 2011 on Divine Mercy Sunday. It is not just because he designated the Sunday after Easter as Divine Mercy Sunday in the great jubilee year 2000, but because of his extraordinarily providential death in 2005.
Who is this man?
Palm Sunday this year began with the fundamental question being asked in Matthew 21: “And when He entered Jerusalem the whole city was shaken and asked, ‘Who is this?’ ”
PQ needed to recall history and Quebec’s new saints
When in Rome for the 2013 conclave, one heard frequently enough the quip that Latin America had had its best week in history. On March 5, Hugo Chavez, Venezuela’s thuggish dictator, died, having reduced his petro-rich country to a barter economy suffering from acute toilet paper shortages.
Pope John Paul II: Why we must remember
April 2 was the ninth anniversary of the death of Blessed John Paul II and the first “Pope John Paul II Day” in the province of Ontario. A private member’s bill passed by the Ontario legislature last month designated April 2 as a day to honour the soon to be saint. It’s a worthy initiative and a timely reminder to remember the late pontiff’s teachings.
Weigel and the Station Church Pilgrimage
The Fourth Sunday of Lent is Laetare Sunday — the Sunday of rejoicing, complete with rose vestments to lighten the Lenten purple. It complements Gaudete Sunday — the Third Sunday of Advent — but poses a puzzle.
Fr. Georges Lemaître and the Big Bang Theory
The Big Bang has captured the scientific and popular mind as the spectacular beginning of the entire universe. There is even an eponymous sitcom which, to judge from what is available on airplanes, might just be the most popular television program ever made.
Pope’s ministers of mercy
I was a little nervous about Pope Francis’ meeting with the clergy of Rome last week. As a seminarian and a new priest, I always looked forward to Blessed John Paul’s annual Holy Thursday letter to priests. To my disappointment, Pope Benedict XVI did not continue that tradition, but replaced it with an annual encounter with the clergy of Rome in the first days of Lent. Pope Francis opted this year to continue Benedict’s practice, and so met with the parish priests of Rome last week.
Restore, don’t replace the beauty of marriage
Last week we had the honour of hosting Timothy Cardinal Dolan, Archbishop of New York, in Kingston at the annual St. John Fisher Dinner. The Fisher Dinner, named in honour of a great man of letters before his courageous defence of marriage and martyrdom under Henry VIII, supports the work of our Newman House Catholic Chaplaincy at Queen’s University and the missionaries of Catholic Christian Outreach who are an essential part of our mission.
Applauding Pope Francis without the standing ovation
As we approach the first anniversary of Pope Francis’ election, I received a thoughtful e-mail from Mary, a regular reader of The Register. She complained that my columns “undermine Pope Francis.”