Glen Argan: Meditation ‘brings us back home’
Early in his book, Biography of Silence, Pablo d’Ors notes some of the many experiences he cultivated in his life as a young adult — travelling, reading voraciously and having numerous romances. “Like many of my contemporaries, I was convinced that the more experiences I had and the more intense and stunning they were, the sooner and better I would become a complete person.”
- By Glen Argan
Readers Speak Out: September 22, 2019
Dignified death
Re: Faith shouldn’t have to bend to survive (Aug. 11-18):
Excellent article by Charles Lewis. But I wonder what euthanasia has to do with palliative care.
Peter Stockland: Climate changing around ‘R-word’
At Montreal’s Concordia University, where I study the wonders of Ireland north and south for several hours each week, a large sign asks students how they feel about climate change.
Robert Kinghorn: A final wish for Betty, a dear friend
There is a truth about great journalists that long after their columns have faded into the ghosts of time, their words still come back to haunt or to comfort.
Harry McAvoy: Creating purpose from life’s lemons
Way back in Grade 10 religion class at Michael Power High School, Sr. Virginia had us read Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl. In this memorable book about the Holocaust, Frankl writes about why some of his fellow prisoners survived the concentration camps, while many didn’t.
- By Harry McAvoy
Editorial: Courting sainthood
In the words of Pope Francis, to give the best of oneself in sports is also a call to aspire to holiness.
Fr. Raymond de Souza: A treasured teacher puts Dante in focus
In a few weeks, his many admirers will celebrate the 30th priestly anniversary of Fr. Paul Pearson of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri in Toronto.
Readers Speak Out: September 15, 2019
Self-imposed silence
Re: Archdiocese gears up for federal election (Sept. 1):
The Church and the large Catholic community of Toronto has much to offer Canadians, especially, as the article suggests, by using the wisdom of Catholic social teaching in formulating government policies.
A.A.J. DeVille: Did God give man ‘right to bear arms’?
As someone who — thanks to his mother’s birth in Scotland and her emigration to Canada — enjoys both British and Canadian citizenship, never have I felt more of a “resident alien” living in the United States than when it comes to the issue of guns and the so-called right to bear arms which gets invoked after every atrocity, such as the Aug. 31 shootings that left seven dead in Odessa, Texas.
John Milloy: Secularism can be a positive force
Is secularism good or bad?
Canadians of faith are struggling with that question these days. Our increasingly secularized world seems intent on removing religion from public life.
- By John Milloy
Gerry Turcotte: Voice of the wounded is essential for healing
Recently I read a wonderful LinkedIn entry by Aron Laxton about the U.S. Navy’s efforts to study and reinforce aircraft based on planes that had been damaged from the front. Engineers studied and mapped the bullet holes that peppered the “wounded” planes and determined that additional armour needed to be added to the wingtips and to the central body of the aircraft.