A community withers
The great Catholic journalist Malcolm Muggeridge said there is nothing more pathetic than a ruling class on the run. Well, maybe there is. Maybe it is a community that lets its institutions die from the inside out.
Oscar Romero, a martyr’s life that is worth rejoicing
Next month, on March 24, the Church in San Salvador will mark the 35th anniversary of the assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero. Soon the whole Church will celebrate the beatification of Archbishop Romero, for on Feb. 3 Pope Francis approved the decree for his martyrdom. (Martyrs do not require a miracle for beatification, but do require one miracle after beatification for canonization.)
God offers unconditional love, forgiveness to all
There are many more questions than answers.
That’s the way it is with most tragedies but this one seemed even more perplexing, even more heart-rending.
Let it be known that freedom of conscience still matters
When patients are asked what they want in a doctor, a common response is compassion and integrity. Good doctors follow their convictions in trying to do what is right for their patient, and good doctors should not be separated from their consciences and humanity when caring for others.
This judge gets it
Advocates of religious freedom scored a big win on Jan. 28 when a Nova Scotia Supreme Court judge bluntly told that province’s law society to stop trying to impose its morality on a private Christian university.
Combat racism
A recent cover story in Maclean’s magazine christened Winnipeg as Canada’s most racist city. Even if it were possible to prove that claim — that Winnipeg is more bigoted than Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Montreal, Halifax, etc. — censuring one Canadian city that way is an unworthy exercise.
In Fr. McBrien’s passing, the Church’s liberal standard bearer moves on
The ranks of the priest-columnists are not few, but we are one fewer with the death of Fr. Richard McBrien on Jan. 26. He had both great longevity — more than four decades of syndicated weekly columns, with his home at the National Catholic Reporter — and great influence. In the 1980s, he was the go-to source for Catholic stories. The chairman of the theology department at the University of Notre Dame, he appeared constantly in the leading American newspapers and on television, an influence that extended into Canada.
Each family has its differences
When the U.S. Supreme Court declared it will rule in the coming weeks whether same-sex marriage will be extended nationwide, the esteemed New York Times and others called the issue “one of the great civil rights questions of the age.”
- By Robert Brehl
Why Catholic education still matters
One benefit of having a large Catholic university like the University of Notre Dame is that it can allocate resources to support the Catholic community and Catholic education in a variety of ways. One such way is a program called ACE RISE, run by Fr. Ronald Nuzzi, PhD.
Wealth gap obscene
Despite the economic downturn of recent years, bank accounts of the world’s billionaires have grown deliberately fatter as the financial canyon between rich and poor has widened. It has reached a point that by 2016 the world’s richest one per cent could own more than half the planet’s wealth.
St. Joseph Vaz, the great missionary saint
COLOMBO, SRI LANKA - Passing through Rome on the way to the Jan. 14 canonization of Fr. Joseph Vaz, Apostle of Sri Lanka, I heard something extraordinary from Cardinal Angelo Amato, prefect of the Congregation for Saints.