BLOG: Fr. Raphael Ma, CR
What happens when you gather together some of the most committed, passionate, dedicated Catholic women from across the country in one church? Vancouver’s St. Francis Xavier church in Vancouver learned the answer: the congregation outsings the choir and the decibel level threatens to take the roof off the building. The Catholic Women’s League opened their ...read more
  Cheridan Sanders learns how Sr. Catherine Martin, O. Carm discovers her life-long love for art through an unwitting contribution to her father’s artwork. The best part of my job? The people. I love meeting the people who make up this beautiful reality we call the Church. There are so many stories to share and ...read more
Husbands and wives are called to love each other as God loves us. Last week I asked if this is even possible. We spoke about the story of the Wedding at Cana (John 2:1-12) and the story of Tobias and Sarah from the Book of Tobit, both popular Wedding readings. Both these stories teach us a ...read more
Here is a look at some of what has been going on across Canada this week, church-wise. Also, the month of August brings us the feast of The Ascension and with it an assortment of Marian pilgrimages and celebrations. First up, in Vancouver the Eparch Emeritus of the Ukrainian Eparchy of New Westminster (the Ukrainian ...read more
Rome, the eternal city, is conveniently located just barely inland from Italy’s Tyrrhenian coast and is surrounded by hills. This combination of geographical features means the summer months are hot, humid and smoggy. By August, it is next to impossible to breathe in the city. Thus Roman residents flee and take refuge in the beach ...read more
Today is the bicentenary of the priestly ordination of the Curé of Ars. God always supplies the Church with saints in each century, but a few of these shine so brightly that everyone can recognize them even during their lifetime. St. John Vianney is such a saint, who easily became my favourite after I had ...read more
  As part of my research into the life of Venerable Henriette Delille, founder of the Sisters of the Holy Family, I recently attended aa unique Mass at St. Augustine’s Church – the place where Henriette Delille and Juliette Gaudin pledged to live in community; thus founding the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy ...read more
This past week I had the good fortune of being able to attend the 133rd Supreme Convention of the Knights of Columbus in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Given that I am not a member of the order, it was my first time attending such an event, albeit as a member of the media. I had seen the event play out ...read more
For decades, the Franciscan University of Steubenville has been offering their famous teen conferences to groups around North America. This past weekend Toronto hosted its second Steubenville Conference. The team included Chris Stefanick, Matt Fradd, Cooper Ray, Sr. Miriam Heidland and Fr. Chris Martin. If you missed the broadcasts of their keynote talks on our ...read more
Three days after the demise of Hiroshima, on 9 August 1947, a second atomic bomb devastated the port city of Nagasaki. The “Fat Man” bomb, with 6.4 kg of plutonium and supposedly 30% more destructive power than the Hiroshima counterpart, missed the original city centre target by 3 km and hit the Urakami valley area ...read more