Your Holiness, One year ago today, the Bishops of Canada along with all the faithful of our great land saw you appear for the first time on the balcony of Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome. The simplicity of your manner and your words, the humility with which you invited us to pray for you, and ...read more

By Rev. Dr. Karen Hamilton General Secretary, The Canadian Council of Churches Having been given wonderful breakfasts by our host Palestinian families, including in many cases home-made fig and apricot jams, having been shown their gardens of lemon and almond trees, we reassembled as The Path of Abraham. Our next stop was the Church of ...read more

Special Mass of Thanksgiving on the Occasion of the First Anniversary of the Election of Pope Francis from the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington. His Eminence, Cardinal Donald Wuerl, Archbishop of Washington, is the principal celebrant and homilist of the Mass. Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, Apostolic Nuncio to the ...read more

  By The Rev. Dr. Karen Hamilton General Secretary, The Canadian Council of Churches   Leaving our Kibbutz hotel, The Path of Abraham bus rolled towards Nazareth and the Church of the Annunciation. This traditional place of the Annunciation to Mary that she would bear the Son of God, Jesus, is decorated with large mosiacs ...read more

  By Rev. Dr. Karen Hamilton General Secretary, The Canadian Council of Churches   Jews, Christians and Muslims together for the Arabic/English worship service at St. George’s Anglican Church in Jerusalem. As word and music filled space and hearts we were made to feel so welcome. What an interesting experience for all but in a ...read more

  By Rev. Dr. Karen Hamilton General Secretary, The Canadian Council of Churches   Shabbat Shalom! This morning offered a variety of ways of engaging in faith and land. Some of us went to the Sabbath services of the only English-speaking Conservative synagogue in Jerusalem. A remarkable service, made more remarkable by the fact that ...read more

by  Rev. Dr. Karen Hamilton General Secretary, The Canadian Council of Churches   After what seemed like luxurious sleeping-in compared with our early start of yesterday, we began Day 3 of our Path of Abraham study tour by hearing the challenging, heart-wrenching, soul-wrenching story of a Holocaust survivor, Hannah Pick. She knew Anne Frank when ...read more

This coming Friday, March 14th, as we mark Chiara Lubich’s entry into heaven we invite you to learn more about one of the Church’s great lay movements: Focolare. Founded by a young lay woman during wartime Italy the story of Chiara Lubich is truly extraordinary. It can be difficult to describe how the Holy Spirit is present in ...read more

Welcome to the newest feature on the Salt + Light blog: our Week in Review featuring a rundown of Canadian stories about and from the church…with the occasional international story for good measure. In Regina, Archbishop Daniel Bohan is in talks with church officials in Vietnam about how the archdiocese can help Vietnamese seminarians become ...read more

“Whoever is not with me is against me” Matt 12:30 Talk about throwing down the gauntlet! Those unfamiliar with this passage from the Gospel of Matthew might be surprised to hear it was Jesus of Nazareth who first uttered these words. Words which are a stark contrast to the image of Jesus as gentle and peaceful. ...read more