BLOG: Fr. Raphael Ma, CR
In addition to a September 16th to 19th Papal trip to the United Kingdom which Pope Benedict has asked prayers for, September brings us the following papal intentions: General Intention: The Word of God as Incentive for Social Development That the proclamation of the Word of God may renew people’s hearts, encouraging them to work ...read more
Martyrs’ Shrine is a popular destination for many faithful from different cultural backgrounds. On Saturday, it was the Irish who ventured out to Midland, Ontario for Mass and a day of prayer. It was for the annual Irish Peace Garden commemoration. It was ten years ago that the Peace Garden was erected at the Shrine. ...read more
Last Saturday night, in Calgary, Catholic artists from across North America gathered for the 10th annual United Catholic Music and Video Awards and Conference, under the theme “Called to Serve”. The UCMVA was founded with the aim of bringing together Catholic presenters from around the world who celebrate their faith through various forms of media, ...read more
Few Canadian Catholics are as beloved as Fr. Bob Bedard. Initially, I had mixed feelings about the founder of the Companions of the Cross. But he won me over, too. Seven years ago I worked in campus ministry in Ottawa, and so sometimes I had the opportunity to hear Fr. Bob preach. I recall fuming ...read more
For those of you devoted to Cardinal John Henry Newman, you may want to circle it on your calendar. October 9th. That was the day of the Cardinal’s conversion to Catholicism in 1845. And Pope Benedict XVI is set to announce it as his feast day when he officially declares the English scholar beatified on ...read more
We are all familiar with award ceremonies –the Oscars, the Junos, the Grammys, the Genies and Geminis – there are also Catholic film and TV awards, the Gabriels – for the last two years S+L TV has won the award for TV station of the year – but have you heard of Catholic music awards? ...read more
Tonight’s edition of Perspectives features an interview segment with Sparrow Records’ newest gem, Audrey Assad. A recent convert to Catholicism and a New York City suburb native, Audrey told us about her vision for Catholic music and about how we should not be afraid to set the bar high. As mentioned in a previous post, ...read more
Some call it David versus Goliath. But Father Luke Strand dismisses that description. The priest from the Archdiocese of Milwaukee has been asked by Best Buy to remove a God Squad logo from his black Volkswagen Beetle. The electronic retailer says the logo is a copyright infringement on its logo for the Geek Squad, the ...read more
Fr. Andrew Gawrych greeted me with a smile, one humid summer’s day in July at Notre Dame University in Indiana.  He had just arrived to take up his new position as Associate Vocations Director for the Indiana Province of the Congregation of Holy Cross — a big job for a newly ordained young American priest!  ...read more
Are you a beekeeper? A climber? A candlestick maker? Do you like Dijon mustard? If you answered ‘yes’ to any of these questions, you may be interested to know that today the Church celebrates St. Bernard of Clairvaux . Among other things (as you saw), St. Bernard is renowned for his deep devotion to the ...read more