BLOG: Paul Jarzembowski
As many of you know, the Canadian Parliament is currently considering a bill to legalize euthanasia and physician assisted suicide. Bill C-384, proposed by Bloc Quebecois MP Francine Lalonde, would alter the criminal code to allow doctors to cause quick and painless death if a patient “appears lucid,” is aware of other treatment options and ...read more
I was in Grade 10 when I first sat with First Nations people around a circle and “smudged” with them. Smudging is a ceremony that is meant to cleanse the spirit as we ask the Creator to heal us. Sweetgrass and other herbs are burnt, and as an eagle feather is used to waft the ...read more
As seen on the Tuesday, November 17th edition of Zoom, the Vatican’s Secretary of State has written a letter to the priests of the Catholic Church in the People’s Republic of China on the occasion of the Year for Priests. Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone’s letter offered special consideration for the Eucharist. “In this Year of the ...read more
As seen on the Tuesday, November 17th edition of Zoom, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ fall meeting is underway in Baltimore. The president of the USCCCB, Cardinal Francis George, OMI offered an address on Monday highlighting the importance of the priesthood and the role of bishops. See the Archbishop of Chicago’s address below: ...read more
Every year, over one million people visit the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. And now, this Thursday, the largest Catholic Church in North America celebrates its 50th anniversary. To commemorate the occasion, Salt + Light Television will be broadcasting a special Mass from the Basilica. Join us Thursday ...read more
This month at Lectio Divina, Archbishop Collins does a little gardening. Figuratively, of course! The Archbishop meditates on the parable of the weeds among the wheat. Toronto’s chief shepherd suggests it’s always a good practice for us to “check our garden” for weeds. Big fat, juicy weeds like greed, envy, pride, gluttony, lust, sloth, and ...read more
This past Monday was the 20th anniversary of the Fall of the Wall. Thousands of people gathered in Berlin to commemorate the fall of the wall which separated the city’s east and west during the cold war. The wall was built in 1961 by the East German Government to end a constant flight of its ...read more
On Saturday November 7, I had the great privilege of attending the first ever John Paul II International Film Festival in Miami, Florida. Salt + Light’s documentary Road of Hope: The Spiritual Journey of Cardinal Nguyen Van Thuan was one of the film’s screened Saturday afternoon at Just the Funny Theatre in Coral Gables, a ...read more
Last week Canadian Member of Parliament for the Winnipeg-area riding of Charleswood-St. James-Assiniboia, Steven Fletcher, who is a Quadriplegic has stated he will abstain from voting on the right-to-die bill, C-384, which is currently going to its second reading in the House of Commons. This bill would allow people with terminal illness and those in ...read more
I also came to understand that the purpose of prayer was not to change God’s mind, but to change my heart. Lydia Cristini, an Edmonton teacher, offered this insight as part of her witness talk in the first episode of the second season of Nothing More Beautiful, which premiers Saturday, November 7th. She had been ...read more