BLOG: Peter Rajchert
On Saturday evening in Rome, the story reverberating around the Vatican walls was not the 24 new Cardinals who had just been created, or which Roman church they would be assigned as their titular church. Instead, while the two dozen new Cardinals were meeting and being congratulated by the faithful, the story making headlines on ...read more
Prayer Vigil to commemorate Iraqi Christians Victims St. Michael’s Cathedral Archdiocese of Toronto November 11, 2010 Address by Msgr. Yousif Habash, Syrian Catholic Bishop of the United States and Canada - [translation from Arabic vy Rita Sawaya] Msgr. Yousif Habash bishop of the Syro-Catholic communities of the United States and Canada issued a spontaneous emotional speech in Arabic, addressing the Iraqi people in Iraq and throughout the world. The vigil was organized and presided by Mgr. Thomas Collins, Archbishop of Toronto. Over 500 people including 20 Christians religious leaders attended the prayer vigil for peace, held last November 11 at St. Michael's Cathedral in Toronto on the day of commemoration of victims of Iraqi Syro-Catholic terrorist attack of October 31st in the Cathedral of Sayyidat an-Najat of Baghdad. The vigil was rebroadcast Saturday November 20th, 2010 on 20H30 on Salt and Light. Here is Mgr. Yousif Habash's moving speech in Arabic translated to English by Rita Sawaya. ...read more
The Lord’s call to proclaim the Gospel to the world requires freedom and today that freedom is often threatened, Pope Benedict XVI told the College of Cardinals assembled at the Vatican’s Paul VI hall Friday morning. The College of Cardinals along with the 24 Archbishops who will be elevated to the rank of Cardinal on ...read more
This week brought some new developments from the Pontifical Council for Social Communication. Catholic News Service’s Carol Glatz and Cindy Wooden explain one of those developments involves HDTV. To download Flash Player please click here > ...read more
Many of us are trapped in a fallacy – one that propels us into despair and robs us of confidence. The falsehood? We believe that if we really understood God’s love for us, if we really grasped the truths of hope and unconditional love, then we would never have dark days, never feel sadness or ...read more
Muslims around the world celebrated Tuesday the feast of Eid al-Adha – commonly known as Eid, which marks the end of Hajj. Hajj is the annual pilgrimage to Mecca, the city in Saudi Arabia, regarded as the holiest site in Islam, since the prophet Muhammad proclaimed Islam in that city in the 7th century. Hajj ...read more
There are few better stewards of tradition than the Catholic Church. Even in matters unrelated to faith, morals or liturgy, precedence isn’t taken lightly. One example has been the practice of electing a president of the national bishops’ conference. These elections rarely garner much press because, following tradition, it is assumed that the vice-president will ...read more
Rags to riches stories are the stuff of Hollywood; they capture our interest and get us dreaming. But what about going from riches to rags, voluntarily? “If I had more money,” we often hear people say “I’d help the poor. I’d do more volunteering. I’d contribute more to my community.” It doesn’t take much to ...read more
The Vatican’s television production centre, Centro Televisivo Vaticano (CTV) has been slowly moving towards broadcasting in high-definition. Today they took a giant leap forward in that direction. Thanks to Sony and the Knights of Columbus, CTV is the proud new owner of a mobile broadcast truck fully capable of broadcasting in high definition. Speaking to ...read more
On Friday, staff at Salt + Light paused for a moment to watch the final cut of God’s Doorkeeper: Saint André of Montreal, one of our latest documentaries. It was quite an experience – beyond words. Thankfully a skilled journalist chronicled the experience. The article below was published in the National Post. Salt + Light ...read more