Iraqis re-enact the Nativity at Ainkawa refugee camp near Irbil, Iraq, Dec. 19, 2014. Christmas bells did not ring in Mosul and Christian villages last year for the first time in 1,600 years. CNS photo/Sahar Mansour ...read more

In this Advent series, Deacon Pedro learns from Judaism as he prepares for the coming of the Messiah. In the second week, Deacon Pedro and Rabbi Aaron Flanzraich explore the significance of and difference between signs and symbols in Judaism. ...read more

Last week, I explained how asking a simple question like how we should care for the environment led us to ask many more other questions, from looking through the creation narrative in the Book of Genesis, to discovering that our desire to learn about created things begins with a sense of wonder. Sr. Damien Marie ...read more

If someone asked you to tell them the Christmas story as it’s told in the Gospels, how would you tell it?  What would you include?  What would you emphasize?  How accurate would your retelling be? The common image of the Christmas story that we have in our minds comes from traditional nativity scenes.  We see ...read more

Choir members sing carols in front of a figure of Christ during Christmas Eve Mass at a Catholic church in Shenyang, China. CNS photo/Sheng Li, Reuters ...read more

In this Advent series, Deacon Pedro Guevara-Mann learns from Judaism as he prepares for the coming of the Messiah. In the first episode, Deacon Pedro and Rabbi Aaron Flanzraich explore the meaning of words in Judaism. ...read more

Many people have asked me either how we came to work on a project about the environment, or how we ended up with the format that we ended up with. My response is always that we began with one question, “why should we care for the environment?” and we tried to be honest and thorough ...read more

Listening to all the readings at Mass about the end of times at this time of the year makes you wonder if we should be proclaiming them as “the Good News!” Recently while visiting my parents I found a book titled, “The Final Hour.” It’s about all the end-time prophecies. I have to be honest, ...read more

Last week we learned that the Church loves the poor. We have what we call a “preferential option for the poor.” The Church has been very good at caring for the poor and the needy worldwide. So why did Cardinal Hummes of Brazil tell Cardinal Bergoglio, now Pope Francis, to “remember the poor”? Perhaps because ...read more

I would love you to meet Sherry. I’m not sure how she spells her name, but she told me her name was Sherry. I see her often, sitting outside the Royal Bank at the corner of King and Jarvis in Toronto. She sits there listening to her small red radio. Sometimes I give her change. ...read more