I was not physically in Krakow for World Youth Day 2016. A series of scheduling practicalities made it necessary for me to stay in Toronto, anchoring Salt + Light’s coverage of WYD 2016. Still, there were moments when the line between living WYD and living it vicariously through my colleagues on the ground was blurred. ...read more

The flush region of Caesarea Philipi is about an hour’s drive north of the Sea of Galilee.  It was given to Herod the Great by Caesar Augustus around 20 BCE, who in turn handed it down to his son Philip.  Philip named it Caesarea in honor of Caesar, and his own name eventually became associated ...read more

“Apart from God’s Mercy, there is no other source of hope for human beings.” - Pope John Paul II ...read more

A couple of months before arriving in Jerusalem, I was driving my six-year-old daughter to school and she asked me about Jesus’ footprints. Not the real one located inside the Chapel of the Ascension, rather, she wanted to talk about the ones from famous poem called Footprints. She had seen the poster of it hung ...read more

A timeless memorial to the millions… During our Pilgrimage to the Holy Lands, we made a visit to a place the name of which I never knew, but which now I will never forget. It was a place of silence, a time to listen to the silenced, to the echoing cries of suffering, and to ...read more

We know very little about the woman who is described as the apostle of the apostles, so this village helps fill in some background. ...read more

Our recent pilgrimage to the Holy Land offered the chance to visit the ancient sites where key events in our faith story took place, and meet people living there today who are making sure those sites do not become museums. Visiting Qubeibeh, the West Bank, we met the Salvatorian sister who helped found the Qubeibeh ...read more

Have you ever wondered why they call it the Wailing Wall? It’s evident as soon as you get closer to it and make your way through the faithful standing before it, finding just enough space to press your hand against its cold brick to pray. During Salt and Light’s pilgrimage to the Holy Land in February, each ...read more

To be where Christ was, where He was born, where He was raised, where He performed miracles, where He suffered and where He died was truly a humbling experience. To have walked where Christ had walked, in the places you only hear about in the gospels: Galilee, Capernaum, Magdala, has left an impression in my ...read more

Lent is a time of penance, a period for us to refresh our faith with God. This year, I had an unforgettable time during lent and it took part in the Holy Land.   From Feb 25th to Mar 6th, I had the opportunity to follow Salt + Light on a pilgrimage, led by Fr. ...read more