While things in Rome have been causing a buzz, back home dioceses are heading into their summer schedule. Still, there’s plenty to talk and read about. Here’s a sample: In Ottawa, Archbishop Terrence Prendergast, SJ, shares the life story of one of his conference who entered the Jesuits in 1944, just a boy from Winnipeg. ...read more

Here’s what we’ve been reading about this week across the country: The Truth and Reconciliation Commission submitted its final report on the effect of native residential schools. Here are the full 94 recommendations and here is some of the reaction. In Winnipeg, the chief of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs had this to say about ...read more

On the evening of June 3, 1963, as Mass was being celebrated in the plaza below his window, Pope John XXIII quietly passed away. He had been suffering from stomach cancer for some time, although his illness had only been revealed to the public in March of that same year. Still, he faced that final ...read more

The problem with holiness is that we don’t think it’s for us. We believe that we are made for Heaven. We believe that God wants us to go to Heaven, but how many of us would say that we belong in Heaven? How many of us would say that we are going to Heaven? Sure, ...read more

Here’s what’s been going on in the Canadian Catholic Church this past week: In Vancouver, a newly established scholarship fund targets native women who have seen the worst life has to offer. The fund was established with the help of the Sisters of Charity of Halifax. In Ottawa, the man who served as the first ...read more

“The gift of the Holy Spirit renews the earth” Pope Francis against the backdrop of St Peter’s Basilica and dressed in scarlet vestments, celebrated Mass on Pentecost Sunday. In his homily, the Holy Father began by focusing on Sunday’s readings saying that, “the word of God, tells us that the Spirit is at work in individuals ...read more

At 10:00 this morning, El Salvador time, in the Plaza del Divino Salvador del Mundo in San Salvador, the Mass of Beatification took place for Archbishop Óscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdámez, born on August 15, 1917 Ciudad Barrios (El Salvador) and martyred for “odium fidei” (hatred of the faith) on March 24, 1980 while celebrating ...read more

Traditionally, the church recognizes someone as a martyr when he or she refuses  to renounce their faith and is killed as a result. The beatification of Archbishop Oscar Romero, who was killed, opens the door to a new, expanded definition of martyrdom. Romero, who was gunned down while celebrating Mass, was never pressured to renounce ...read more

All around us, this miracle of nature reveals the life-giving work of the Holy Spirit. Fifty days after the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead, we celebrate the great Feast of Pentecost – when the same Spirit who at the dawn of time hovered over the chaos of nothingness to give us God’s gift of ...read more

Welcome to S+L’s Weekly News Round-Up. As the Director of Marketing and Communications here at S+L, many interesting Catholic news stories and articles come across my desk on a daily basis. Some of them we’ll cover on our different television programs and others I’d like to share with you on this blog. This blog column ...read more