It’s that time of year again! The S+L team ranks the top 10 stories of interest to the Catholic Church in 2017. From the Pope’s trip to Myanmar amidst the Rhohingya refugee crisis, to the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation, we look back at the events and underlying issues that drew the attention of ...read more

Today we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family. As we reflect on the year that has been and the year that will be, through the lens of the family, let me offer this wonderful reflection from Bl. Pope Paul VI from an address while in Nazareth in January 5, 1964 and taken from the ...read more

Christmas urges us to reflect on the Mystery of the Incarnation. In a short video series, Fr. Eric Nicolai, an Opus Dei priest and art expert, helps us reflect on this mystery through religious art from the early Christians to roughly around the 18th century. Despite all the changes in the artistic depictions of the ...read more

God is the God of life. God is the God of love. God is the God of creation. God is the God of breath. God is the God of image. God is the God of presence. God is the God of union. God is the God of being. God is the God of family. God ...read more

For the last three weeks we’ve looked at three words for Advent: Light, Voice and Joy. Last week we looked at Elizabeth and how she was filled with joy when Mary came to see visit her. She heard Mary’s greeting and was filled with the Holy Spirit and the child in her womb leaped for ...read more

Last week we looked at John the Baptist and how he was the voice that announces and prepares the way. I love the Baptist. He is by far one of my favourite characters in Scripture. It’s a good exercise to go through the Gospels and read everything about him. I bet you’ll find some things ...read more

Last week we learned about Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist. Zechariah was a good and righteous man (Luke 1:6) and was a priest (Luke 1:5) at the Temple in Jerusalem (Luke 1:8). He was probably educated and respected as a leader in his community. When the Archangel Gabriel told him that his elderly wife, ...read more

Next Sunday is the First Sunday of Advent and we begin getting ready for Christmas. I think we all know that Advent is the four week-period before Christmas. There are always four Sundays of Advent, but it’s not always four weeks. It depends what day of the week December 25th is. This year, the fourth ...read more

A quick read through the Old Testament may make you think that God is all for war and destruction. Just read Deuteronomy 20:10-18 and you would conclude that war is perfectly OK with God. A read through Genesis 19 about the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and you could conclude that even nuclear destruction is ...read more

Click here to watch the full mass On Saturday, November 18, 2017, at the Ford Field Stadium in Detroit, Cardinal Angelo Amato, prefect for the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, beatified Fr. Solanus Casey, OFM, Cap., making him the second American-born male to be beatified. Below is the homily delivered by Cardinal Amato during the ...read more