Prior to the 50th International Eucharistic Congress, the Salt + Light crew visited a number of historic religious sites across Ireland.  St. Canice’s Cathedral and its Round Tower (photo) are distinct parts of the heritage of the vibrant medieval city of Kilkenny. The tower, which dates from the mid-9th century, is the oldest standing structure in ...read more

Below is the full text of Most Rev. Diarmuid Martin, Archbishop of Dublin. His catechesis was presented earlier today at the Royal Dublin Society arena at the International Eucharistic Congress. Those of us who studied theology, at least here in Ireland, at the time of the Second Vatican Council were greatly influenced by the Council’s ...read more

Left to right: Marie Brunet, Pierluigi Molla, Andre Brunet after presentations in Varese, Italy during the VII World Meeting of Families. Varese, Italy – On our  second full day of the VII World Meeting of Families, we spent the afternoon outside of Milan, in the town of Varese. To our great surprise, this trip outside ...read more

In 1912, St. Peter’s Seminary opened its doors in London, Ont. One hundred years and 1,036 priests later, the seminary community celebrated its centennial anniversary with a Mass of Thanksgiving inside St. Peter’s Cathedral Basilica on Wednesday, May 23. As the lead Producer for this project, I had the great privilege of representing Salt + ...read more

Throughout this past week in the daily gospel readings for mass, we have been working our way through Chapter 17 of St. John’s Gospel, a passage known as Jesus’ great priestly prayer. Quite providentially, these readings bring us up to the feast days of three important “priestly” saints: St. Bede the Venerable, Pope St. GregoryVII, ...read more

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be a Catholic priest? People have many different ideas about the priesthood – highly revered, considered peculiar, disregarded as irrelevant or simply misunderstood. On the other hand, many people have an idea that priesthood is a boring and secluded way of life! Think again. Come ...read more

On the day the church celebrated vocations, the church beatified Giuseppe Toniolo. He is proof that not just those in religious orders are call to be saints. Toniolo was an economist from the Italian city of Treviso father of seven children. Born in Treviso in 1845 the now-blessed Giuseppe Toniolo became known for his work ...read more

An interfaith delegation of nearly 20 religious leaders from Ukraine were in Canada this week. The delegation included Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk (Patriarch of the Ukrainian Catholic Church), Mr. Jacob Dov Bleich (Chief Rabbi of Kyiv and Ukraine), Patriarch Filaret Denysenko (Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kyivan Patriarchate), as well as senior representatives of the Roman Catholic, ...read more

Stories are powerful. They inspire us, imbue us with values, and foster a sense of continuity with the past. In fact, I always marvel at how Jesus used parables to reveal realities that could hardly be fathomed by those who heard them. I’ve heard it said that we become the stories we tell ourselves. I’ll ...read more

There was more to celebrate this past weekend than just the Resurrection of our Lord! As reported on Perspectives yesterday, Pope Benedict XVI has given his approval for Fr. Felix Varela to be given the status of “venerable,” following a unanimous recommendation from the Vatican’s Congregation for Saints’ Causes. This means that Varela is now ...read more