By now you may have heard of Bill C-14. It is the bill that regulates medically assisted dying in Canada. This bill will affect all of us, but in a special way, it will affect our medical practitioners, many who argue the restrictions are not adequate. The issue is complicated further by the fact that ...read more

This blog post is part of a 6-part series on World Youth Day. Read them all: Deacon-structing WYD: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6 Last week I shared a bit of my WYD experience and how this event can (and does) change so many people’s lives. But many are ...read more

Pope Francis landed in Armenia this Friday for a weekend visit that includes a stop at the Armenian Genocide Memorial, his participation in a Divine Liturgy in the Armenian rite, and a visit to the Khor Virap monastery not far from the Turkish border. The first item on the papal itinerary was a visit to ...read more

This blog post is part of a 6-part series on World Youth Day. Read them all: Deacon-structing WYD: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6 Often, when I speak to young people, I’ll start by asking where they are from: Is there anyone here from Ottawa or Quebec? How about ...read more

A historic gathering of orthodox leaders is scheduled to take place on the Greek island of Crete later this week. The Great and Holy Council, as it called in the Orthodox church, would be the first such meeting in over a thousand years. With days to go before the start of that that meeting various ...read more

Saint Mary Magdalene will now be remembered in the Church’s liturgical calendar the same way the twelves apostles and Our Lady are remembered. The Vatican has issued a decree elevating the memorial of her life to a feast, something reserved for important moments in Church history and important people like the apostles and the Blessed ...read more

That’s the title of a new film that just opened last weekend to mixed reviews. It stars Emilia Clarke and Sam Claflin in a romance with a bit of a twist. Clarke plays Louisa “Lou” Clark, who takes a job as the caregiver to Will Traynor (Claflin), a former daredevil who is now a quadriplegic ...read more

CNS photo/Catholic Press Photo This week marks 53 years since St. Pope John XXIII died at the Vatican at age of 81. For most people, the first thing that comes to mind at the mention of the saintly pope’s name is the Second Vatican Council. Yet his pontificate and his priestly ministry left its mark on the ...read more

In 2007, almost 60 years after the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights, the United Nations adopted the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The declaration recognizes Indigenous people’s basic human rights, as well as rights to self-determination, language, equality and land, among others. There were four votes against: Australia, New Zealand, the United States ...read more

Lisa Daniels lives with extreme, debilitating, chronic pain. She suffers greatly. Her suffering is irremediable. There is no cure. Many people who support the idea of medically assisted dying do so on the basis that some people, like Lisa, live with unbearable, intolerable pain. Can all pain be managed? How are we to respond to ...read more