In Ottawa, speculation is growing about a possible spring election. When the federal campaign officially begins, religious leaders want poverty reduction to be front and centre. On Monday and Tuesday, a coalition of faith leaders met with 15 Members of Parliament in Ottawa. Their ambitious goal was to launch a national conversation about poverty. The ...read more

As Christians in Pakistan mourn the killing of their boldest representative, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Canada’s bishops are keeping his message alive. Shahbaz Bhatti was Pakistan’s only Christian cabinet minister before his assassination on Wednesday. He visited Ottawa in February, where he told Canadian Catholic News that he was “ready to die and sacrifice ...read more

For Said Musa, being publicly exposed as a Christian condemned him to death row. Yet his testimony of faith, spread throughout the world, may have also helped secure his liberation. As we reported on the S+L Blog and Perspectives, Musa worked for the Red Cross in Afghanistan when, due to a local television report, he ...read more

There’s been lots of changes in the last week on the Episcopal scene in Canada. Last Tuesday Pope Benedict XVI made two appointments involving Auxiliary Bishops of the Archdiocese of Quebec. The first involved Bishop Gérald Cyprien Lacroix.  He has been named the new Archbishop of Quebec City, succeeding Cardinal Marc Ouellet, who was appointed ...read more

Last week we told you about the plight of Sayed Musa, a Christian convert sentenced to die in Afghanistan. Apostasy remains a capital offense in that country. Writing on behalf of the Canadian bishops, as the chair of their Human Rights Committee, Archbishop Brendan O’Brien of Kingston asked the Minister of Foreign Affairs to intervene ...read more

On New Year’s Day, Pope Benedict dedicated his message for the World Day of Peace to the cause of religious freedom. In his message, the Holy Father made headlines with his assertion that “Christians are the religious group which suffers most from persecution on account of its faith.” That statement may have surprised some, but ...read more

On Tuesday we told you about the new pastoral letter from the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, Living Chastity Today.  The letter can be downloaded from cccb.ca, or you can view it in video form, presented by seven young people.  The video will also be available as a DVD that can be used in the ...read more

Just the other night I was with friends and ended up having a conversation about… guess what? Chastity! Well, love, marriage, sex and relationships. One of my friends explained that he didn’t want to get married because for it to end up in divorce would be a failure. Even though he did not see marriage ...read more

The Church is rejoicing today as the Vatican announced that Pope John Paul II will be declared “Blessed.” Our own, Fr. Thomas Rosica penned a message from WYD Madrid meetings noting the excitement at the meetings over the news.  He also explained the significance of the beatification date of May 1st, shared that the Polish ...read more

There are few better stewards of tradition than the Catholic Church. Even in matters unrelated to faith, morals or liturgy, precedence isn’t taken lightly. One example has been the practice of electing a president of the national bishops’ conference. These elections rarely garner much press because, following tradition, it is assumed that the vice-president will ...read more