When we look at a conflict we always think of the innocent people who are suffering without any blame — the people who every day are fighting to survive, people who are persecuted just for being Christians. It is very difficult to watch TV and see my brothers in faith suffering just because they believe ...read more

Lent is a period of reflection and prayer, of looking for the meaning of our prayers. One community is intimately connected with this search is the Taize Community. The Taize community is an ecumenical society of more than 100 brothers who take vows and commit themselves to the apostolate of reconciliation. It began in 1940 ...read more

The reality of divorce is very common nowadays and one of the questions we always ask is, “If Catholic marriage is forever, how should divorced Catholics live their faith? Some times the easy way seems to be simply to leave God and forget He is the one who can help you in the healing of ...read more

One of the biggest challenges families face today is the question of how to educate one’s kids. How do you explain to them what is right and wrong? Discipline nowadays is sometimes a misunderstood and linked to old models that some would consider violence. As Catholics we compromise to teach to our kids Catholic values, explain to ...read more

This week on Perspectives Weekly, we’ll be looking at the contentious issue of parish closures and amalgamations. What would you do if your bishop wanted to close your parish? Host Kris Dmytrenko and our guests Fr. James Mallon, pastor of Saint Benedict Parish in Halifax and director of the John Paul II Media Institute, and Fr. ...read more

The reality of today’s Catholic Church is very different from decades past. It is common today to hear about cases of parishes being closed because of the lack of faithful. Listening to news of people who protest against the closures in some places, one can understand these people, but some times the change could be positive. ...read more

There are a lot of reasons to leave the land where one was born. Today the economic crisis is probably the main reason, but there are many others: war, natural catastrophes, or just the search for a new lifestyle. How do Catholic communities deal with this new reality of ministering to migrants in places where ...read more

I was pleased on Tuesday morning to see the movie “The Tree of Life” nominated for an Oscar. It was probably one of the most beautiful movies I have ever watched. The beginning of the movie is a citation from the book of Job: “Where were you when I founded the earth…while the morning stars ...read more

Do you think it’s possible to have 30,000 people welcoming the year in prayer? What if the majority of that group are youth? Does that seem possible? That is exactly what happened this year in Berlin at the European meeting of the Taize community. The meeting actually begun on December 28 and ran until January ...read more

It is difficult to believe there are countries in the world where suffering is an every day reality. The pope delivered the post-synodal exhortation “Africae Munus” about the Catholic Church in Africa last November, focusing on the need for change.  Today the news coming out of Africa is mainly about the starvation in the Horn ...read more