Do you really believe in conversion? You wonder this as you repeat those same sins in confession. You also struggle to believe that a dysfunctional family relationship could be transformed by God; it’s been a certain way for so long, you can hardly fathom what it would even look like. On a societal scale, when ...read more

Few Canadian Catholics are as beloved as Fr. Bob Bedard. Initially, I had mixed feelings about the founder of the Companions of the Cross. But he won me over, too. Seven years ago I worked in campus ministry in Ottawa, and so sometimes I had the opportunity to hear Fr. Bob preach. I recall fuming ...read more

Canada is saying goodbye to its Primate. Fittingly, Cardinal Marc Ouellet does so across the country with an interview on the CBC’s The National. (Note: the interview was recorded Thursday and was advertised to air tonight, but it has been rescheduled for Sunday.) He departs for the Vatican on Tuesday to take up his new ...read more

As I shared in my previous post, I spent my vacation in Algonquin Provincial Park and at Madonna House in Combermere, Ontario. In between those adventures, I took a road trip to Newfoundland with my best friend. For one week, we marveled at the Maritime culture, wildlife and dramatic landscape of Gros Morne National Park. ...read more

The disheveled man lurched along the trail, as if stumbling off the set of a George Romero movie. He wore just one hiking boot; the other ankle was swollen and purple. Half-naked—the wrong half—his bare legs were covered in deep cuts and two crimson, football-sized lesions. His wide eyes did not avert their gaze as ...read more

Even before the G8 and G20 Summits began, the world’s religious leaders were under no illusions that they could greatly influence the politicians. Still, eighty faith leaders were gathered in Winnipeg for their own assembly. While they were confident they had something important to say, many had been through this before, and they kept their ...read more

A few weeks ago, my mixed feelings about multi-faith advocacy were brought to the surface. Before I confess my misgivings, I must tell you that I’m especially indebted to people of other religions and denominations. When I was an agnostic high school student, a Bahá’í friend stoked my interest in God by inviting me to ...read more

One could hardly have predicted that the replacement of the long-form census with a voluntary survey would have erupted into an ongoing debate. Most Canadians, I imagine, find census methodology a little pedantic, or welcome having one less piece of paperwork that they must fill out. The controversy has drawn attention to the function of ...read more

Earlier this week on the blog, Fr. Thomas Rosica shared his homily for the Feast of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist. That message was preached in Rome at the Generalate of the Christian Brothers de la Salle, a religious order renowned for operating schools around the world. Notable among them is Bethlehem University. ...read more

Just over a week ago, Pope Benedict returned to the Vatican from his three-day trip to Cyprus. This might be news to some of you. The papal visit was the most under-reported of 2010. Cynics might theorize that the media yawned because there was no apparent clergy sex abuse angle. Just as likely, the relative ...read more