Welcome to the third of a series of blogs on the legacy of Brother André! As I mentioned in previous blogs celebrating Br. André Bessette’s canonization, a Salt + Light crew traveled to the United States in July for the documentary on Br. André.  Our last stop was… Manchester, New Hampshire!  We wanted to stop ...read more

Fr. Andrew Gawrych greeted me with a smile, one humid summer’s day in July at Notre Dame University in Indiana.  He had just arrived to take up his new position as Associate Vocations Director for the Indiana Province of the Congregation of Holy Cross — a big job for a newly ordained young American priest!  ...read more

Today he is 165 years old.  If he were still alive, that is. Even before he died in 1937, people all over the world regarded him as a saint.  About two months from now, on October 17th, Brother André Bessette CSC will be the first Canadian-born male to be officially named a saint by the ...read more

Are you aware of the persecutions endured by our Eastern Catholic brothers and sisters, in the past and at present? In his May 28th National Catholic Reporter article, John Allen writes of the Greek Catholic Church’s sufferings in the past: Under the Soviets, the Greek Catholic Church in Ukraine was the largest illegal religious body ...read more

Doors Open Toronto, which took place a couple of weekends ago, opened my eyes to the city I live in. Doors Open Toronto is an annual event in which the City of Toronto opens the doors of at least 150 of its buildings of architectural, social, or historical significance.  These are buildings you usually can’t ...read more

The pile of books on her desk gave it away. At the end of January, our Salt + Light secret service spotted a pile of books about Catholicism on her desk.  But she’s not Catholic, so it was odd. Two months later, Salt + Light CEO Fr. Thomas Rosica announced that she would be entering ...read more

In March, I went to the only place in North America where you can obtain a doctoral degree in Eastern Christian Studies – the Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky Institute.  So if you’ve ever asked yourself “Do I know enough about the Eastern Catholics who form part of my Catholic family?”, read the rest of this blog. ...read more

What is euthanasia really about?  Dignity?  Compassion?  Human rights?  Or is it something else altogether? We need to find the answer because the euthanasia debate is heating up again!  In an interview with the newspaper Le Devoir a few days ago, Bloc-Québécois Member of Parliament Francine Lalonde explained that the Euthanasia bill C-384 will have ...read more

The euthanasia (or the “right to die with dignity”) issue has been rearing its head in Canada for the past 20 years. The issue has already gone, unsuccessfully, before the Supreme Court of Canada. Bill C-384, introduced by Bloc Québécois MP Francine Lalonde to the Parliament of Canada, is the latest attempt. Even the Quebec ...read more

In 2007, I began working on a project commissioned by the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board in Ontario: to create 10 short vignettes that would highlight how 10 virtues (which they had pre-selected) are being put into action in their school communities.  We called this joint venture The World I Know:  Virtues in Action.  It ...read more