Catholics used to be predictable voters: they were Liberals in Canada (although Quebec was more conflicted) and Democrats in the United States. But, as polling after recent elections has shown, these associations have unsettled. Parties can no longer take their votes for granted. Could the majority of Catholics, perhaps sitting somewhere in the middle, be ...read more

…never interfere in China’s internal affairs, including in the name of religion. Those words from the Chinese government in response to Pope Benedict XVI’s Letter to China. A disappointing response, but certainly not unexpected. I will be the first to admit I do not know the ins-and-outs of the political situation in China, and I ...read more

On June 25, 2007, Bishops Paul-André Durocher and Lionel Gendron flew to France for their vacation. But they aren’t traveling to France to see popular tourist attractions or sample fine French cuisine. They are traveling to France to embark on the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. Santiago de Compostela is the end point of ‘El ...read more

Let this pallium be a symbol of unity with the Apostolic See let it be a bond of charity and an incitement to fortitude… … words from His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI before he gave the pallium (or I suppose the plural pallia would be more appropriate) to 46 Metropolitan Archbishops who had gathered at ...read more

Congratulations to Archbishop Thomas Collins of Toronto, Ottawa’s Archbishop Terrence Prendergast, Archbishop Brendan O’Brien of Kingston, Edmonton’s Archbishop Richard Smith and Archbishop Gérard Pettipas of Grouard-McLennan, Alberta, who received the pallium from Pope Benedict XVI today at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Let us remember our newly recognized Archbishops — and all Bishops, and clergy ...read more

Pope Benedict XVI has officially announced a Pauline jubilee year to commemorate the 2000th anniversary of St. Paul’s birth. The Pauline Year will be from June 29, 2008, to June 29, 2009. The announcement was made at Thursday’s first Vespers on the eve of the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, which was held at ...read more

How often do you receive a mass-email, whether it be a forward or a newsletter, and discover therein something stirring? Yeah, probably never. But today I was taken aback by a reflection on Ordinary Time by Dr. Karen Hamilton, General Secretary of the Canadian Council of Churches and, if you’ve met her you’ll know, a ...read more

Canada is one of the more prosperous countries of the world, and yet everyday we come across people who can’t earn enough money to live on and who crowd into homeless shelters. For the first time in 2001 Canada took a census of homeless people living in shelters – the total: a little over 14,000. ...read more

At a packed Notre-Dame Cathedral Basilica, Archbishop Terrence Prendergast, S.J., was installed as the Archbishop of Ottawa today. The installation Mass comes just days before he, along with four other Canadian Archbishops, receives the Pallium from Pope Benedict XVI on the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul (see broadcast details on that at the bottom ...read more

It comes as no surprise that at the end of this week, Pope Benedict XVI will announce a year dedicated to St. Paul. The official reason given by the Holy See for the year of St. Paul is that Saul of Tarsus was born probably between A.D. 6 and 10, and this would be the ...read more