Small Talk

Raymond J. de Souza

February 1, 2015

FATHER RAYMOND J. DE SOUZA, Convivium's editor-in-chief, writes for the National Post, the Catholic Register and other publications. A Calgary native, he is the parish priest for Sacred Heart of Mary Parish on Wolfe Island, in Ontario, and a chaplain at Queen's University in Kingston, where he teaches economics.

No one had ever gotten sick, but Canadians Helping Kids in Vietnam, founded by Tam Nguyen, one of the boat people, who came to Canada and started a successful tailoring business, was producing its spring rolls without official government permits.2 There seems to be something of a crime spree in Winn...

Read more...

"My Faith is Me"

Andrew P.W. Bennett with Peter Stockland

February 1, 2015

Completing his second year as Canada's Ambassador for Religious Freedom, Andrew Bennett tells Convivium Publisher Peter Stockland he couldn't do the job without the religious faith he brings to daily life

One question that I get asked quite often is, "In religious freedom, how can you go ahead and defend the rights of different religious organizations that may have a prejudicial view against people with a same-sex orientation?" My response is always the same: It is perfectly justifiable from the pers...

Read more...

The Camino Diaries

Julia Nethersole and Susan Nethersole

February 1, 2015

In fall 2014, Convivium's community and partnership coordinator, Julia Nethersole, walked Spain's 775 kilometre Camino Francés (The French Way). She followed in the footsteps of her mother, Susan, who had started the trek in June. Though mother and daughter travelled separately, their diaries detail the powerful spiritual union of pilgrimage

How is it that I am so far from home, in a town that I've never visited, and yet someone is calling my name? In so many ways, being on the Camino feels like being part of a small, moving community She told me the Camino before La Cruz de Ferro (The Iron Cross) is for the body and mind On the walk to...

Read more...

A House of God

Christopher Mahon

February 1, 2015

In making ready a physical building for the fruitful life of a family, Christopher Mahon writes, we mirror the Church's use of liturgical beauty to make us ready to be present to God

Whether dressing oneself, decorating a home or building up the culture of the home, God calls his children to appreciate and foster an authentic order and beauty In building the common aesthetic of our social environment, we not only provide a home for our families but also educate our children in t...

Read more...

What Changed was the World

Peter Stockland

February 1, 2015

Shortly after being diagnosed with esophageal cancer—and following the death of his mother, Virginia—journalist, author, policy advocate, elected senator-in-waiting, political candidate and co-founder of Alberta's Wildrose Party Link Byfield sat down to chat with Convivium's publisher, Peter Stockland

Now I'm in the business of alternative health and the first thing about alternative health is if I want an IV, a vitamin C IV, and I did for six weeks or so, I go pay $200 every time I plunk my butt in that chair and someone sticks that needle in my vein C: CN patched it up again and people kept cut...

Read more...

Look Past the Cute Cat

John Brooks

February 1, 2015

Reviewer John Brooks says readers should not be fooled by the fetching feline on the cover of Jason West's How to Become a Rational Animal. It is, Brooks says, a serious book about a reasoned life of faith

The next question is "Does God Exist?" Although West writes from a Christian perspective, he starts by pointing out the logical flaw in a frequently given argument for God's existence The first question West tackles is "What do I really know?" This builds upon the introductory explanation of philoso...

Read more...

Going Down Confederation Road

Geoffrey C. Kellow

February 1, 2015

In his review of Janet Ajzenstat's Discovering Confederation: A Canadian's Story, Professor Geoffrey C. Kellow admires her intimate conversation with Canadian history but finds she goes too far in picking a fight with George Grant

It is this divide between the older account, based on the records of the legislative debates, and the revisionist account, which discerns a communitarian ethos, a "Tory touch" in the founding, that informs both Discovering Confederation and the body of work Professor Ajzenstat has produced over the ...

Read more...

When Idylls Become Idols

Ray Pennings

February 1, 2015

When Canada played for Olympic gold on a Sunday in 2002, lifelong hockey fanatic Ray Pennings faced the temptation of breaking his Sabbath rule to watch the game on TV. In the end, the score was Commandments 10, Sports Idolatry 0. Yes, he knows who won

So what does one do with the growing evidence that certain athletic practices are irresponsible? That we are being entertained by those who are enduring concussions that are likely to shorten their life expectancy by years? That the dollars and pressure that have become part of the industry have res...

Read more...

A Sign in Three Dreams

Scott Ventureyra

February 1, 2015

Convivium reviewer Scott Ventureyra discovers a powerful reminder that our hearts turn on God's will in an account of conversion to Christianity

Qureshi devotes an entire chapter to the numerous divisions within Islam, showing how they contradict the claims of unity put forth by many Muslims in their dealings with non-Muslims From his parents' teaching, as well as from sermons at the mosque that were supposedly based on the sirah (the tradit...

Read more...

Sea to Sea

Raymond J. de Souza

February 1, 2015

Peshawar Comes To Paris

Is that all France has to say about the complex interaction of religion and public life, of religious minorities and the dominant culture, of religious sensibilities and press freedom? To reduce the French response to an identification with the world of Charlie Hebdo is to concede that French identi...

Read more...

School Choices

Ray Pennings

January 30, 2015

To defenders of the North American status quo, school choice is shorthand for a set of policies that will undermine the effectiveness of a single education system, ensuring that all children are educated along similar core values 150 years of history have seen these principles applied in very differ...

Read more...

Link Byfield's political battles improved Canada

Peter Stockland

January 28, 2015

The mere fact of losing a battle does not mean the battle was futile

In brief remarks at an evening honouring him last September, Link Byfield acknowledged he and most present has lost crucial political battles over the years ...

Read more...

In Memory of Jack

Doug Sikkema

January 23, 2015

So why does God still allow death? Why did he grab Jack by the shoulders and shake his face? Why will he eventually do it to us? Perhaps because even we, if we're to be made ready for our new life, need to be shaken till only that which is unshakeable remains For two years he would greet me in the m...

Read more...

Competing Stories, Inspired Conversations

Beth Green

January 22, 2015

The lens of Psalm 24 enables us to consider where present education policy and practice currently fit into the story of the kingdom of God and how they might be renewed This directly challenges the false dualism between sacred and secular, faith and reason, private and public which are still pervasi...

Read more...

Reflections from the Camino: Part II

Julia Nethersole and Susan Nethersole

January 20, 2015

Read the rest of Julia’s thoughts about the Camino with additional diary entries, including several by her mother, Sue, in the February/March 2015 issue of Convivium. My mother, Susan, was going to hike the Camino Francés ...

Read more...