A Sailor's Hour at Home

Peter Stockland

April 16, 2020

Amid the danger and chaos of the pandemic wave that has overturned our lives, music lifts the spirit to lead us home, Peter Stockland writes.

Now, in this time of pandemic, what seems an age already of isolation, I think of his feet coming safe to the shore for his hour at home. Though he was not in his public life a professed member of the Christian tribe, in an early song Prine employed a very specific Gospel image, mixed with his chara...

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The Politics of the Lonely

Devin Drover

April 14, 2020

Should the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown prompt Canada to follow other countries and implement government loneliness strategies? Devin Drover weighs the evidence.

Other studies have confirmed these results, as well as demonstrating that prolonged periods of loneliness and social isolation can put individuals at risk of physical health conditions including coronary heart disease and stroke Further, the results indicated that feelings of loneliness are amplifie...

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The Ties That Bind Even Solitary Sailors

Jason Zuidema

April 13, 2020

Jason Zuidema, executive director of the North American Maritime Ministry Association, writes that all of us should actively battle social isolation – not just governments or businesses.

But how do we respond to that need? Enormous sums are being spent to tackle the healthcare and economic fallout of the crisis, but what about the social challenges that will inevitably result, especially the harmful impacts of prolonged social isolation? We might learn how to reach out to each other...

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Silent Encounter of the Heart

Carl Hétu

April 12, 2020

In a house in troubled Gaza run by religious Sisters, Carl Hétu meets a child who without a word teaches him Easter’s meaning of suffering and resurrection.

Let’s turn from the negative and see through the eyes of an inspiring Gazan girl who touched my hand, and my heart According to some, this Gazan girl, or anyone like her in the world, might have little to contribute to our society ...

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Our Scarcity, His Grace

Joseph McDaniel

April 11, 2020

When serving pork chops at a men’s shelter in Vancouver, Joseph McDaniel recognized the generosity God gives to us like excess gravy, in times such as these.

When we gather this Easter with those we love or have been forced to love through our involuntary confinement together, to break bread together in our homes, to break open the Word that spans all time and distance and will bring us all together again, we declare that even if God appears locked away ...

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Saving Graces: Week Three

April 10, 2020

While COVID-19 sweeps darkness across the world, the Convivium Team is scouring the web for stories of hope to share with our readers. We are pleased to offer this selection of good news stories, hoping they will be a source of saving grace for all.

I have been following online the live organ concerts a young Dutch organist named Gert Van Hoef is making regularly available over his YouTube channel, which he performs on the organ in his house ...

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Mercy From an Unrelenting Lent

Rebecca Darwent

April 10, 2020

COVID-19 isolation caused Convivium’s Rebecca Darwent to give up even giving things up for Lent. It helped her understand what the Apostle Matthew missed.

As we listened to Matthew’s Gospel, I sat wondering for most of the reading, Who told Matthew? John and Mary were the only ones who followed Jesus to the Cross But I’m sure that Matthew felt that Passion and death in his own heart, realizing how he rejected Christ on the Cross ...

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Easter in Our Own Upper Rooms

Mirjana Villeneuve

April 9, 2020

Finding ourselves in isolation without the usual traditions and celebrations to mark Holy Week, our Easter this year is similar to that of the first, when Jesus left the Apostles, writes Mirjana Villeneuve.

It makes sense – we need the hope of the Resurrection now more than ever, and the ability to journey with Christ through His Passion and triumph over death through the Easter Triduum was a final comfort that, along with so many other comforts these days, has been stripped away As we return to the Up...

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School Ruling Good for the Spirit

David Hunt

April 9, 2020

A Saskatchewan Court decision upholding religious freedom and pluralism for parents and students shines a light in gloomy times, writes Cardus Education Director David Hunt.  

Conversely, in this most recent case, the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal called out GSSD for discriminating against students based on their religion – or non-religion Furthermore, the decision notes the inappropriateness of the GSSD making a religious freedom argument – not for themselves but on other...

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A Task Worth Undertaking

Matthew Lau

April 7, 2020

 Matthew Lau offers a perspective on Preston Manning’s new book, Do Something, which exhorts Canadians to rescue ethical democracy.  

As Trudeau and Trump make poor role models for those who wish to make a positive mark on politics, Manning instead commends to readers the political career of William Wilberforce as someone with admirable ethics and as the leader of “one of the greatest issue campaigns ever conducted in the history ...

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Who Will We Be After COVID-19?

Brittany Beacham

April 6, 2020

Looking at how her parenting style shifted in mere weeks, Brittany Beacham wonders how different life will look after this pandemic, and recalls that God will be with us no matter the circumstances.    

Who will my daughter be after all this? Will this have a long-reaching impact on her life, either by her own experience or by the way my experiences shape her? Will this change the way we live, or will things go back to “normal” in a few months time?  ...

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Passing Over Difference

Rabbi Reuven Bulka

April 3, 2020

Rabbi Reuven Bulka says no one celebrating Passover can be indifferent to the difference the COVID-19 crisis will bring. What matters, though, is what endures.

This year Passover will be different because our thoughts will be with the thousands upon thousands who are mourning the tragic loss of loved ones to the COVID-19 plague This year, our collective exclamation is, “How different is this night from the other Passover nights that were themselves inheren...

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Saving Graces: Week Two

April 3, 2020

While COVID-19 sweeps darkness across the world, the Convivium Team is scouring the web for stories of hope to share with our readers. We are pleased to offer this selection of good news stories, hoping they will be a source of saving grace for all.

A National Post column features the ways in which sourdough baking is proving a formidable and popular hobby: ...

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Corona of Thorns

Andrew P.W. Bennett

April 2, 2020

The model of Christ’s solitary suffering on the Cross can bring us through COVID-19  isolation to renewed love of community, writes Cardus' Andrew Bennett.

To live a solitary life, to eschew regular human contact to grow in holiness through strict asceticism and unceasing prayer requires a level of kenosis, of self-emptying of which few of us are capable or for that matter called to embrace I have always desired and lived a communal life, and even as a...

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Going Viral and Not Going Back

Raymond J. de Souza

April 1, 2020

Fr. Raymond de Souza considers the ways in which our public spaces may change as they've now moved online due to COVID-19.

The coronavirus has put us all off balance, and so we are online all the time, working from home But online is quick, offering the option of getting it over with in much less time Consider this headline from The Globe and Mail: “The education world has been turned upside down: Online learning may re...

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