Love Your Neighbour: Stay Home

Mathew Block

March 31, 2020

Churches keeping their doors firmly closed to prevent COVID-19 in their congregations is an act of obedience and love for one another, contends Mathew Block.

And while the ministry of the Word is possible through online means—live-streamed services, podcasts, video lectures, and more—it’s still no substitute for sitting down in a pew at your local church Lent—that season of the Church year devoted to repentance and self-denial—may last a long time this y...

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Returning to Laughing Together

Rebecca Darwent

March 30, 2020

Rebecca Darwent discovers there is love in a time of coronavirus – even if it can only be expressed for the moment through social media.

In the social media age, we are urged to support suffering local businesses, to check on our neighbours, to be kind to one another, to practice hygiene – all good things, regardless of whether we’re in a global pandemic As my colleague, Peter Stockland, said in a recent column, it’s hard to remember...

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A New Meaning for Cancel Culture

Peter Stockland

March 27, 2020

COVID-19 has unleashed an epidemic of event cancellations, including the historic National Prayer Breakfast in Ottawa and a speech by Cardus’ own Milton Friesen. Peter Stockland finds good news behind the closed doors.

For my colleague Milton Friesen, as for English Speaking Catholic Council executive director Anna Farrow, a discussion of social isolation being scrubbed because of an imperative for social isolation is a paradoxical golden opportunity to reflect on what the Church and the faithful have to offer dur...

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Saving Graces: Week One

March 27, 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. 

Similarly, Sobeys is rewarding "hero pay" to its workers and providing one hour a day of shopping for those vulnerable to COVID-19 ...

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Beethoven, Spring and Nature

Raymond J. de Souza

March 26, 2020

As spring has sprung, Fr. Raymond de Souza reflects on how the Kingston Symphony’s melded-together performance of two vastly different compositions show that while man and nature often collide, God’s creation is still a garden.

Beethoven’s Sixth coheres; his vision of nature praises the good order found in it, bestowed upon it “Where Beethoven cherishes the beauty in nature, [Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring] reacts in fearful, reverent awe of its brute force, its remarkable and casual indifference,” writes Mitchell of his deci...

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Hope on the COVID-19 Front Lines

Johanna Lewis

March 25, 2020

Pam Mulder, a registered nurse at a long-term care home in Ontario, tells Cardus’ Johanna Wolfert how small acts of courage and optimism keep fear at bay for staff and patients.

When I left work last Wednesday, staff members were scared that if the virus came into the home, staff would not be able to return to their own homes and would have to stay at work, away from their families Last Wednesday (March 18), a survey was sent to all staff inquiring whether we would be able ...

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You’re a Refugee. Now You Face COVID-19.

Susan Korah

March 24, 2020

Refugees, who face impossible situations even in better times, are being pushed beyond human endurance by the coronavirus pandemic, Susan Korah reports.

Bhatti—brother of Pakistan’s Shahbaz Bhatti who was gunned down in cold blood nine years ago for defending the rights of Christians and other minorities in that country—explains the tragic end to Mariam’s story: Caught by Thailand’s immigration police and locked up in the notorious Immigration Deten...

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Getting Ahead of the COVID-19 Curve

Peter Stockland

March 23, 2020

Prime Minister Trudeau announced today that nothing “is off the table” regarding COVID-19. Peter Stockland says we must consider civil liberties before the Emergencies Act is declared.

Yet Prime Minister Justin Trudeau suggested today at his regular news conference in Ottawa that Canadians might not have seen anything yet when it comes to such draconian measures to combat the COVID-19 pandemic Subject to a conference call with the premiers and territorial leaders, Trudeau said, th...

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An Accidental Lent

Jenna Henry

March 23, 2020

This time of distancing ourselves from the outside world, though demanding, is an opportunity to be truly together, writes Jenna Henry.

Whether experiencing intense and unfamiliar solitude, or struggling to cope in a small home with stir-crazy children, there will be grace For families and households with people working from home and children not at school, there may seem to be too much time together ...

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Coronavirus, Sports, and Joy

Raymond J. de Souza

March 20, 2020

The world’s playing fields have been emptied by a pandemic but our God-given desire to play like Tom Brady can never be stilled, Father Raymond de Souza writes.

Being rude and surly is not incompatible with being a great football coach; Belichick is the most successful ever, having been to 9 Super Bowls in two decades in New England, having won 8 of them – six as a head coach and two as a defensive coordinator Recall that first game at Yankee Stadium after ...

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Quarantine The Clickbait: From the Convivium Team

March 20, 2020

Convivium normally refrains from publishing straightforward press releases. We’re a journalistic site, and we bring journalistic principles and practices to our work. But today’s release from the Mental Health Commission of Canada is so powerful, so timely and so clear that we’re treating as an invaluable public service announcement for our readers. 

 Where we seek information matters! Credible sources, such as the Public Health Agency of Canada and the World Health Organization give us plain facts to counteract the sensationalism and fear-provoking imagery found in the news media Unfortunately, if we bombard ourselves with COVID-19 details, hea...

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A Different Kind of Extraordinary

Hannah Marazzi

March 19, 2020

Hannah Marazzi welcomes the new widespread trend towards helping those around us, as it provides support in areas that have long needed it.

In Canada, various people are hosting story times and recording readings online; Montreal teenagers are offering free babysitting services to those who have run out of options; and I have heard stories of airport shuttles being organized It is the story of learning and leaning together in uncertain ...

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Public Prayer in a Viral Time

Ray Pennings

March 18, 2020

Cardus Executive Vice-President Ray Pennings faced a challenge today of leading our dispersed staff in a reading of Scripture and praying out loud. In these days of isolation, anxiety, and deep need for God’s comfort, Convivium shares the answer he found.

Our Father in heaven, as the world faces a global health crisis, we praise and adore you because you reign for us in your crucified and risen Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who not only “took our illnesses and bore our diseases” (Matthew 8:17), but also “abolished death and brought life and immortality...

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Stopping Fear, Spreading Hope

Nolan Toscano

March 18, 2020

Fear may seem as prevalent as the COVID-19 virus during this difficult time. But trusting that good can come from that which we can’t control might be the hopeful antidote we need, writes Nolan Toscano.

Let hope be the only thing we spread in the wake of this time of disease and fear ...

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Yesterday’s Buried Stories

Peter Stockland

March 17, 2020

While our lives revolve around COVID-19, it’s difficult to remember life before the pandemic. But today being St. Patrick's Day, Peter Stockland reflects on the historic event that took the lives of thousands of Irish during the mid-19th century. 

Controversy erupted late last year, and continues to bubble, over Mayor Valérie Plante’s intention to name a new Montreal commuter rail station for former premier Bernard Landry, utterly disregarding the Irish community’s request that it honour the place where starving and impoverished sons and daug...

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