2011‑2022, and is preserved here for archival purposes.
An eclectic and ecumenical roundup of incidents, events and oddities that catch our editor's eye.
During the G20 Summit in Toronto last year, some 90 police officers removed their name tags to prevent identification in the case of police misconduct, charges of which soon followed This past summer the Toronto police chief submitted his annual recommendations for promotions, and they included nine...
Since sharing daily lives is the essence of the word "convivium," we warmly invite you to join us at the Convivium table, where the nourishment will be neither middling nor medium but large and open and contained in the message itself.
To borrow Lewis' phrase, the Convivium project is "really all about God," but borrowing further from Pope Benedict's World Communications Day message, it is also about linking God in the real world "to the real faces of our brothers and sisters, those with whom we share our daily lives!" In his 2011...
Freedom of belief is essential to any open society. It is difficult for anyone who has not lived under a totalitarian regime of one stripe or another to understand the ways of the Party-state in China, especially on the matter of religion. The world's attention is drawn to the tribulations of believers in the world's most populous nation by recent headlines such as, "Dalai Lama calls Chinese insistence on picking his religious successor 'a disgrace'," "China calls Vatican 'unreasonable' in bishop spat," and "Leading pastor in China's underground Protestant c hurch sentenced to two years in labor camp." And since 1999, shocking photos have emerged of Christians being beaten and dragged, weeping as their house-churches were bulldozed..
By remaining obedient to the Pope and by not registering with the Chinese government, the Roman Catholic Church is outlawed in China and is known as the 'underground,' 'loyal' or 'clandestine' church Purporting to control the church so that foreign interests cannot use religion as a political tool a...
"I hope those of us on the religious left might be forgiven if we look back somewhat nostalgically on a time when genuine controversy could erupt over an ecclesiastical declaration, especially a statement such as the CCCB's proclamation that the needs of the poor have priority over the wants of the rich."
The need to better articulate the spiritual vision that underlies the activism of so many on the political left in Canada was one of the reasons that, several years ago, a number of NDP MPs started a faith and justice caucus that met regularly to discuss the relationship between our faith and our po...
This year—2011—I celebrated 50 years as a member of the Society of Jesus. I also celebrated the 400th anniversary of the Jesuits' arrival in Canada; the Anglosphere celebrated the 400th anniversary of the publication of the King James Version of the Bible; and English-speaking Catholics will mark a significant milestone in the life of the Church.
The Catholic doctrine of "transubstantiation" (trans meaning "through," and substantia meaning "substance or essence") is a term used to explain theologically how Jesus can be present in the bread and wine in the Eucharist, how the substances (meaning the essences) of bread and wine are changed by t...
"Deciding to become a religion reporter at a newspaper is not unlike walking into a biker bar on a drunken Saturday night wearing a white linen suit and spats. This form of dress is not an act of wilful aggression, but it does have a way pf upsetting the balance of things. Some in the bar might laugh, some might get angry and others still might become aggressive."
As a Catholic, my first reaction to the New York Times story was that this could not be happening It is amazing how many people are still bitter at the Catholic Church for the Inquisition and the Crusades To be fair, ongoing revelations of sexual abuse cover-ups by Catholic bishops and a number of i...
Eyes light up in a place of serious darkness. "Common Life" features Canadian voices articulating perspectives on those things that connect us.
Because as much as it is a clear part of the Judeo-Christian tradition to "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth" (Genesis 1:28), the modern sense of stewardship i...
McLuhan's incarnate message, the politics of Jack Layton's death, and why Canada needs Winnipeg's new Jets. A continuing survey of religion, culture and public life.
All three were media with a message: God is here, present in the good things He gives us, the greatest of which is communion with God Himself in Jesus Christ In the person of Jesus Christ, a divine person with a human nature, McLuhan saw that God reveals that He is personal and that He freely implic...
As a part of our Cross Canada Convivium series, we've been featuring photographers from across Canada. Check out this shot from Orisha Schroeder.
As the surface of the water, smooth like glass parts, we are reminded of Genesis 1:2, which recounts "the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters ...
Photographer Conor Sweetman prompts the viewer to reflect on Pope John Paul II's Letter to Artists in April of 1999.
The good and the beautiful, an invitation towards truth and Beauty Itself ...
Photographer Conor Sweetman captures a sweep of architectural space created entirely for worship of the divine.
Photographer Conor Sweetman's shot captures the beauty of an architectural space that has been constructed entirely for the purpose of worship ...
Sacred Spaces contributor Conor Sweetman captures yet another shot of sacred stillness as encapsulated in city streets.
Street lamps dim ...
Photographer Dave Andrews captures a moment of stillness, the meeting of pavement and earth, of man and nature.
It evokes the smell of childhood - hot tarmac and sweet earth, the boundary between what gives and has been taken away ...
Makoto Fujimura: That is a great question, and my next book(s) "Theology of Making" will address this issue! The role of artists are critical in a polarized culture, to allow for deeper inspection of our human experiences ...
The heart is always in search of home, is it not? Reflect alongside photographer Thomas Sanz as he captures a house in the crags.
Stationed on a grassy, hilly plain, guarded by the crags, this house basks in the sunlight opening on it from above ...