Beyond Good And Evil on a Sidestreet

Rebecca Darwent

August 19, 2019

The response of the faithful, not the holding of a so-called black mass in downtown Ottawa, shows just how vital Christ’s Church remains.

A crowd of an estimated 200 people spilled onto the sidewalks of a downtown street in Ottawa’s Byward Market to counter Canada’s allegedly first satanic black mass occurring inside a bar on the opposite side What I appreciated, though, was seeing the response of faithful Catholics who recognized the...

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A Judge’s Misjudgment on SNC-Lavalin

Raymond J. de Souza

August 16, 2019

Former Supreme Court Justice Frank Iacobucci broke no rules handling the file that has ethically compromised Justin Trudeau but his role seems unbecoming, argues Father Raymond de Souza.

The ethics commissioner also reported that Iacobucci solicited an opinion from his former Supreme Court colleague John Major (1992-2005), on why the director of public prosecutions did not act properly in denying SNC-Lavalin a deferment from prosecution Especially if at the very same time as he is m...

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No Competition, Please. We’re Canadian.

Peter Menzies

August 14, 2019

Whether it’s air travel or Internet, the time-honoured Canuck reflex is to boldly pacify the masses with the security blanket of quasi-monopolies, contends Convivium contributor Peter Menzies.  

Never mind the truth that the real story behind the Competition Bureau’s Eureka moment here is that the Internet, its availability, service levels and price in Canada evolved without the sort of regulation that kept a firm hand on telecom for 100 years Those of us once housed snugly within Gatineau’...

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Looking Into Space

Brett Fawcett

August 13, 2019

In this second part of a two-part series, Brett Fawcett encourages a glance upwards as a means to finding God in the beyond.

But when we find ourselves in the seemingly infinite blackness of space, seeing that dark silence as an image and analogy for the unfathomable and infinite love of God that envelops us may be comforting God, the abyss of silence When we get past all the created images God has made to teach us about ...

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This is Home

August 13, 2019

A cup of something deliciously warm to my side, I wrap my toes under the blanket as I listen to the soundtrack of the world happening outside my window.

This is a safe place, this is a place for comfort and for solace ...

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His Work of Art

Rebecca Darwent

August 13, 2019

The wings of the butterfly flutter by, landing every so often to pause and allow those around to wonder at its beauty.

I wonder, looking at each detail and speck of colour ...

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Welcoming the Storm

August 13, 2019

The rush of lightning is fierce and strong, cracking into the surface of the forest and burning up the sky with light amid darkness.

Still and quiet, it welcomes the storm as it waters the dry lands, replenishes the flowers and crops ...

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Spiritually Preparing for Take-off

Brett Fawcett

August 12, 2019

With the prospect of humankind traveling in outer space and living on other planets, there comes a need for spiritual readiness and strategies, writes Convivium contributor Brett Fawcett. This is the first of a two-part series on the subject. 

The report describes a Chinese traveler on the Challenger who threatened not to return to Earth, a Russian space flight mission that was cancelled when the entire crew experienced a smell that seemed to have no physical cause, and an American astronaut who developed a paranoid obsession with the fac...

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MAiD In Canada

Peter Stockland

August 9, 2019

Alex Schadenberg of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition stands unsurprised at this week's news of Dr. Ellen Wiebe's exoneration after she administered death to a patient in a facility where Medical Aid in Dying is prohibited.

As he moved toward leadership of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, Schadenberg was surprised by how few of those in his community were able to see the juggernaut of medical killing bearing down on Canada After 20 years of watching the MAiD juggernaut gain increasing power until it has the means t...

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Love In An Age Of Information Overload

Phillip Johnston

August 9, 2019

With information flying towards us at lightning speed like a game of Tetris, our capacity to love and attend to others is hindered, writes Phillip Johnston. 

Once we understand how intimately love is connected with attention, we are ready to see the many ways that information overload inhibits our loving The struggle for love is only intensified by the fact that we live within the power structures of the attention economy Because love is intimately conne...

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Finding An Amazonian New Eden

Raymond J. de Souza

August 9, 2019

The agenda of an upcoming meeting of Catholic bishops looks heavy on romantic primitivism, but more than a little light on understanding of original sin, detects Convivium Editor-in-Chief Father Raymond de Souza.  

Indeed, the document appears to entertain the idea that the Indigenous peoples of the Amazon might have been better off without the introduction of the Gospel by the early missionaries Life in the Amazon is integrated and united with the territory; there is no separation or division between the part...

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What’s In a Mass Murderer’s Name?

Rebecca Darwent

August 7, 2019

Drawing on research and arguments from the Columbia Journalism Review, Convivium’s Rebecca Darwent argues there is no place for profiling murderers in the news.

Following the mosque attacks in New Zealand, when Prime Minister Jacinda Arden declared she would not utter the killer’s name, CTV News interviewed criminologist James Alan Fox, who said that the act of mass shootings or attacks is what motivates would-be killers – not necessarily the aftereffects o...

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The Weaponization of Multiculturalism

Richard Bastien

August 2, 2019

The idea of sustained co-existence around a common moral and civic core, Richard Bastien argues, has been dangerously reduced to ideological rejection of unified understanding and the triumphalism of increasingly exclusivist tribal identities. 

the shaping of politics around the particular interests of various racial, religious, sexual, ethnic or cultural groups First, it can refer to the fact that a society is made up of linguistically and religiously distinctive groups that, despite their differences, share in a common cultural heritage ...

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Putting Putting Ahead of Prayer

Raymond J. de Souza

August 2, 2019

Convivium Editor-in-Chief Father Raymond de Souza reminds us that cathedrals are built not for mini-golf but for the greatness of God.

Convivium friend John Robson did some cracking wise, taking the line of being more shocked than appalled: “The Anglicans really did just install a mini-putt in the nave of Rochester Cathedral, originally founded in 604 by the first Christian king in England, Æthelberht of Kent, and rebuilt in the tr...

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Belfast, Brexit and Boris Johnson

Peter Stockland

August 2, 2019

Think of it this way: for the last 30 years of the 20th century, citizens of Belfast, Derry, and other Northern Ireland cities, negotiated various aspects of their lives around police and military checkpoints, demands for ID cards, and flashlights shone in their eyes at night Why? Because beyond the...

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