2011‑2022, and is preserved here for archival purposes.
Father Raymond de Souza looks back in time to his friends' high school graduation and recalls a lasting lesson about importance of the past to the present.
Graduation addresses often evaporate even as they are being delivered; Dinning’s address at Bishop Grandin has stood the test of time Yet I remember one address clearly, delivered 30 years ago this week, at the graduation exercises of Bishop Grandin High School in Calgary ...
The issues of social isolation and loneliness in Canada are important challenges in our times, writes Cardus Executive Vice President Ray Pennings. Instead of doing away with family life and religiosity as an attempt at social progress, we should recognize the good these factors play in our lives.
Three-quarters of Canadians who say they’re well-connected and have rich social lives are in a marriage or common law relationship While marriage isn’t for everyone – and it should always be entered by choice, never by force – the problems of social isolation and loneliness underline the importance ...
Reflecting on the annual rite of school graduation, Convivium’s Rebecca Darwent discovers that for all its bittersweetness, saying goodbye is a new moment to ensure God remains with us on the journey.
I’ve been led to believe that the sheer amount of goodbyes I’ve said over time is excessive compared to the average graduate, with all the moving around I did in my first few years out the high school gate to rural Quebec, the Ottawa Valley, Ireland and beyond My high school graduation, commemorated...
In an age marked by distraction and fragmentation, the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal are choosing a life marked by deep joy, service to the poor, and a community of faithfulness. Convivium's Hannah Marazzi sits down with Father Emmanuel Mansford, vocations director for the New York chapter to discuss vocation, trust, and deep community.
I was really attracted by his way of life, and I thought, "Gosh, there's these guys that live at least something of this in New York City Maybe that's what we're talking about a little bit – the joy or the humanity that allows for people to say, "Oh, I can relate to this, to these guys Like in any v...
Anticipating next week’s Cardus study on pay day loans, and a vote by the city of Kitchener to regulate the sector, Convivium’s Rebecca Darwent talks to Cardus Work and Economics Program Director Brian Dijkema about helping low-income Canadians gain fair and equal access to credit.
There appears to be a shrinking of the small-dollar credit market, just based on the number of stores that have closed and that no longer offer payday loans I think part of the challenge is that even credit unions, these community banks which are supposed to be high in relationships, understand that...
When late spring rain fell on parched southern Saskatchewan this week, Peter Menzies writes, those who work the land smiled skyward knowing the downpour wasn’t mere water: it was a baptism for summer’s bounty.
To farm means you have to trust that the weather will be right while knowing that it isn’t always Never mind insurance and other modern safety nets: since the first plows broke the sod 150 years ago, the fear of crop failure has been to Saskatchewan what a Stephen King clown is to a child’s closet ...
Quebec’s law banning public displays of religious symbols has affronted advocates of religious freedom across Canada. But Convivium’s Peter Stockland reports on plans by Montreal Catholics to turn the secularist tide and create strong communities of faith.
“It’s not saying ‘well, how can we make parishes more like the government?’ It’s not saying ‘how can we make the government more like the parish?’ It’s saying ‘okay, what are the particular gifts and skills in this faith community, and how can we use them to help people in need in the parish in a wa...
The lighthouse likely used to light the way for boats seeking refuge.
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In the premature deaths of two young priests and in the hand-made rosary she carries with her, Convivium’s Rebecca Darwent finds incarnate reminders to affirm God’s gift of life even at its end.
The “yes” of Our Lady, which I reflect on each and every time I say the prayers of the rosary Now that he’s gone, the rosary holds the memory of someone who is looking down, united in prayer with us each time we celebrate Mass ...
In a week when Quebec has passed into law its oppressive Bill 21, Convivium contributor Susan Korah argues all eyes in Canada should be on Taiwan’s unfailing support for full religious freedom.
He probably would have been ecstatic had he been present at the second event, the Taiwan International Religious Freedom Forum, co-hosted by the Presbyterian Church of Taiwan, and several Taiwanese and international NGOs The second conference concluded with a group of religious and civil society le...
Poking out among the crowd, similar to the rest but strikingly different in appearance.
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A mess of books, seemingly unorganized and chaotic.
Each book awaits a new face, a new story, a new person to intercept its contents and absorb what's inside ...
Twenty-three per cent of Canadians suffer from extreme social isolation and loneliness, according to a recent Angus Reid Institute survey in partnership with Cardus. Convivium sits down with executive director Ray Pennings to discuss this and other results from the survey.
Convivium: The main findings come as no surprise to Cardus, but I assume will come as a surprise to an awful lot of people – the role that faith and active participation in religious communities have in combating both social isolation and loneliness Loneliness and social isolation is a major contrib...
Involvement in faith communities helps support and encourage healthy fatherhood and family life, writes Cardus Family program director Peter Jon Mitchell. And our culture's veering away from these spaces is a risk.
Public messaging on father involvement is important, but spaces like religious communities where fatherhood is valued and promoted remain a valuable resource for the modern father Faith communities play a significant role in strengthening and supporting fathers and are associated with marital qualit...
Last night’s improbable NBA championship for the Toronto Raptors was one professional sports team’s triumph. Even more, Alida Thomas writes, it’s a historic moment of shared belonging when Canadians discovered who they want to keep becoming.
Euphoria over the Toronto Raptors historic NBA championship victory wafted north from Oakland at the final buzzer of Game 6 last night and is spreading from across Canada today It’s also about the record number of Canadians playing in the NBA and WNBA, such as Andrew Wiggins and Kia Nurse, many of w...