Diversity, Moral Superiority, Tattoos: Welcome to Jurassic Park

Raymond J. de Souza

June 13, 2019

In advance of tonight's big game for the Toronto Raptors, Editor-in-Chief Father Raymond de Souza muses on the ins and outs of the group's fan base, diversity in the crowds and temporary tattoo shows of support.

I was at Jurassic Park in downtown Toronto for Game 3 of the NBA Finals That moral superiority took a nearly lethal blow in Game 5, as the Raptors fans – both in the arena and in Jurassic Park – initially cheered the injury to the Warriors star player, Kevin Durant There are many queuing up early th...

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Shouting Down Democracy

Peter Stockland

June 12, 2019

The mania for cranking every political message up to 11 is drowning out our democratic capacity to speak moderately, listen perceptively, and care about what our neighbours are saying, argues Convivium's Peter Stockland.

So: one act of malfeasant hooting is amplified by media caterwauling into distortion beyond measure of the bare fact that Michael Cooper is but a 35-year-old excitable boy in his first term as an MP from small-town Alberta In fairness, those who produced the inquiry report might have had an honest b...

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Fishing The Waters of Fatherhood

Joseph McDaniel

June 11, 2019

With Father's Day around the corner, seminarian Joseph McDaniel reflects on his memories of fishing with his father, contemplating times past, while examining what fatherhood truly means.

It is the grace which is seen when a father first teaches his first son to catch a fish or catch a fly ball, when he endures the cramps and pains of time to drive his youngest to school when other men have begun to retire, when he humbly acknowledges that he was perhaps too critical of coach after y...

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Faith For Our Future

Peter Stockland, with Aaron Neil, Andrew P.W. Bennett

June 10, 2019

Last week, Cardus Religious Freedom Institute launched its newest project, Faith in the Future. Convivium's Peter Stockland sits down with program director Andrew Bennett and researcher Aaron Neil to discuss the team's aspirations and plans as it kicks off.

I think it points to an opportunity to advance the broader mandate of what we're doing at the institute, to re-present to people the importance of public faith and the importance of religious freedom and what better way to do that then through these young leaders of faith who want to live that out I...

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The Word That Gives Birth to Art

Alisha Ruiss

June 7, 2019

Montreal actor, singer and writer Alisha Ruiss reflects on the way a collaborative event she long dreamed of creating was given flesh by musical theatre artists at the city’s Segal Centre this past spring.

To say yes to the love story of God, to carry Him – and thus, others, as He is always in the least of these – is to open oneself to life abundant, replete with both joy and suffering That Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst me and my loved ones, pouring Himself out through the hands of my mother a...

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The Beginning of the End: Lessons on the Fortieth Anniversary of St. John Paul II’s First Visit to Poland

Raymond J. de Souza

June 6, 2019

The following remarks are being delivered this evening by Convivium Editor-in-Chief Father Raymond de Souza at Polonia Night, an event hosted by the Canadian Polish Congress in Mississauga Ontario.

The royal and ancient capital of Poland is also the spiritual capital of the twentieth century – it is there that the great battle between good and evil took place, and where in the darkest hours of our time, the light of faith still shone That the Ukrainian Catholic Church is now free and regained ...

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Free to Speak About Speech

Peter Stockland

June 5, 2019

Father Tony Van Hee is an 83-year-old Roman Catholic Priest who was arrested in 2018 outside an abortion clinic in Ottawa. He has launched a Charter challenge against the restriction on free speech making it an offense to even protest the Bubble Zone legislation itself.

The fact Ottawa police arrested and charged Father Van Hee despite his having avoided those behaviours – including expressing disapproval – shows the law is “overbroad” and therefore clearly violates Charter guarantees of free speech, the Charter challenge says The Charter challenge filed in Superio...

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From Failing Hands We Throw

Peter Stockland

June 4, 2019

Thursday marks the 75th anniversary of D-Day. But, writes Convivium Publisher Peter Stockland, there is urgency this time we remember: we are at risk of forgetting the sacrifice that earned the freedom we still enjoy today.

They gave us, as free gift, the very understanding of the world that drove them, in courage and persistence and the great faith of duty, to defeat the most diabolical military juggernaut of all time It’s an urgency born of the practical fact of life that the surviving combatants being feted for thei...

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The Art of Good Intentions

Timothy deVries

June 3, 2019

From the political stage to our neighbourhood backyards, we are a culture saturated with second-guessing the intentions of others. But as Convivium contributor Timothy DeVries argues, intention-guessing can be a trap unless we’re ready to assess against the true, the good, and the beautiful.

People who live under the sign of transparency are caught in a predicament: if their intentions don’t reflect the similarly moral intentions of the person with whom they interact, their acts or words or deeds will be worthy of condemnation When we’re tempted to think of others (or ourselves) as a ki...

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Conscience Rights and Ethical Wrongs

Peter Stockland

May 28, 2019

More than 1,500 Ontario doctors object to a College edict privileging abortion and MAiD over conscience rights, arguing the order is the moral equivalent of requiring doctors to perform the acts, writes Peter Stockland. The ruling threatens Charter guarantees that every Canadian has the fundamental right think and believe freely.

Canadian Physicians for Life, the Christian Medical Dental Association, the Canadian Federation of Catholic Physicians’ Societies, and several individual doctors have been locked in a legal dispute with the College of Physician and Surgeons of Ontario The groups, collectively representing more than ...

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The Rocking Horse Sinner

Brooke Kaulius

May 27, 2019

Things didn't seem to line up for Brooke Kaulius as she listened to her husband's grandmother's anecdotes about the Second World War. Some digging around revealed information about a family history that suggests a far darker past than she's been led to believe.

Adam, a former police officer, was working as an accountant at the time; he told Zita the rocking horse was a present from his boss What I do know:  Once I made the connection between the rocking horse and the Jews of Rietavas, the flutter left me. Was I wrong about the rocking horse? Was it simply ...

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Notre Dame at Noon

Rebecca Darwent

May 27, 2019

Stopping for midday Mass at Ottawa’s downtown Cathedral, Convivium’s Rebecca Darwent encounters an impromptu young choir that moves her heart to honour anew Our Lady, Mary, the Mother of God.

After Mass had ended, I overheard someone I presumed to be their teacher ask for a blessing on the group, and whether they could please sing while standing in the aisle of the Cathedral ...

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Gospel on Wheels

Mario Toneguzzi

May 27, 2019

Not every motorcycle has a portrait of Pope John Paul II on its tank. One Calgary priest is using his "very Catholic bike" as a tool to share the Gospel in new ways with fresh audiences.

It’s called the John Paul II Tribute Bike ...

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When Courts Constrain Conscience

Christina Lamb

May 27, 2019

The Ontario Appeal Court ruling forcing medical professionals to closely participate in health care they deem unethical undermines Canada’s Charter and affronts the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, argues bioethicist Christina Lamb.

Should the case on obligatory referrals reach the Supreme Court of Canada, the Court would do well to reconsider the decisions from Ontario to unduly restrict the physician’s rights to conscience and religion which, in this case disproportionally favoured patient’s access to optional care over provi...

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The Barbarian Invasion of Euthanasia

Tim McCauley

May 24, 2019

Looking at the issue of Medical Aid in Dying, Father Tim McCauley sees old barbarism and ancient heresy coming down the hall wearing modern white medical coats. 

However, I suggest that the introduction of euthanasia in the history of Western civilization does in fact represent a form of barbarian invasion If this is true of the divine Son of God, how much more for us creatures who can only receive the resurrection and eternal life as an unmerited gift Let u...

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