Convivium Magazine

We've Got to Talk

Ray Pennings

March 19, 2019

Recently, Convivium has run columns rebutting accusations of discrimination against an independent Christian school in Surrey, B.C. Today, Cardus Executive Vice-President Ray Pennings unveils research showing religious schools are needed precisely because faithful North Americans have deep misgivings about government-run schools harming spiritual formation.

Respondents to the Barna survey didn’t specify which type of school they had in mind—still, given that the majority of the students in congregations are likely to be attending public schools, chances are many church leaders are referring to that sector This suggests that there’s a disconnect (or per...

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Freedom Beyond Choice

Aaron Neil

March 19, 2019

The political left and right both advocate for free choice as society’s ultimate good. Doing so, argues Cardus Researcher Aaron Neil, neglects the imperative of choosing the highest good that is God.

Therefore, it is the good, not choice, that should be emphasized in modern discussions of freedom For Augustine, every object in existence bears a particular good, and the good internal to reality is what elicits the will’s desire With choice for choice’s sake elevated to the highest good, societal ...

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Sentinel

March 19, 2019

Weeds are only pests because we decided we didn't want to see them. But who else runs to greet spring and clings on despite questionable conditions? The wind has lost its edge, which feels like a gift of its own. Maybe I will be tolerant and accept this fellow eager greeter.

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Moss

March 19, 2019

Slowing down to see the details and to hear the quieter voices. Something in the silence says, the winter will end as I promised it would. The smell of change is in the air, and as the earth softens there's a reminder that pleas don't go unheard. Fingers trail and feel the softness and the tender life.

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Creeping Crocus

March 19, 2019

They run ahead to spread the news: Spring is coming. Soon other flowers will follow, looking decadent compared to the colourless landscape that held a firm grip not long ago. Is there anything more hopeful than their cheery faces when the trees still stand bare?

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Mulroney Among Us

Peter Stockland

March 18, 2019

It’s more than a quarter century since Brian Mulroney stepped down as Prime Minister yet his commitment to institution building remains unrivaled by all but our greatest leaders, Peter Stockland contends.

Far more importantly, there was an inescapable moment when the old political pro’s remarks merited acknowledgement, graciously or grudgingly, of the particular greatness of Brian Mulroney’s political vision for Canada I mean, rather, that as a genuine Canadian elder statesman, as our old political p...

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The Beam of Christian Schooling

Barry Bussey

March 15, 2019

Attacking faith-based institutions for upholding codes of conduct ignores the Charter, violates the spirit of pluralism, and risks undermining religious freedom, argues lawyer Barry Bussey.

As to the question of public funding, it’s worth noting that private schools in Canada have been receiving government money since 1867, when the Constitution made provisions for religious education If we are not willing to allow government funding for Christian education, then where do we stop? Sho...

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Saying "I Do" Does Matter

Peter Jon Mitchell

March 15, 2019

Peter Jon Mitchell, acting director of think tank Cardus’ family program, reports on new global and Canadian data showing marriage brings significantly higher family life satisfaction than does cohabiting.

The GFGS found that 75 per cent of Canadian married parents agree that “their relationship with their partner is more important than almost anything else in life GFGS suggest that marriage is more than a luxury; it’s a positive contributor to family stability and family life satisfaction ...

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The Meaning of My Land

Raymond J. de Souza

March 14, 2019

In Israel, Father Raymond de Souza examines the claims of indigenous identity from the Holy Land to Canada.

JERUSALEM – In Israel this past week I have been thinking about a former Liberal attorney general of Canada In a Canada and a world ever more sensitive to the rights of indigenous peoples, Cotler thought that Jews ought to argue for a secure state on the grounds that the land of Israel was their ind...

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Toward the End of Longing

Karen Stiller

March 13, 2019

Karen Stiller pines for consumer baubles to keep up with everyone on Instagram. Then she reminds herself the true answer to such want is giving whole-heartedly to God.

We will long for less of that, and more of God alone, and this is such a relief I looked it up, by the way, and it sounds much more sophisticated how Blaise Pascal wrote it in Pensées in 1662, as an “infinite abyss,” that “can be filled only with an infinite and immutable object; in other words by G...

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The Good Faith Work of Jimmy Pattison

Lloyd Mackey

March 12, 2019

The life story of B.C. entrepreneur and philanthropist Jim Pattison testifies to his Christian capacity for working across differences to achieve the greater good, writes Convivium contributor Lloyd Mackey.

As the volunteer chairman of the Expo ’86 board, Pattison was successful in getting both union and non-union contractors – and their workers -- to live and let live Braun’s run for office grew out of his 27 years as a union member and leader in the Pattison Group’s Save-On Foods organization ...

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Opening the Door on Homelessness

Peter Stockland

March 11, 2019

Since December, Convivium Publisher Peter Stockland has been exploring the ins and outs of homelessness which, with its related social ills, costs Canada at least $33.5 billion annually. Here is the first of a series of reports from the frontlines and the research centres grappling with one of the country’s most compelling issues.

Combining tax data and public accounts records, Turner and Krecsy put the country’s annual funding for homelessness and its related traumas such as poverty, mental illness, addiction, domestic violence at $27 billion Another $6.5 billion a year is spent on social assistance programs, health care, an...

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Engineering SNC Lavalin’s Number

Peter Stockland

March 8, 2019

Convivium Publisher Peter Stockland examines the scandal besetting the Prime Minister’s Office and finds the government’s defence just doesn’t add up so far.

The very reason the PMO offered to help the then Attorney General with the SNC-Lavalin file, Butts said, was to ensure there was adequate consideration of public policy vis-à-vis 9,000 potential lost jobs Given that, here is a key question that arose for me during a week of the watching the affair u...

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Friends Against Scandal

Raymond J. de Souza

March 7, 2019

Whatever comes of the SNC Lavalin debacle facing the Trudeau government, Father Raymond de Souza writes, the friendship between Jody Wilson-Raybould and Jane Philpott points us to noble things.

To which the question was raised – or actually, whispered sotto voce: Did the friendship between the two influence the decision of Philpott to resign from cabinet because she had lost confidence that the prime minister was respecting the independence of criminal prosecutions? Norfolk is not a good f...

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Association Not Discrimination

Albertos Polizogopoulos

March 6, 2019

A B.C. faith-based school’s dismissal of a teacher for sexual conduct contrary to its standards is neither shocking nor discriminatory, notes Ottawa constitutional lawyer Albertos Polizogopoulos. In fact, he says, it’s protected by Charter of Rights rulings that date back to 1984.

Is it really unreasonable for the school, which instructs its students on moral and ethical issues in a manner consistent with Christian principles, to require its teachers to live by those principles? Some might call it discrimination but in Canada, the Courts call it freedom of association In fact...

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