The Crash of Sacred Disruption

Keith Dow

August 14, 2018

Through spiritually enriching re-encounter with Biblical story, Convivium contributor Keith Dow finds an opening to overcome crippling limitations in “hyper-normalizing” narratives about physical disability.

While I could never recount or predict the ways that diverse perspectives have shaped or will shape my narrative, I am thankful for people like Rabbi Julia Watts Belser who generously and insightfully share their stories I cannot help but wonder how often I have turned down opportunities to experien...

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Canada Loses When Church Going Declines

John Longhurst

August 13, 2018

Canadians who shrug off the loss of organized religion need to be made aware of the vital role churches and other faith-based institutions play in our national life, writes Convivium contributor John Longhurst.

Historically, they write, churches were the places most Canadians learned how to be civically engaged through things like speaking in public, leading meetings, being part of boards or committees, discussing issues with people with differing viewpoints, giving to charity, and doing service in the com...

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Steadfast Love

Krista Ewert

August 13, 2018

Amid the tempest of arranging her family’s move to England, Krista Ewert found shelter from the storm in the words of Psalms reminding her that God’s wondrous love never falters.

I certainly was not the best version of myself in June but God’s promise of steadfast love kept me steadfast and finally on June 21st, just five days before we were set to fly out, our visas arrived Just after Christmas, Ben came across a job posting similar to the hundreds of other job postings he ...

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Sacred Music In Secular Culture

Hannah Marazzi with Ben Ewert

August 10, 2018

Convivium’s Hannah Marazzi talks to musical scholar and choral director Ben Ewert about his new role creating music to remind us that “God requires worship from every part of our being, not just our emotions.”

The worship side of this position is fairly broad and pertains to whatever is happening in the church worship – be that music, liturgy, a special service, or community outreach You'll find lots of people who will talk about the value of sacred music, and how we shouldn't lose this vast tradition of ...

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The Church in Surrey

Lloyd Mackey

August 9, 2018

Lloyd Mackey explores the rich role of churches and other faith-based ministries in the social, economic, governance and health of Surrey and White Rock, British Columbia.

The book includes a comprehensive and, hopefully, almost totally accurate list of churches and Christian ministries in Surrey and White Rock, containing names, addresses, phone numbers, web-site links and e-mails The role of churches and other faith-based ministries in the social, economic, governan...

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Writing With Righteous Wrath

Raymond J. de Souza

August 9, 2018

Convivium’s Editor in Chief, Father Raymond de Souza, reflects on moments when anger is the justified response.

I hold myself to the well-known maxim that a letter written in anger should not be sent until at least the next day – and at least two days for email! By the morrow a cooler head prevails, and the angry response is not sent When we fall from righteous anger to plain old anger, or vindictive anger, o...

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Pope Francis in Fast Forward

Daniel Bezalel Richardsen

August 8, 2018

Filmmaker Wim Wenders’ new documentary is an admiring, albeit necessarily incomplete, portrait of a Pontiff determined to push the Roman Catholic Church away from its past, writes Convivium contributor Daniel Bezalel Richardsen.

There are Catholics who have felt that opportunities for true reform were missed following the Second Vatican Council, and that Pope Francis represents an opportunity for radical and revolutionary change within the Catholic Church Wenders might be a curious choice to be handpicked by the Vatican to ...

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Won't You Be My Neighbour?

Alison Van Ginkel

August 3, 2018

By the end of a new documentary on children’s TV pioneer Fred Rogers, Alison Van Ginkel isn’t sure the film resolves the paradox it creates about the man who was Mister Rogers. What it does reveal to her is a man wholly suffused by faith, hope and love.

As the show progressed, Daniel (voiced by Rogers, as all the show’s puppets were) became the voice of Rogers’ inner doubts and fears and insecurities One summer when the news was full of African Americans being harassed and kicked out of swimming pools, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood aired a segment in...

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When Diversity Imperils Democracy

Don Hutchinson

August 3, 2018

In the second of his two-part Convivium essay, Don Hutchinson details how the recent Supreme Court decision on Trinity Western University puts Canada on an enigmatic path toward an ill-defined ideal of diversity – and puts foundational democratic principles at risk.

The narrow requirement of responsibility for diversity in the venue of private education, specifically pertaining to equality of opportunity for potential LGBTQ students, was accepted by a majority of the Supreme Court of Canada as a reasonable concern for the two government regulatory agencies to h...

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Divesting Diversity of Meaning

Don Hutchinson

August 2, 2018

Canadians have developed a swelling pride about creating a country where respect for difference is key to the national spirit. But in this deep dive into what we mean by diversity, Ottawa writer Don Hutchinson says recent developments risk draining the concept of any common understanding.

The professional anxiety expressed by these legal leaders about diversity, as presented to the Court by the two government authorized agencies, may be reduced to the question, “What kind of message would be sent to the nation if the potential for attendance at a private religious institution became ...

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Caught In Cottage Culture

Raymond J. de Souza

August 2, 2018

Father Raymond de Souza confesses to wonderment that so many Canadians irrepressibly set out along traffic clogged roads for distant summer cottages when they could far more comfortably stay home. 

So why the urge to head out to the cottage, when a more relaxing weekend might be had at home? Why do those who employ all sorts of people to make life easier at home, assume all those tasks at the cottage? Why hit the road, instead of the local pub, or park, or even couch? The priority of cottage c...

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New Catholic Hymnal is Nothing to Sing About

Peter Stockland

August 1, 2018

We tend to treat music like entertainment breaks from the serious phases of our church services, writes Convivium Publisher Peter Stockland. But music ought to be so much more. Today, Peter defends the core of music: to lift our hearts, and our voices, towards God's love.

My entire understanding of music rests on three years of junior high school band, which was only possible after the first month because the school authorities so deeply feared letting me take shop class as an alternative Proof that the Church has no shyness about irony is affirmed in word that Canad...

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Remembering Those in Prison

John Schuurman

July 30, 2018

John Schuurman offers a reminder of injustices inflicted on prison inmates by an imperfect justice system and highlights an initiative Christians are taking in response.

Randy’s own desire to succeed in becoming that reintegrated, contributing member of society, when he had no place to stay, no ID and no income, is why many former inmates say the hardest day of incarceration is the day it ends He could lose his home and possessions during four to six months of incar...

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What Child Is This?

Ruth Dick

July 30, 2018

Ottawa photographer Ruth Dick reminds viewers that the gift and mystery of life can, more often than not, be found in the form of a child. 

In the simple lines of a candid photo taken during a street celebration in Montreal, Ottawa photographer Ruth Dick brings child and love together in a unity of light and shadow. ...

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In

Ruth Dick

July 30, 2018

Ottawa photographer Ruth Dick delights in catching the magic of music created in a moment. 

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