Called Up By Silence

Brittany Beacham

October 24, 2017

Whether in silent retreat or simply by stopping in the world’s business to listen for God’s voice, Convivium contributor Brittany Beacham writes, we can learn to follow as He beckons us forward.

When I took part in my first silent retreat at 18 or 19 years old, the idea of spending 48 hours in complete silence, 48 hours set aside solely to the listening of God's voice, was a foreign, exciting and intimidating concept I wanted to stay in silence – continue that time set apart solely for seek...

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Our Absurd Niqab Problem

Peter Stockland

October 23, 2017

Convivium Publisher Peter Stockland says all sides in the great niqab debate are making a lot more noise than common sense. 

It’s nonetheless preposterous to argue that because the majority of Muslim women eschew the niqab, the State therefore has some business interfering in the haberdashery choices of those who prefer it There is apparently an expectation in Quebec, for example, that the niqab ban will apply to women wi...

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Answering Campus Sexual Violence

Paul Adams, with Vanessa Eisses, Sara DeMoor, Rebecca Janzen, Greta Hays

October 20, 2017

In September, Convivium published data from Redeemer University College’s Professor Jim Vanderwoerd comparing rates of sexual violence at public universities with those of specifically Christian post-secondary institutions. Our readers appreciated Vanderwoerd’s work, but want the research to go even further. 

As a woman who graduated from an independent Christian college and has since worked on public university campuses for the past 10 years, I am not surprised by the summary of Jim Vanderwoerd’s research into sexual violence and moral communities ...

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Jake Epp: Faithful Minister

Janet Epp Buckingham

October 19, 2017

Janet Epp-Buckingham shares the story of Jake Epp, who was called to public life and impacted Canada in significant ways. She shares his advice to people of faith called to the public life: Declare your beliefs early and clearly and live by them. 

Jake was minister of health when the federal government introduced legislation to respond to the Morgentaler case During his political career, Jake served as Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, Minister of National Health and Welfare and Minister of Energy, Mines and Resources Jake ...

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Sears Bankruptcy

Raymond J. de Souza

October 19, 2017

What does the closing of Sears mean for the average citizen? Could it mean the loss of yet another physical space that facilitates our common life? 

Do people still go to the mall, with the big anchor Sears at one end, and Eaton’s – sorry, they went bust a long while back – or The Bay at the other? I usually get there a few times a year, but far less than I would have gone twenty years ago I can’t complain that Sears is going under because I lon...

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Poverty Needs More Than Just Policies

Peter Stockland

October 18, 2017

Peter Stockland sits down with Andrea Mrozek and Peter Jon Mitchell to discuss Cardus research showing that exclusively pursuing policy options misses critical elements in combating poverty.

For Andrea Mrozek, program director for Cardus Family, Milke’s research paper is launch pad for broadening the Canadian discussion around poverty and inequality “That wrongly assumes a material remedy for a nonmaterial development that has its origins elsewhere: a decline in faith, changing morality...

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Six Simple Words

Christina Oliverio

October 18, 2017

On June 10th 2015 at 6:11 a.m., Christina Oliverio's life should have ended. After that day, six words were transformed from an idea to the means to her existence: "It's your breath in my lungs."

I wanted God to provided a multidimensional answer, One that would address the angst and tension, explain the pain, provide my life’s purpose, grant me peace, and explain his character all at once In that moment I was fully embraced by the loving hands of God ...

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Recovering Civil Encounters

Peter Stockland

October 17, 2017

Peter Stockland examines his colleague Andrew Bennett's compelling testimony to a House of Commons committee, wherein Bennett argued Canadians must let diversity be difference rather than a slippery euphemism for forced homogeneity.

“The built environment can at best provide us with a fitting stage for human life and positive forms of civic involvement, social interaction and mutual support” Hardy concludes “And the fixing of our built environment – the wise redevelopment of our cities, the retro-fitting of our suburbs, the rec...

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Pluralism In The Mirror

Anne Leahy

October 16, 2017

Former Canadian Ambassador Anne Leahy finds Robert Joustra’s new book a compelling call for greater religious literacy among Canadians, particularly our diplomats. 

Robert Joustra's short and dense book, The Religious Problem with Religious Freedom: Why Foreign Policy Needs Political Theology, flows from his doctoral dissertation at the University of Bath in 2013 The core of the book is the elaboration of a Canadian “principled pluralism” for which Joustra adva...

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Enriched By Difference

Andrew P.W. Bennett

October 16, 2017

The following is the testimony that Cardus Senior Fellow Andrew Bennett delivered this afternoon before the Standing Committee of the House of Commons on Canadian Heritage as it studies Motion-103 on combating Islamophobia.

In championing human dignity, we must not only recognize but also respect that we believe different things, and that we hold different views on what is most important in human life Furthermore, and perhaps most importantly, the advancement of human flourishing and the associated commitment to plural...

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Fisherman of My Heart

Denise Mallett

October 13, 2017

In her Golden Thread submission, Denise Mallett writes of her Prince Edward Island home and her heart bursting with "God’s golden goodness."

My heart became swollen with God’s joy and peace, with honeyed sunlight and the salty breeze; His name was etched in every branch of driftwood, every slice of sandstone I was about to leap into my next adventure when the fisherman cast his net and captured my heart ...

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More Than Harvey’s Secret Is Out

Andrea Mrozek

October 13, 2017

Revelations of his serial predations brought Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein low this week. But Cardus’ Andrea Mrozek warns everything from our relationships to our shopping malls are afflicted by the corruption he represents.

Hollywood is obsessed with looks: Why can’t women ever look something approximating normal in Hollywood? By normal, I mean a lead role for a woman who is, oh, a size ten, and not then declared to be pushing the boundaries for plus-size acting Feminists today can’t agree on whether pornography is har...

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Talking Insufferable Turkey

Raymond J. de Souza

October 12, 2017

Still eating leftovers from Thanksgiving dinner? Fr. Raymond de Souza offers some “leftovers” of his own. Here are some “leftover” thoughts on smaller items – less important though perhaps more amusing – from recent days. 

If we cannot judge food on what it does on its own, what then are we judging? When the gullible speak of their devotion to turkey, they are slow to mention the meat of the bird “With great power comes great responsibility,” says Rock, 33, talking about his new role as the head of the Metropolitan Co...

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Home Movies

Dayna Hillier

October 11, 2017

At screenings of two seemingly very different movies, writer Dayna Slusar finds commonality in their evocation of home, and ponders the word’s enduring power for a culture increasingly lost in its hopeless little screens.

Technology today gives us a much further reach than either of these two could dream of, but does that make us more connected? Do we not long for home in the same tangible way as Saroo and Ellis do? Saroo spent several months on this search to find his home; Ellis cried herself to sleep on many night...

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Changing the Climate for Faith and Science

Lloyd Mackey

October 10, 2017

Katharine Hayhoe, one of TIME Magazine’s 100 most influential people in 2014, appreciates both science and faith. Hayhoe states: "I don’t accept global warming on faith: I crunch the data, I analyze the models, I help engineers and city managers and ecologists quantify the impacts."

Katharine Hayhoe, one of TIME Magazine’s 100 most influential people in 2014, delivered three lectures relating to her field, climate science, three years ago this month, at Trinity Western University, near Vancouver, in Langley BC Hayhoe, a Canadian, is a climate science professor at Texas Tech Uni...

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