When Silence Screams

Peter Stockland

October 10, 2017

Convivium Publisher Peter Stockland contends the things said during the Rachael Harder debacle were bad enough. Much worse was the thinking revealed by the silence.

Without naming names, Coyne wrote that he had witnessed ­­– and I have no reason at all to doubt this – people making the argument “that nominating Harder for chair of status of women is like giving a Holocaust denier responsibility for promoting religious tolerance Not “how” as in the emotionally r...

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The Educational Apocalypse of Google

David McKernan

October 9, 2017

Convivum contributor David McKernan wonders whether the traditional understanding of university education is being sacrificed to the false god Google.

Do we want students with more technology in learning or less? If brains have evolved over thousands of years to reason in a particular way, and Google doesn’t fit well with brain biology, then Google, as the source of mega information, is the opposite of what students require today The effects of th...

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A Riot of Governors General

Raymond J. de Souza

October 6, 2017

This week Fr. Raymond de Souza reflects on Julie Payette's transition to Canada 29th governor general – in particular, the choice of her coat of arms and motto.

Rideau Hall’s heraldic work ought to get more attention than it does, as the arms of our governors general are, to use the technical heraldic term, a riot The Governor General of Canada customarily is granted a personal coat-of-arms upon assuming office, and it was the case this week when Julie Paye...

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Breaking Independent School Stereotypes

Derek Allison, with Deani Van Pelt, Beth Green

October 5, 2017

Educational experts Derek J. Allison, Beth Green, and Deani Neven Van Pelt argue Toronto’s extension of its publicly funded breakfast program to independent schools is a great start to overcoming that misconception that their students are all kids with silver spoons in their mouths.  

The Toronto Board of Health deserves great credit for seeking to remedy such injustice by extending access to student nutrition programs in all eligible schools, public and independent So, not only are taxpayers whose kids attend independent schools already supporting the public school system with t...

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Offering the Very Best

Jeff Lockert

October 4, 2017

Jeff Lockert discusses the challenges that face Millennials of faith. Lockert writes, "the real challenge is for each and every one of you to offer the very best of yourselves to the world. And the very best of yourselves includes your faith."

I share this story to begin with because over these few days at the Faith in Canada Millennium Summit, we’ve been surfacing a number of difficult challenges We heard in some of the discussion groups during the Summit, people sharing that they are sometimes afraid of what other others might think of ...

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A Future of 10,000 Villages

Brittany Beacham

October 4, 2017

Convivium contributor Brittany Beacham treats readers to the welcoming aroma of Mennonite deep fried raisin donuts as she explores the annual MCC Sale in Abbotsford B.C. The Anabaptist heartland is changing radically, she writes, but the hospitable heart will always bridge yesterday and tomorrow.

In many ways, the MCC Sale is a piece of the old Abbotsford, and yet it continues to grow and to draw people each year This has become a key part of the MCC Sale in the last few years, and I think a deep understanding of the need to serve refugees comes from the fact that two, sometimes three genera...

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Democratic Magic

Peter Stockland

October 3, 2017

Convivium Publisher Peter Stockland visits a municipal election campaign in Montreal to discover small moments of magic in the cards.

I slipped his card into my pocket, imagining I’d done so with magically nimble fingers, fitting since it belonged to Mario le Magicien, star of children’s birthday parties in this long ago deindustrialized commuter arrondisement of Montreal Oddities into the bargain, municipal politics has a quality...

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Lawyers Won’t Bow To Law Society

Don Hutchinson

October 2, 2017

A decree on diversity from Ontario’s law society must not force lawyers to choose between practice and faith, warns Convivium contributor Don Hutchinson.

In its submission to the Supreme Court in the law school case, the Law Society of Upper Canada bases its objection to Trinity Western operating a law school and the licensing of its graduates to practice law because the Law Society considers the Christian university to be “a private institution” wit...

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A Challenge from God

Janet Epp Buckingham

September 29, 2017

Dr. Janet Epp Buckingham, a professor at Trinity Western University and director of the Laurentian Leadership Centre in Ottawa, shares her faith journey and her experiences defending religious freedom in Canada and around the world.

In 2006, I left the EFC and became the director of the Laurentian Leadership Centre, a satellite campus of Trinity Western University based in Ottawa She authored a book on religious freedom Fighting over God: a legal and political history of religious freedom in Canada in 2014 and contributed a cha...

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Serving Global Neighbours

Hank de Jong

September 29, 2017

Convivium had a chance to speak with Hank de Jong, Executive Director of EduDeo Ministries in Hamilton, Ontario, and ask him about the work that the organization is doing around the world – and right at home on Barton Street.

C: Moving forward, how can Convivium readers continue to work with EduDeo and the community of Barton street to partner in the renewal of the city? C: You have been very open about your vision to “see every community transformed by the gospel” and your new office is located on Barton Street right in...

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Privileged Conversation

Peter Stockland with Andrew P.W. Bennett

September 29, 2017

North American politics are consumed by new variations on the old debate about privilege, and consequent inequality and oppression. Convivium Publisher Peter Stockland and Andrew Bennett, program director for Cardus Law, sat down in Ottawa’s Moscow Tea Room to hash out the meaning of the words.

Andrew Bennett: Another part of the current challenge we face around this denigration of privilege, or assuming that someone who's privileged is not worth engaging in discussion with on certain issues, comes back to again that central reality of our Christian faith : an understanding of human dignit...

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Islamophobia in Parliament

Raymond J. de Souza

September 28, 2017

Convivum editor in chief, Father Raymond J. de Souza shares his testimony to The House of Commons Committee on Canadian Heritage on M-103. 

That, in the opinion of the House, the government should: (a) recognize the need to quell the increasing public climate of hate and fear; (b) condemn Islamophobia and all forms of systemic racism and religious discrimination and take note of House of Commons’ petition e-411 and the issues raised by ...

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Atonement And Witness

Ariella Kimmel

September 28, 2017

From the going down of the sun this Friday until Saturday evening, Jews mark Yom Kippur. As Convivium contributor Ariella Kimmel writes eloquently, it is time to seek forgiveness of sins past but more to stand with those who have, do, and will suffer the transgressions of the world.

It was fitting that the inauguration came during the Ten Days of Repentance, the holiest of holy times in the Jewish calendar, which begins with the New Year, Rosh Hashanah, and ends with the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur When hearing testimonies from Survivors, what always strikes me is the faith to...

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How Friendship Builds Civilization

Hannah Marazzi with Eboo Patel

September 27, 2017

In the midst of the politics of uproar, Convivium’s Hannah Marazzi chats with Ismaili Muslim writer, speaker, neighbourhood builder, and Little League Coach Eboo Patel about creating a civil world through quiet acts of community.

We work with young people to build a norm of interfaith cooperation C: There is very much this thought in your interviews and writing that vibrancy within faith prompts one to action C: The work of multi-faith community building is slow, relationship by relationship, conversation by conversation, in...

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Contempt of Lethbridge

Ray Pennings

September 27, 2017

Alberta MP Rachael Harder’s mistreatment by Liberals and New Democrats is a sad comment on their misunderstanding of Parliamentary democracy, says Cardus executive vice-president Ray Pennings. 

Insisting, as the Liberal and NDP members of the Committee seem to be doing, that an MP in good standing must pass some sort of ideological orthodoxy test in order to serve in Parliament is offensive ...

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