Death

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  What the Monks of Tibhirine Teach Us about Faith and Public Life

  Brian Dijkema

  January 27, 2012

  The film depicts the life of eight Trappist monks at Our Lady of the Atlas monastery in Algeria during Algeria's civil war in the 1990s. Unlike Into Great Silence—another excellent film portraying the lives of monks—Of Gods and Men focuses not merely on the day-to-day practices, routines, and disciplines of the monastery, but on how such routines can be maintained in the face of a deadly, and very real, threat of Islamic terrorists and the violence of war. Of Gods and Men is a violent film, but it is so good because the conflict—the seed of drama—is not one between men with guns, but within the hearts of men who self-consciously exist to love God and love their neighbours, and they do so within an institution dedicated to that task. The film's greatest struggle is fought both within the hearts of the brothers and among them. In the face of terrible violence, violence which threatened their lives, the question "do we stay or do we go?" is more compelling than any showdown between snarling men with loaded .44 magnums.

  Faithful presence. Those two words returned to my mind again and again as I reflected on the movie Of Gods and Men.

  The film depicts the life of eight Trappist monks at Our Lady of t...

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  The events before us

  Peter Stockland

  January 17, 2012

  On Thursday night, returning from her bedside, my son and I were almost killed when a pickup truck ploughed into the suddenly out of control taxi in which we were riding. Had the conference been some happy-clappy sales pitch on the seven essential steps to achieving eternal happiness, lifelong financial security, and winning Olympic gold medals in your sixties, I would have heartily agreed. Actually even that isn't true. I would have shunned it.

  Last week, our family was present as my wife's mother took inevitable steps toward a death whose arrival is countable in days.

  On Thursday night, returning from her bedside, my son and I were almost killed when a pickup truck ploughed into the sudden...

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  Hope Against Those Who Have No Hope

  Brian Dijkema

  December 22, 2011

  And while each of those deaths mean that scores of people around the world are bereaved, only a few deaths made it into the newspaper headlines this week. Three in particular—Christopher Hitchens, Vaclav Havel, and Kim Jung-Il—have dominated the headlines.

  This week saw the demise of thousands of people around the world. The rough statistics, as I understand them, are that there are approximately 8.37 deaths per thousand people per year. That means that taking a very conservative world population of 6 billion...

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  Giving Drunk Driving Laws a Breathalyzer

  Ray Pennings

  December 7, 2011

  The arguments on either side of the debate are familiar. Those in favour of toughening the law point to the fact that deaths by drunk driving have been reduced by 40% in British Columbia since it passed its law in September 2010. In other words, "it works," so don't fix it. Those opposed to this legislation note that it comes with a significant extension of arbitrary police powers and huge potential for unfairness.

  Just in time for the holiday season, an impassioned debate is taking place in our legislatures, courts, and op-ed pages regarding drinking and driving laws.

  The arguments on either side of the debate are familiar. Those in favour of toughening the la...

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  Brotherhood and everlasting history

  Peter Menzies

  December 6, 2011

  Everything.

  The first time I understood my life and my connection to the continuum that a family represents was in the hours following the birth of my daughter some 26 years ago. The occasion elevated me from the status of boy to man, from husband to father and in the ...

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  Ireland and Quebec

  Brian Dijkema

  November 24, 2011

  Clerical corruption and disastrous episcopal leadership have collided with rank political expediency and a rabidly anticlerical media to produce a perfect storm of ecclesiastical meltdown. The country whose constitution begins "In the name of the Most Holy Trinity . . ." is now thoroughly post-Christian.

  George Weigel has a fascinating article "On the Square" at First Things yesterday which surveys the the situation of the Catholic church in Ireland. In short, ...

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  Pressing against intellectual corruption

  Peter Stockland

  November 16, 2011

  We imagine corruption as something requiring fat, greasy-skinned men wearing expensive suits and long dark coats, and exchanging paper packets stuffed with hundred-dollar bills. The story in question concerns a purported "study" from the Royal Society of Canada that calls for the legalization of euthanasia and assisted suicide.

  Perhaps because they are usually so trivial, we do not normally think of newspaper stories as being corrupt. Foolish, yes. Illiterate, frequently. Wrong, invariably. But corrupt?

  We imagine corruption as something requiring fat, greasy-skinned men we...

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  Feeling Gutless on Remembrance Day

  Ray Pennings

  November 11, 2011

  Ray Pennings reflects on the difficulty of stomaching Remembrance Day and the ugliness of war, commemorating those who have gone before us. 

  Remembrance Day is important to me, in my head at least. I am very conscious to wear poppies, try to attend a cenotaph event whenever possible (either live, or viewing the national memorial event as my location and schedules allow), and read articles that d...

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  Remember and Believe

  Brian Dijkema

  November 10, 2011

  I remember listening to the 21-gun salute. I remember the echoes of the explosion bouncing off of the walls of the Chateau Laurier and the National Arts Centre, surrounding the cenotaph as the faint acrid smell of smoke wafted over the huge crowd gathered. I remember thinking: this is the closest we'll ever get to seeing war in our land; Lord have mercy on those who hear these sounds and cannot sit quietly knowing that the guns are filled with blanks and aimed away from them.

  I remember visiting the National War Memorial two years ago. The skies were a fittingly sombre shade of grey and the air was damp and cold. It was the type of cold that made even ...

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  How Institutions are Born (sort of)

  Milton Friesen

  November 4, 2011

  But where do these odd creatures come from? I fell to pondering this while watching this TED talk about an approach to hyper-local education in India called Barefoot College. It's a well-known case, but what I'm interested in are the design elements that were involved in founding it, the conditions of its birth. Institutions represent densities of people, resources, ideas, buildings, pipes, wires, paper, and so on. The founders of Barefoot College decided to orchestrate these densities by utilizing local resources: grow the institution from the resources that are right around it. They've been running since 1972.

  Our landscape, literal and figurative, is full of institutions. Mostly, we accept their existence without a second thought. From time to time they may try and impress us (see Maclean's new Canadian university rankings) or unwittingly enrage us (try g...

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  The small laws of civil life

  Peter Stockland

  October 18, 2011

  There was no time to do anything but lean on the horn to make sure she saw us and swerve into the oncoming lane to steer around her. We made it past her safely as she took urgent steps back toward the curb, children in tow.

  She was waiting at the corner of Sanguinet as my wife and I drove along Ontario early on a Sunday morning in downtown Montreal. We had the green light but she, pushing a stroller and with a toddler by the hand, casually started strolling acro...

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