2011‑2022, and is preserved here for archival purposes.
Peter Stockland reports on a group of B.C. Canadian Reformed Churches going to court to be allowed to come in out of the rain and worship together.
As Christians around the world raise “hosannas” to their Saviour this Palm Sunday, the congregation of Aldergrove Canadian Reformed Church might also be putting up umbrellas.
Members of the church located near the western end of B.C.’s Fraser Valley ...
The Liberal government’s proposed Bill C-7 has drawn multifaith ire across Canada and a sharply-worded public call to immediately halt the legislation, Peter Stockland reports.
More than 50 leaders across the faith spectrum warn the Liberal government’s changes to Medical Aid in Dying legislation will pressure vulnerable Canadians to opt for “lethal procedures” over living with illness or disability.
Equally alarming, says ...
Economic impact is one of religion’s less-talked-about features but Stephen Lazarus writes that there may be at least $67 billion of Canadian GDP worth discussing.
TORONTO – Newcomers to this country often find Canadians have a curious stance toward religion. We seldom say much negative about religion in public, but then we never take it too seriously either. A new study, ...
An innovative approach by Winnipeg journalist John Longhurst engages religious communities in the media by asking them to fund multi-faith coverage, Convivium’s Rebecca Darwent reports.
Faith groups complaining about absent media attention must share the blame they direct at news organizations, contends Winnipeg Free Press religion writer John Longhurst.
Negative stories of abuse scandals or terrorism will always make the ...
A delegation from Ottawa’s Kehillat Beth Israel Congregation takes a Torah to Tanzania today, a community endeavour connecting Jewish faithful across the globe.
When a delegation from Ottawa’s Kehillat Beth Israel Congregation takes a Torah to Tanzania today, the ornate scroll will have its own centre seat on the overseas flight from Toronto.
“Its seat cost more than mine, and it doesn’t even get a kosher me...
Last week, Cardus Religious Freedom Institute launched its newest project, Faith in the Future. Convivium's Peter Stockland sits down with program director Andrew Bennett and researcher Aaron Neil to discuss the team's aspirations and plans as it kicks off.
Give me a sense of what the launch actually involves or what does it mean? What are we doing to signify the launch?
Andrew Bennett: The launch is really about the official initiation of Faith in the Future. We now ha...
As Passover arrives, an Environics survey shows Canada’s Jewish community is faring much better than its U.S. counterpart in number of ways. But as Ottawa’s Rabbi Reuven Bulka cautions, doing better doesn’t automatically mean doing well.
It is somewhat ironic that I react to the recent released survey of the 2018 study of Canadian Jewry, carried out by the Environics Institute for Survey Research, in partnership with the University of Toronto and York University.
The irony is that t...
More than 10,000 visitors are expected as the Parliament of World Religions opens its doors in Canada’s largest city next week, Convivium contributor Susan Korah reports.
In a city home to two million Catholics where Mass is said in more than 30 languages, it’s an easy guess what Cardinal Thomas Collins will make the centre of his keynote address when the Parliament of World Religions opens in Toronto next week.
“Hos...
While many Canadians spent the long weekend lolly-gagging in the name of a long-gone British monarch, Jews celebrated the feast of Shavuot – Pentecost. Convivium contributor Rabbi Moishele Fogel examines the historical origin and theological complexity of a holiday devoted to the Torah, its rules, and its obligations that give a paradoxical promise of liberty to God's Chosen People.
This past weekend the Jewish community celebrated the holiday of Shavuot – Pentecost. Shavuot commemorates the culmination of the Jewish Exodus from Egypt with the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai. The Torah contains the entirety of Jewish religious obser...
Randall Wright’s cinematic close up of L’Arche, Jean Vanier’s community for people with mental disabilities, opens today in theatres across Canada. The British documentary maker spoke with Convivium’s Peter Stockland about the powerful change that followed acceptance of Vanier’s invitation to see humanity itself in an entirely new light.
Peter Stockland: Summer in the Forest is emphatically not a documentary by L’Arche. It’s Randall Wright’s documentary about L’Arche. What drew you to L’Arche and to Jean Vanier in the first...
Convivium has previously published testimony to the House of Commons Heritage Committee on M-103, a motion to address religious intolerance and racism. Today, we present remarks to the committee from Shimon Fogel, CEO of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, who cautions Canada’s reputation as a welcoming land hangs in the balance between rooting out genuine hatred and leaving free space to criticize religious ideologies.
We are a national, non-partisan, non-profit organization, representing more than 150,000 Jewish Canadians affiliated through local Federations across the country.
We are committed to working with government and all like-minded groups to ensure Canada...
As Ottawa heads into one of the last Pride weekends of the summer in Canada, Convivium publisher Peter Stockland interviews Daniel Jonas, an Israeli LGBT activist trying to balance contemporary interpretations of human rights and identity with his devout commitment to the timeless truths of Orthodox Judaism.
Daniel Jonas is the chairperson of Havruta, a religious community that works for tolerance of LGBT people in Orthodox society in Israel. When he recently visited Ottawa and Montreal for meetings with local politicians, LGBT activists, and rabbis from a ...
After Canada’s July 1 bash for our 150th birthday, the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) challenged every mosque, church, temple, synagogue and place of worship to commit to 150 acts of public service this year. Convivium publisher Peter Stockland asked CIJA CEO Shimon Koffler Fogel for more details.
Convivium: What is the Canadian Faith Community Pledge Challenge? What does CIJA hope Canadians of faith will do?
Shimon Koffler Fogel: We use the term challenge in the most constructive way really, encouraging faith...
Convivium contributor Daniel Bezalel Richardsen reflects on the recently convened Faith in Canada 150 Millennial Summit and the hope he derived from this historic gathering.
“The principal moral benefit of religion is that it permits a confrontation with the age in which one lives in a perspective that transcends the age and thus puts it in proportion. This both vindicates courage and safeguards against fanaticism.” —...
Practicing what Tony Carnes calls “sympathetic objectivity,” reporters with the Journey through NYC Religions project find stories in every church, synagogue, mosque and place of worship in New York City. His article below is part of Cardus’ Religion and the Good of the City publication released this week.
Practicing what Tony Carnes calls “sympathetic objectivity,” reporters with the Journey through NYC Religions project find stories in every church, synagogue, mosque and place of worship in New York City. His article below is part of Cardus’ ...
Today, Gideon Strauss introduces us to his beloved Outremont through the eyes of Valérie Amiraux, author, scholar, professor, and Outremont resident.
“When people address religion, they address religion for what they see of religion…and what they see is people who do not behave as they would.” ~ Valérie Amiraux
Salomé et les hommes en noir is ...
Following the Convivium Launch Party in the Cardus Ottawa office, Daniel Proussalidis shares how, throughout the evening, the four panelists with different perspectives and backgrounds concluded that faith does indeed have a place in the common life of Canadians.
Tell me if you’ve heard this one before:
“A politician, an art gallery curator, a newspaper publisher, and a Jewish activist walk into a think tank office ...”
What sounds like the start of a formulaic joke is actually the beginning of a power...
Milton Friesen, Program Director for Social Cities at Cardus, shares the importance of strong social fabric and the contribution that religious communities make to the health of their cities.
The day after mass murder claimed six lives at a mosque in Quebec City, Canadians are understandably horrified at the reality of worshippers being gunned down while at prayer, and simultaneously frightened by the prospect of religious violence raising i...
A former Bloc Québécois politician, Richard Marceau converted to Judaism in 2004. Since 2011, he has worked for the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs as a senior adviser. In 2011, he published A Quebec Jew: From Bloc Québécois MP to Jewish Activist, detailing his spiritual journey and involvement in the Jewish community. He recently sat down to talk to Convivium publisher Peter Stockland
CONVIVIUM: Tell me a little bit, first, about the letter you wrote to Foreign Affairs Minister Stéphane Dion. What were you hoping to do with that, and what was the thinking behind it?
RICHARD MARCEAU: The issue of C...
Christmas ought to be a time for thoughtful giving, not giving that is easy or benefits the giver.
The generosity of people at Christmastime is amazing. There is something about the season that, well, warms the hearts and leads us toward generosity. It is, after all, the celebration of the gift of the birth of Jesus, which led to the greatest single act ...
How would the Christian right react if someone wanted to open an "Islamic law school" in Canada? vancouversun.com/touch/story.ht…
A few weeks back the Council of Canadian Law Deans fired an incendiary letter across the bow of the forthcoming law school by Trinity Western University. In their letter they argued that the rules of conduct and lifestyle at the Langley Christian university...
Should criticism of religion be allowed, particularly when it can lead to such violent reactions?
After two weeks of riots across the Muslim world, ostensibly due to an offensive amateur YouTube video which insults the Prophet Muhammad, many people across the non-Muslim world might agree that the reaction to the offense far exceeds the offense itself. T...
What will bring new life to religious communities in Canada? What "deaths" must happen, Jason Zuidema ask, for that new life to arise?
Maybe we have to die in order for the consecrated life to live," a French-speaking sister told me in an interview. A surprising strategy, but one that might make the most sense considering the continued decline in the number of Catholic religious in our cou...