Public Life

  • Mockery and Majesty

    Mockery and Majesty

    Raymond J. de Souza

    November 9, 2017

    Convivium editor in chief Father Raymond J. de Souza reflects on the new Governor General's recent remarks to the Canadian Science Policy Convention, outlining the connection between faith and science, and the importance of kindness and care for those around us. 

    The new Governor General made rather a mess of her speech to the Canadian Science Policy Convention, less than a month into her service as Canadian vice-regal representative of Elizabeth II, by the Grace of God of Canada, Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, De...

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  • Three Risks For Freedom

    Three Risks For Freedom

    Janet Epp Buckingham

    November 7, 2017

    Dead French intellectuals, explosive growth of social media, and busybodies obsessed with “feelings” all put traditional liberties at risk, Janet Epp Buckingham recently told the Parliamentary Forum on Canadian Freedoms

    It is always both fun and risky to make predictions about the future. Things in our world are changing rapidly. Who knows where they will go tomorrow, or next month or next year? Things that seem impossible can suddenly become possible.

    I am going to...

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  • Our Absurd Niqab Problem

    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. 

    Quebec’s Bill 62 banning the niqab in places of public service is as absurd as teaching ancient Persian to a passel of penguins.

    But then, so is the whole Canadian conversation around the body coverings favored by relatively recent arrivals from prim...

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  • More Than Harvey’s Secret Is Out

    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.

    There’s so much wrong with the collapse of producer Harvey Weinstein. The pervert of all perverts has finally been brought down. Yet no one has yet successfully explained how he lasted so long and wielded such power.

    A couple of possible answers come...

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  • Trump’s Dangerous Game

    Trump’s Dangerous Game

    Peter Stockland

    September 25, 2017

    Convivium Publisher Peter Stockland delivers a sterling defence of sports and citizenship amidst the verbal clash between NFL players and U.S. President Donald Trump.

    Donald Trump may yet rue the day he went walking on the fighting side of Vince Wilfork.

    And not just because the retired NFL defensive tackle weighs 325 pounds and came out of college able to bench press 225 pounds 36 times in a row.

    Trump, of...

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  • Suffering For Life

    Suffering For Life

    Raymond J. de Souza

    May 11, 2017

    Editor in Chief of Convivum Father Raymond J. de Souza reports on the National March for Life that will take place in Ottawa today touching on the meaning of suffering and the importance of upholding the sanctity of life. 

    Tens of thousands will march in Ottawa today in celebration of human life, proclaiming that all life has value and ought to be protected in law. But the advent of assisted suicide and voluntary euthanasia means that life is less protected in law than previo...

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  • Post-Christian Mobs of Yobs

    Post-Christian Mobs of Yobs

    Raymond J. de Souza

    March 23, 2017

    On the heels of a full week, Editor in Chief Father Raymond J. de Souza reflects on the violence in both London, England and London, Ontario, St. Patrick's Day, and the release of Rod Dreher’s The Benedict Option. 

    There was violence on the streets of London. London, the quondam imperial capital, suffered a terror attack yesterday. But there has been frightening public in our London, Ontario, too. Google reminds us, in case we’ve forgotten, with this Toronto Star ...

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  • Forcing Folks to be Free

    Forcing Folks to be Free

    Robert Joustra

    September 12, 2016

    Doug Saunders in the weekend’s Globe and Mail calls for public prejudice for the greater good, but the idea isn’t new with him, and we’ll see a lot more of it in the days ahead. Saunders’ incredulity over Mohammad Nouman Dasu, lobbying to exempt his children from music classes, has the smell of that fire.

    Hardly the sun sets in the West these days without some new attempt at what Jean Jacques Rousseau might have mistily called “forcing folks to be free.”

    Doug Saunders in the weekend’s Globe and Mail calls for ...

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  • Gun Control: Right Trumps Rights

    Gun Control: Right Trumps Rights

    Peter Stockland

    July 28, 2016

    “The NRA has achieved its victories not by threats of insurrection but through the classic methods of democracy: debate, dialogue, lobbying and electioneering. Its source of strength lies not in the weapons its members own or carry, but in the votes they cast and the arguments they make,” he adds.

    David Cole makes a convincing case, worth bearing in mind as the presidential race erupts, that American gun violence is at heart a function of democracy at its best. “The NRA may ...

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  • ‘Inclusion’ to the Exclusion of Religious Freedom

    ‘Inclusion’ to the Exclusion of Religious Freedom

    Peter Stockland

    July 15, 2016

    It’s worth, though, heeding the emerging voices warning us that freedom’s loss is as much, perhaps even more, a function of shifts in language almost too subtle for timely detection. In an exclusive interview with the Catholic Register, Canada’s former Ambassador for Religious Freedom – and now most welcome new colleague at Cardus – noted that his former bailiwick has been recast by the Liberal government into a muddle called the Office of Freedom, Human Rights and Inclusion.

    We’ve become habituated to associating loss of freedom with decisive, often violent, acts.

    It’s worth, though, heeding the emerging voices warning us that freedom’s loss is as much, perhaps even more, a function of shifts in language almost too subtl...

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  • A Double Standard Where There Are No Standards?

    A Double Standard Where There Are No Standards?

    Peter Stockland

    September 24, 2015

    Leaving aside the question of whether it’s possible to have a fair double standard, it seems to me there is a more compelling question for Catholics—and all Christians. It’s this: should we care about the double standard we face? Why? Gerson’s text typified the phenomenon. It centred on a flap that arose at a Calgary school board meeting when a Catholic trustee challenged the newly invented writ of transgenderism.

    The headline on a recent column by National Post editor Jen Gerson asked whether Catholics face an unfair double standard.

    Leaving aside the...

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