Raymond J. de Souza
Father Raymond J. de Souza is a Cardus Senior Fellow, the founding Editor of Convivium, chaplain at Newman House (the Roman Catholic centre at Queen's University), and a parish priest, in addition to writing for the National Post and The Catholic Register.
Bio last updated January 12th, 2022.
Articles by Raymond J. de Souza
ABCs of Amy Coney Barrett’s Faith
By Raymond J. de Souza
October 12, 2020
Failure to understand deeply religious people will underlie a lot of words thrown at the U.S. Supreme Court nominee this week, Father Raymond de Souza writes.
Indeed, People of Praise, while largely Catholic, is not officially Catholic; it is an ecumenical community of Christians who seek to live more intentionally their faith in a common, charismatic fashion Today, they join the myriad of new communities – often called in Catholic parlance “movements” – such as People of Praise, which gather their members for encounters usually smaller and more formational than Sunday church congregations
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Going Viral and Not Going Back
Raymond J. de Souza
April 1, 2020
Fr. Raymond de Souza considers the ways in which our public spaces may change as they've now moved online due to COVID-19.
The coronavirus has put us all off balance, and so we are online all the time, working from home But online is quick, offering the option of getting it over with in much less time Consider this headline from The Globe and Mail: “The education world has been turned upside down: Online learning may re...
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Beethoven, Spring and Nature
Raymond J. de Souza
March 26, 2020
As spring has sprung, Fr. Raymond de Souza reflects on how the Kingston Symphony’s melded-together performance of two vastly different compositions show that while man and nature often collide, God’s creation is still a garden.
Beethoven’s Sixth coheres; his vision of nature praises the good order found in it, bestowed upon it “Where Beethoven cherishes the beauty in nature, [Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring] reacts in fearful, reverent awe of its brute force, its remarkable and casual indifference,” writes Mitchell of his deci...
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Coronavirus, Sports, and Joy
Raymond J. de Souza
March 20, 2020
The world’s playing fields have been emptied by a pandemic but our God-given desire to play like Tom Brady can never be stilled, Father Raymond de Souza writes.
Being rude and surly is not incompatible with being a great football coach; Belichick is the most successful ever, having been to 9 Super Bowls in two decades in New England, having won 8 of them – six as a head coach and two as a defensive coordinator Recall that first game at Yankee Stadium after ...
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The Convivial Charms of Curling
Raymond J. de Souza
March 10, 2020
Father Raymond de Souza finds spending time at the Brier is a proud mix of citizenship, friendship and sporting glory.
The Brier champion doesn’t always win the world championship, but he has had a much tougher test to get there Watching the Brier lifts that to another level, knowing that these men are the best curlers in the entire world The Brier – Canada’s national men’s curling championship – was held this past ...
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On Being Jean Vanier
Raymond J. de Souza
February 28, 2020
With the saintly founder of L’Arche capable of great wickedness, Father Raymond de Souza asks, what snares imperil the rest of us?
One cannot set aside the truth about God and man, and Vanier taught a great deal of that truth for a very long time The revelations that Jean Vanier, for at least thirty-five years, was engaged in sexual misconduct – coercive and manipulative – with at least six women were therefore completely unbel...
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Is Reconciliation Being Railroaded?
Raymond J. de Souza
February 20, 2020
Indigenous land claim protests might spell the death of reconciliation if they continue threatening the rule of law, Father Raymond de Souza argues.
Not far from where I live, the Tyendinaga Mohawks have camped beside the rail for 10 days in solidarity with the hereditary chiefs of Wet’suwet’en The Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs are upset that the elected Wet’suwet’en chiefs – and all other Indigenous band councils along the pipeline route – hav...
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'Blatch' Never Bleached the Truth
Raymond J. de Souza
February 14, 2020
The talents of the late Christie Blatchford cannot easily be matched, writes Fr. Raymond de Souza. But her courage was what made her truly admirable.
Canadian National has obtained an injunction against the protesters, but the police are customarily dilatory in enforcing it, as they usually are when it comes to Indigenous blockades The Ontario Provincial Police proved totally impotent in the face of violence to property and threats against people...
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The Irishman’s Last Ride
Raymond J. de Souza
February 7, 2020
Martin Scorsese’s homage to Mafiosos movies is ultimately a tale of life experienced from the perspective of eternity, Father Raymond de Souza writes.
In The Irishman the opening shot shuffles down the corridor of a nursing home, where a retired and decrepit Robert De Niro reflects upon his life as a Mafia hit man in Philadelphia, the assassin – he claims – of Jimmy Hoffa It is the last ride for Scorsese, Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci, Harv...
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Ticking Clocks and Kobe Bryant
Raymond J. de Souza
January 31, 2020
Last week’s helicopter crash that killed the basketball star and eight others leads Father Raymond de Souza to ponder Jesus’ warning about death and thieves in the night.
And in basketball, so many of the dramatic moments are in those last seconds, 5… 4… 3… 2… 1 From a natural point of view, Kobe’s premature death came at a time when there was much evident goodness and happiness in his life Kobe was killed on that hillside at a time in his life when there was happine...
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John Crosbie: In Memoriam
Raymond J. de Souza
January 16, 2020
As mourners gather today to honour John Crosbie, Fr. Raymond de Souza recollects the late politician’s outspoken presence and performance through the years.
Crosbie’s time on the national stage coincided with the rise of television in Canadian politics Crosbie would enter provincial politics as part of Smallwood’s cabinet, but would later resign in protest against the autocratic tendencies and corruption of a de facto one-man rule Crosbie’s 15 years on ...
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Right Royal Good Riddance
Raymond J. de Souza
January 9, 2020
Bombshell abdications in Britain’s Royal Family affirm its members are the primary problem within the family, Father Raymond de Souza contends.
Harry intends to keep the inheritance that his royal life delivered to him, and Meghan could presumably go back to acting Actually, the royal family will not simply survive the departure of Harry and Meghan; it will be better off without them Trouble was coming for Harry and Meghan when the latter f...
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The Aftermath of Falling Walls
Raymond J. de Souza
November 21, 2019
Father Raymond de Souza reminds us that bloodshed rarely ends the instant freedom rings out. When the Berlin Wall fell, tyrants still murdered the innocent.
Yet the impact of the Cold War was felt the world over, including in San Salvador that bloody night, seven days after the Wall was no more. Michael Czerny arrived in San Salvador and took over the UCA human rights office, previously headed by one of the Jesuits who had been killed ...
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Cherry Sincerity and Insincerity
Raymond J. de Souza
November 13, 2019
Father Raymond de Souza says to count him out of those piling on Don Cherry for being fired from Coach’s Corner.
By the way, how do people know to complain to the CBSC? I mean, do ordinary folk watch Coach’s Corner, get aggravated by Grapes and know to fire off a missive to the CBSC? It seems a bit, as Cherry might put it, whiny, no? Third, the CBC, where Grapes worked for the first 33 of his 39 years in TV C...
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Who’s Your Daddy?
Raymond J. de Souza
November 8, 2019
Father Raymond de Souza shakes some political family trees to observe the fallout of dynastic ambition on democratic life.
But perhaps Mulroney fils has something compelling to offer, at least as compelling as Trudeau fils had in 2013 and Mackay fils had in 2002 when they ran for party leadership? Not being familiar Ben’s oeuvre I fired up the search engine and discovered that as of yesterday, Ben’s principal interest w...
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Newman and All Saints
Raymond J. de Souza
November 4, 2019
The canonization of the extraordinary Cardinal John Henry Newman leads Father Raymond de Souza to reflect on the day reserved to celebrate ordinary Christians.
That’s the key to All Saints, to that great multitude who are worthy – by the precious blood of the Lamb who was slain but lives – to behold the glory of God in heaven It is understandable that Blair may not have known that Newman argued, in the lines immediately following, that the Church “consider...
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Losing Our Faith in Political History
Raymond J. de Souza
October 24, 2019
Convivium’s Father Raymond de Souza rebuts critics of Andrew Scheer for focusing on his religious beliefs while forgetting it was historically outlandish to expect he’d win Election 2019.
Between then and the election, the governing New Democrats entirely changed their climate policies, and spent 18 months decrying Kenney as the second coming – but much, much worse this time! – of Genghis Khan The election was only winnable for the Conservatives in the sense that occasionally somethi...
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Yuk-Yuks for Election 2019
Raymond J. de Souza
October 17, 2019
Convivium’s Father Raymond de Souza applauds the Rhinoceros Party’s return in the federal campaign because, he argues, every election needs its clown car.
Back in 1984, Brian Mulroney was cracking wise on his campaign plane about John Turner’s fin-de-regime patronage appointments, noting that, in regard to Bryce Mackasey, despatched to Lisbon as the Canadian ambassador, “there’s no whore like an old whore Back in the 1980s, when national unity and the...
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Hats Off to Hamilton
Raymond J. de Souza
October 4, 2019
During a gathering of the Cardus collective in the Steel City this week, Father Raymond de Souza finds a cutting edge sculpture, a God-shaped hole in newspaper church coverage, and a study that strips away myths about eating red meat.
Tuesday’s Hamilton Spectator, the paper of record in the Steel City, had a front-page story on the 125th anniversary of St The idea came from Hebrews 13:2 – Be welcoming to strangers and many have entertained angels unaware Last Sunday in Rome his new sculpture was (temporarily) erected in St ...
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Are Even Secular Schools Sacred?
Raymond J. de Souza
September 26, 2019
Father Raymond de Souza wonders what spirit moves the public board of education in Brockville, Ontario to block an empty building’s sale to a private religious group.
The Upper Canada District School Board (UCDSB) clearly regards any private school as Wrench might regard another garage, namely, competition for customers Perhaps the Wolford school does have a sacred character, after all, and that defining character is not the education of children, but the educati...
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The Cleansing Power of Daylight
Raymond J. de Souza
September 20, 2019
With the "blackface" make-up photo of Justin Trudeau comes the hope for an end to the mud-slinging politics that have covered the election campaign to date, writes Fr. Raymond.
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The Better Way For Elizabeth May
Raymond J. de Souza
September 13, 2019
Father Raymond de Souza recommends the Green Party leader stop apologizing for her Christian faith and recognize that politics won’t save the world. Christ already has.
Yet as a former divinity student, May should have known that forcing Jesus into the categories of modern politics is, to borrow the phrasing of St How central is May’s faith in Jesus to her? At the conclusion of the interview, when asked what job she would do if not in politics, she spoke about a vo...
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Unwrapping Jagmeet Singh
Raymond J. de Souza
September 5, 2019
Father Raymond de Souza finds the NDP leader a fascinatingly odd fit for the identity politics of a left-wing party because of the very diversity that makes up Mr. Singh.
So what then of his religious identity? Being Sikh is both an ethnicity – it’s not really a race – and a religion, not unlike, I suppose, being Jewish So, when Jagmeet presents himself to Canadians tying his turban and professing pride in his identity, is he presenting his religious identity or a cu...
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The Climate’s Royal Treatment
Raymond J. de Souza
August 29, 2019
Editor-In-Chief Fr. Raymond de Souza looks to Prince Harry and Meaghan Markle’s decision to have a maximum of two children for the sake of the planet.
Still, given that his own brother has three children, would not common courtesy alone demand that he refrain from publicly characterizing that choice as irresponsible? Even because of the climate? Is it not simply bad manners to say, more or less, that it would have been better if Prince Louis, the ...