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.

Raymond J. de Souza

Articles by Raymond J. de Souza

  • Reform the Party

    The Liberals are keen on the system because, as the second choice of many Conservative voters and NDP voters, it is likely to boost their seat total considerably Then the hapless “democratic reform” minister, Maryam Monsef, rose in the House of Commons to castigate the electoral reform committee for...

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  • Family Politics

    Writing days before the election, Douthat asked, “How did we get here? How did it come to this? Not just to the Donald Trump phenomenon, but to the whole choice facing us on Tuesday, in which a managerial liberalism and an authoritarian nationalism — two visions of the president as essentially a Gre...

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  • Trump’s Top Rope Roots

    Perhaps that’s because Trump and Ali have the same rhetorical grandfather – Gorgeous George, the professional wrestler As persuasive though as Peter’s analysis is of Trump’s professional wrestling ethos, his reference to Gorgeous George points us to a trend in our culture which is deeper than just o...

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  • Bye-Bye Billary

    Not in possession of a high tolerance for hours of televised punditry, especially of a partisan kind, I went to bed early on American election night, fully expecting that the sun would rise on a Hillary Clinton victory The night before Election Day, Clinton held a rally in Philadelphia headlined by ...

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  • Small Talk

    An eclectic roundup of incidents, events and oddities that catch our Editor's eye.

    In the White House of a President Hillary Clinton, the First Lad would be Bill, cruising around with a roving eye and plenty of free time I spent a good part of the summer in Kraków, host city of World Youth Day (WYD) 2016, the international Catholic youth festival (see "Sea to Sea," June-July 2016)...

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  • From Sea to Sea: Lessons in Poland

    Father Raymond J. De Souza's Continuing Survey of Religion, Culture and Public Life.

    On his return flight from Kraków, when asked about the murder of Father Jacques Hamel at the altar during Holy Mass, Pope Francis said, "I don't like to speak of Islamic violence because every day when I open the newspapers I see acts of violence, here in Italy: someone kills his girlfriend, someone...

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  • School for Scofflaws

    Kraków, the royal and ancient capital of Poland, is best known today by Catholics as the city of Saint Faustina, the hitherto obscure nun who received revelations about Divine Mercy, and the city of the pope of mercy, Saint John Paul the Great Perhaps that’s because Trump and Ali have the same rheto...

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  • Small Talk

    An eclectic roundup of incidents, events And oddities that catch our Editor’s eye.

    Hillary Clinton was at the Reagan funeral, not as a presidential candidate but as a former first lady Awaiting the arrival of their wives at the airport, “Reagan threw his arm around my shoulders and said with a grin, ‘You know, Brian, for two Irish guys, we sure married up!’” For those who remember...

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  • Sacks and Violence

    Father Raymond J. de Souza's continuing survey of religion, culture and public life.

    LeBel explained that while there was no hierarchy of rights, over time certain rights have emerged as more central or more important in the Supreme Court’s jurisprudence Alluding to the last words of Saint Thomas More, whose image Scalia had included in his official portrait at the Supreme Court, Fa...

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  • Not in God's Name: Rabbi Jonathan Sacks for Cardus

    The world, it seems, might be better off without religion. Witness the horrific violence of the Islamic State. But what if religion is not the problem, but the solution?

    JS: We're talking about the five sibling rivalry stories in Genesis: Cain and Abel, Isaac and Ishmael, Jacob and Esau, Joseph and his brothers, and the two sisters, Leah and Rachel RDS: Not at the end of the book, but at the concluding part of the heart of the book on the dynamics of sibling rivalry...

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  • From Sea to Sea: Cruel Histories & Tender Mercies

    Our editor-in-chief bids farewell to legendary journalist George Jonas and ponders Pope Francis' call for a return to mercy that allows a return to sound judgment.

    The reality of the worship formerly known as Anglican incorporated into orthodox Catholic liturgy is a remarkable development from an ecumenical point of view, to say nothing of the history of religion If the Jubilee Year of Mercy is thought of as the Holy Father taking the Catholic Church on a retr...

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  • Small Talk

    Our editor-in-chief wonders where one might go to find refuge from sexual politics, and discovers even refugees aren't being spared.

    Pope Tawadros II, head of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, wrote to Pope Francis in 2014 to propose a fixed date for Easter Might the Coptic Orthodox Church adopt December 25 for Christmas, at least in North America, the lady asked, so that their children do not miss out? Pope Tawadros said...

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  • Small Talk

    An eclectic roundup of incidents, events and oddities that catch our editor's eye.

    Temperatures will be warmer in Rome, where Small Talk will be for the opening of the Jubilee Year of Mercy this December From time to time, a special jubilee is declared in addition to the regular schedule, and Pope Francis has declared a special Jubilee Year of Mercy for 2016, to begin December 8, ...

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  • A Man Loyal to Canada and to His Faith

    Kevin Vickers has demonstrated that serving Canada and serving God are not mutually exclusive.

    Kevin Vickers, a servant of Canada and disciple of Christ, has lived a life made possible by the grandness of our history and the broad horizons of our faith Remarks to introduce Ambassador Kevin Vickers, on the occasion of the launch of Faith in Canada 150 ...

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  • Sea to Sea: Rupture and Resistance

    The Synod on the family and marriage raises serious questions on loyalty's meaning.

    There are many at the heart of the Church who worry that Pope Francis wishes to advance teachings and practices contrary to Catholic doctrine Kasper, a long-time theological opponent of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, has been given special prominence by Pope Francis, leading many to conclude that the H...

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  • Small Talk

    Our editor-in-chief tackles football. Tweet! Game on

    Can a Mormon team throw a Hail Mary? Tanner Mangum is not just at BYU for football; he returned just this past summer from his Mormon missionary service, for which he delayed college football The American college football season — far more exciting than professional football, by the way — opened thi...

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  • Small Talk

    Our editor-in-chief watches the radio for crimes and punishments.

    But the question arises: Why does the Ivy League, which boasts the brightest students in the country and from around the world, require four years to teach men that being beastly to women is wrong? A possible answer might be that some of the other things promoted on Ivy League campuses might encoura...

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  • Riding the Revolution

    You say you wanna revolution? Don’t blink. It just roared past.

    Yet in the rush to hustle the Serra statue out of the Capitol, not a few protested that it was simply rude to banish the Franciscan's statue just before his canonization by Francis, a Latin American pope coming in part to celebrate the Latino future of the American Catholic Church The great putting ...

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  • Reflecting on politics, pastors, and grace

    Politics has become our supreme forum for common life, so everything of importance is run through a political filter.

    The pastor of Mother Emmanuel, Clementa Pickney, murdered in his own church while leading a Bible study, was also member of the South Carolina state senate, a pastor holding political office ...

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  • Small Talk

    An eclectic roundup of incidents, events and oddities that catch our editor's eye.

    Consider the latest from the American Supreme Court, which heard a case this spring about whether a Muslim headscarf should be accommodated by clothing retailer Abercrombie & Fitch: "Abercrombie chose not to hire Samantha Elauf, a Muslim teenager who applied for a retail job with the chain retailer,...

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