Calgary Bishop Emeritus Fred Henry has been named one of the world’s “Top 10 people of 2023” by Inside the Vatican magazine for challenging the consensus on graves at former Indian residential schools. Henry was notified out of the blue in late February that he was featured on the cover along with Catholic luminaries such as...
Category: News
Online bill could criminalize free speech, critics say
Two proposed bills, the Online Harms Act (Bill C-63) and Bill C-367, have critics suggesting that if passed, they could threaten the freedom to express beliefs and convictions online and in the public square. Social media harms targeted include intimate content that is communicated without consent, sexually victimizes a child or revictimizes a survivor, foments...
Canadian pharmacare program’s contraception focus ‘deeply troubling’
With the framework of a national pharmacare program launched by the Liberal-NDP coalition, some are finding its initial focus on contraceptives a “deeply troubling” aspect of the deal. The pharmacare program promises to improve access to contraceptives for nine million Canadians, along with medication, including insulin, for an estimated 3.7 million people living with diabetes....
You can be Indigenous and Christian
Father Deacon Andrew Bennett is on an ongoing quest to reveal how Indigenous culture and Christianity coexist harmoniously and authentically. On Feb. 21, the faith communities program director for Cardus, a non-partisan think tank, moderated a panel discussion with three Indigenous Christians — Fr. Cristino Bouvette, Marsha Hanson and Caij Meloche — at Calgary’s St....
Brian Mulroney’s Catholic faith forged his identity
When Pope (now St.) John Paul II arrived in Ottawa in 1984 – the first Pontiff to visit this country – greeting him in Ottawa was Canada’s 18th Prime Minister, Brian Mulroney. Mr. Mulroney, one of 10 Catholics who have held that office since 1867, died on Feb. 29. The “little guy from Baie Comeau,”...
Canada’s Senate pushes MAiD for mentally ill three years down the road
Medical assistance in dying (MAiD) access for individuals solely living with a mental illness is officially delayed until March 17, 2027, as the Senate of Canada passed Bill C-62 at third reading Feb. 29. Senators passed the bill during their last sitting before March 19. It had to pass on Leap Day or else medical...
When church burnings are said to be ‘understandable’
According to the Catholic Civil Rights League’s (CCRL) Church Attacks Database, at least 85 Catholic churches have been set ablaze or vandalized since the unproven discovery on May 27, 2021, of 215 suspected unmarked graves near the former Kamloops Indian Residential School. Police are investigating the latest victimized house of worship, St. Gabriel Catholic Mission...
MPs choose not to condemn church fires
A call to condemn the most recent arson attack on a Christian church — Feb. 9 at Blessed Sacrament Church in downtown Regina — failed to gain unanimous approval in the House of Commons. On Feb. 12, Conservative MP Corey Tochor called for unanimous consent to condemn the arson at Blessed Sacrament. Members of the...
Rabbi offers thanks to two friends of Vancouver Jewish community: the Archdiocese and the VPD
Anti-Semitic rhetoric has become so intense amid pro-Palestinian sentiment in Canada that a Vancouver rabbi is more concerned about the safety of his oldest son, currently on a Montreal university campus working to stop anti-Semitism, than about his middle child, who is currently living in Israel. Speaking to Archdiocese of Vancouver employees at the John...
Elderly have responsibility ‘to give a good example for the young,’: workshop on dying
Clara Lum and her husband Brian Hunt had an obvious reason for attending a recent workshop on old age, as inspired by Pope Francis’ homilies and teachings. They’re part of a growing number of Catholics who believe that a cultural response is needed to Canada’s euthanasia crisis, irrespective of whether a political solution presents itself....