A woman reacts as protesters gather Sept. 20, 2023, near a government building in Yerevan, Armenia, following the launch a day earlier of a military operation by Azerbaijani forces in Nagorno-Karabakh. A ceasefire was declared Sept. 20 in the region, which is a historic Armenian enclave located in southwestern Azerbaijan and internationally recognized as part of that nation. (Photo: Irakli Gedenidze/Reuters/OSV News photo/The Catholic Register)
In the pre-dawn hours of yet another tranquil Ottawa morning — Sept. 19 — my cell phone buzzed. With a sense of foreboding and apprehension I speed-read the message that popped up. “Azerbaijan is hitting Artsakh (as Nagorno-Karabakh is known in Armenian). It’s war again. Artillery in the capital (Stepanakert). Calls for Armenia to join. If...
Canadian bishops at their plenary meeting in 2018. This year’s gathering starts Monday and includes discussions on euthanasia and Indigenous issues. (Canadian Catholic News file photo)
Euthanasia and Indigenous issues will be on the plate of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops when they gather for their annual plenary in Toronto next week. The plenary gathering in Toronto from Sept. 25 to 28 will bring together 79 bishops for discussions on the life of the Church in Canada. The meeting includes a full...
When Megan and Nathan Rumohr agreed to be marriage mentors for Valery and Kevin Lam, they were expecting to offer some wisdom and help for a soon-to-be-married couple as they navigated the early years of their marriage. They didn’t expect to find peace and healing in their own relationship. Valerie and Kevin were parishioners at...
Even as Fraser Health is under fire for covering up information on how it promotes euthanasia, the health authority is now offering information sessions to pensioners on how to access euthanasia. In June, Fraser Health, which denies it is promoting MAiD to patients, sent its regional MAiD leader to give a presentation to a meeting...
Pope Francis has appointed Bishop Guy Boulanger as Bishop of both the Diocese of Rouyn-Noranda and the Diocese of Amos in northern Quebec, uniting the dioceses “in persona episcopi” under one bishop. The Pope on Sept. 16 accepted the resignation of Amos Bishop Gilles Lemay. On the same day, the Pope appointed Bishop Boulanger as...
A protest at Vancouver City Hall in 2016 over the lack of enforcement of prostitution laws. An Ontario court has ruled that Canada’s laws on sex work are constitutional. (B.C. Catholic file photo)
The Anti-Human Trafficking Committee of the Archdiocese of Vancouver is praising a decision by Ontario’s Superior Court Monday that ruled Canada’s criminal laws on sex work are constitutional. In his 142-page decision, Justice Robert Goldstein dismissed a Charter challenge of Canada’s Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act, saying the law balances the protection of...
Bishop Jon Hanse (The Catholic Register file photo)
Bishop Jon Hansen spoke to an “essentially full” St. Patrick’s Co-Cathedral on Sept. 10, in front of Yellowknife Catholics eager to congregate after nearly a month of being deprived of their home and parish community due to the rampant wildfires. “It was wonderful to see everyone,” said Hansen, who returned to the Northwest Territories capital...
The Archdiocese of Vancouver annual Healing and Reconciliation collection will “continue sowing seeds of understanding and hope, thereby creating a future where reconciliation flourishes and the wounds of the past are gently healed,” writes Archbishop J. Michael Miller in a Sept. 3 letter promoting the annual collection. (Nicholas Elbers photo)
One year after a papal visit described as “a significant step on the road to healing and reconciliation, the Archdiocese of Vancouver is preparing to take the next step toward reconciliation with the Sept. 10 Healing and Reconciliation collection. In a Sept. 3 letter promoting the annual collection, Archbishop J. Michael Miller wrote that donors’...
The Fraser Health Authority says it will comply with an order from B.C.’s privacy commissioner to uncover redacted meeting notes about its assisted-suicide policies and practices. The B.C. Catholic had filed a freedom of information application to obtain the documents. (B.C. Catholic photo)
A provincial adjudicator has ruled in favour of The B.C. Catholic and ordered the Fraser Health Authority to take the wraps off additional sections of secret documents related to the development and implementation of its controversial assisted-suicide policies and practices. In a 26-page ruling dated Aug. 3, an adjudicator with the Office of Information and...
Ryan Gosling and Margot Robbie in Barbie, a film with a message, but one that’s largely redundant, writes Alan Charlton. (OSV News photo/Warner Bros.)
I suppose many of my gender and age have little awareness of Barbie dolls – except perhaps a shared feeling of outrage at how expensive they are when one is buying one as a gift for a little girl. That being said, I approached the movie Barbie convinced that I would be able to comprehend little of...
