Inspired by Truth, Enlightening Minds for the Church in Canada and Throughout the World
Inspired by Truth, Enlightening Minds for the Church in Canada and Throughout the World
In a remarkable turn of events, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI – former cardinal Josef Ratzinger – has just released a reflection on the current sex-abuse crisis in the Church, indeed in the world. The 6000 word article – originally destined for publication in a journal for Bavarian priests – analyses the source of the widespread[…]
The Italian journalist and Catholic convert Vittorio Messori in 1985 published his two hundred page interview with Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, the future Pope Benedict XVI, under the title The Ratzinger Report. Thirty-four years later it is worthwhile to be reminded of where the Church was then, according to its future pope, so that we might[…]
(What follows is adapted from a letter of a parish priest, Father Scott Murray, to a Catholic school teacher, in the publicly-funded, separate system, outlining some of the systemic difficulties that priests – and the Church in general – face. We will follow up on some of those difficulties, and propose what solutions we might.[…]
What follows is an excerpt from Pope (Emeritus) Benedict XVI’s last Lenten message, completed in October of 2012; I wonder, as he penned these words on faith and love, whether he was yet contemplating that fateful decision in the beginning of that very Lent of 2013 to resign the papacy, a Rubicon that has had,[…]
One feature of the Gospel for this Fifth Sunday of Lent has intrigued many readers: Jesus’s writing on the ground with his finger. For what could he possibly have been writing? One ingenious scribe, in the ninth century, thought that he knew the answer, and so he inserted this phrase into his manuscript: “He was[…]
So he set off and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him (Lk. 15:20). The parable of the Prodigal Son is perhaps one of the better known of Our Lord’s parables.[…]
In 1861, John William Burgon, the (Anglican) dean of Chichester cathedral, preached a sermon in Christ Church cathedral, Oxford, that included the following statement: THE BIBLE is none other than the voice of Him that sitteth upon the Throne! Every Book of it,—every Chapter of it,—every Verse of it,—every word of it,—every syllable of it,—[…]
When the cross atop Mount Royal was first erected in 1924, the Montreal Gazette described it as “a memorial to the survival of the Canadian people, whose growth was, in the early struggles, parallel to the growth of the faith which is represented by the cross.” It is an historical fact that the beginnings of[…]
Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them, and they were struck down in the wilderness (1 Cor. 10:5). These sobering words from our epistle reading describe the fate of most of the Jewish people who had been saved from slavery in Egypt. Our first reading taken from the book of Exodus, records the[…]
To set out on a journey like this – 67 kilometres – just over forty miles, or a marathon and a half – of walking, camping, praying, etc. – you may need some good reasons. A strong sense of adventure isn’t enough to make everyone fill out the registration form. So, for those of you asking,[…]
