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
Dr. Ryan Topping, of Newman Theological College in Edmonton, zealous proponent of true Catholic education, life-long teacher, prolific author and sometime contributor to these pages, has written in his latest book a very handy, thoughtful treatise Thinking as Though God Exists: Newman on Evangelizing the “Nones”. The ‘nones’ are those who profess no religion at[…]
On this memorial of Saint Bonaventure – as mentioned in our post, one of the 37 Doctors of the Church – a fitting musical accompaniment is Anton Bruckner’s motet Os Iusti, (see the reflection on the composer by Julian Kwasniewski today in Crisis). The text is drawn from Psalm 36/37, used in the office of[…]
Venantius Honorius Clementianus Fortunatus was a self-described wandering minstrel in Europe of the very early Middle Ages, or late Antiquity, or the inaptly-described ‘Dark Ages’, which in fact had much that was light about them. As Father Callam points out in the accompanying reflection, Venantius lived between 530 to about 600 Anno Domini. He was[…]
Pope Benedict XVI, in his second encyclical, the 2008 Spe Salvi (Salvific Hope) offers a distinction from the Letter to the Hebrews: We as Christians do not place not our hope on the hyparchonton – all the goods and securities of this life, the bigger barns filled with food – but the hyparxin– the true[…]
The development of the laws that legalized and continue to expand assisted suicide and euthanasia in Canada reflect the speed at which society increasingly devalues human life. Since first becoming legal on June 17, 2016, medical assistance in dying (MAiD) has grown in scope, acceptance, and popularity. For those of us who oppose this insanity[…]
No Pope is impeccable, even if, by virtue of their office, they are at times infallible – or, more precisely, a few of their statements are. Every Pope is a sinner, as well, during their life, a potential saint. Some 81 of them have been officially canonized, about one-third of the 266, so far. And[…]
Hilary Mantel, English novelist died last week at the age of 70. Her fame – or infamy, depending on one’s perspective – rests largely upon her ‘Wolf Hall’ sagas of the Reformation period, made even more popular by their being produced as a lush film series by the BBC back in 2009. According to reviews,[…]
As I was reading Reading the Church Fathers: A History of the Early Church and the Development of Doctrine, a brand new magnum opus by scholar James L. Papandrea, I wondered whether the author might be Catholic. At first I was not sure, but the book seemed written from such a perspective. It was not[…]
Human relationships are sorely limited. We all long for companionship and lasting union with another. However, regardless of place or time, one’s ability to achieve union with another has been and will continue to be limited. In my reading, I have yet to find an author who so thoroughly and honestly addressed this reality as[…]
The End of the Modern World, a 1956 book by Italian-German priest and theologian, Romano Guardini, is not an easy or facile read. That is not to say that Father Guardini does not write well and clearly; he is superb. But what he says is deep, rich, sombre and even dire. It is not an[…]
