Religion

Is Rome Listening?

Is Rome Listening?

December 21, 2022 at 1:19 pm

I won’t even pretend to have been aware of the 60th anniversary of the opening of the  Vatican II council (1962-1965) in April of this year. Pope (now Saint) John XXIII called Vatican II almost 100 years after the previous such council, to the surprise (and often shock) of CatholicsRead More

‘No Topic Off the Table’

‘No Topic Off the Table’

June 15, 2022 at 12:31 pm

Back in the March 30th issue of The Cape Breton Spectator, I wrote about the two-year process leading to the 2023 Synod of Bishops, called by Pope Francis in 2021, which asked Catholics across the world to join in “discerning and listening together to the voice of The Holy Spirit”Read More

Deacon Blues

Deacon Blues

May 25, 2022 at 1:27 pm

Recently, the deacons of Antigonish Diocese were honored on Mass For Shut-Ins for the generous and charitable services they perform in addition to their participation in religious services. The diaconate, as we have discovered since these ordained men were introduced into the diocese a few years ago, is open onlyRead More

Logo for 2021-23 Synod on Synodality

Synod With a Difference?

March 30, 2022 at 12:44 pm

The Catholic Church’s Synod on Synodality (from the Greek “syn” meaning “a way of living and working together”) hasn’t received much media attention, but it is a first for the Church – a two-year synod that began in October 2021 and will run until 2023. Synods have been held fairlyRead More

Doing Unto Others

Doing Unto Others

December 15, 2021 at 11:47 am

A recent celebrant on CTV’s local Mass for Shut-ins began his homily with this line: If you go out into the garage and stay there all day, it doesn’t make you a car. Similarly if you go to church every Sunday, it doesn’t make you a Christian. That statement threwRead More

Weighing the Worth of the Bishops’ Apology

Weighing the Worth of the Bishops’ Apology

October 13, 2021 at 11:49 am

Although the Residential Schools have come under attack over the years, the discovery of the graves of children in and around the former schools in May of 2021 resulted in a new and urgent call for apologies from the various churches involved in them. Almost immediately after the graves wereRead More

Mass for Shut-Ins, CTV

Mass for Shut-Ins: Old School Virtual Services

March 24, 2021 at 11:52 am

In 1963, when Nate Nathanson, owner of CJCB radio and television, approached Rev. Frank Abbass with a plan to broadcast Mass for those unable to attend in person, I doubt either of them imagined the program would become the longest-running TV production in the country. Certainly, neither could have envisionedRead More

Pope Francis, 25 October 2020. (Source: Vatican News)

Unpacking Francis’ “Same-Sex Union” Remarks

October 28, 2020 at 12:19 pm

Reporters and religious writers who cover the Vatican are already going to great lengths to make sure that Catholics, especially LGBTQ Catholics, realize that Pope Francis’ statement re “civil unions” changes nothing as far as the Catholic Church’s stand on homosexuality and its definition of “marriage” is concerned. (The latterRead More

Angry Old Testament God

“God’s Will,” Thoughts on Providentialism

September 30, 2020 at 12:26 pm

“It’s God will” is a statement so often heard that when one personally decides s/he no longer accepts it as reasonable, practical, or —  let’s face it — believable, a statement from a high-ranking clergyman in the Catholic Church endorsing such a view, especially with regard to COVID-19, has toRead More

Virtual Church-Going

Virtual Church-Going

May 13, 2020 at 12:19 pm

While much has been written about the many ways in which COVID-19 has changed our lives over the past few months, little has been said about how those who are regular church-goers have been affected as a result of being deprived of the spiritual support of weekly attendance at Mass.Read More