“No policies in human history have more deserved to be recognized as immoral. Or insane. … Whether Americans, Russians, and other humans can rise to the challenge of reversing these policies and eliminating the danger of near-term extinction caused by their own inventions and proclivities remains to be seen. IRead More

Summer is considered the best time for light reading, not for serious books that could actually destroy a beautiful sunny day on the beach or the deck, but I recently dove into Crimes of the Father, the 2015 novel by the prolific Irish-Australian author Thomas Keneally. Right off the bat,Read More

What do the Crusades, Slavery, the Inquisition, the Holocaust, and the Sins of the Church have in common? All have been the subjects of apologies from popes on behalf of the Catholic Church. In Bolivia in July 2015, the current pope, Francis, apologized for “the grave sins committed against the nativeRead More

Sunday will mark the feast of Easter which, as we who call ourselves Catholic have always been taught, is the most important feast in the church calendar. Yes, more important than Christmas, since the cornerstone of the Catholic faith is the belief that Christ rose from the dead. Easter hasRead More

The Rohingya, whom most of us had probably never heard of before their plight began to be shared via TV and newspapers around the world, are “the world’s most persecuted minority,” according to  Al Jazeera. They are an ethnic group, largely Muslim, that has lived for centuries in the majorityRead More

Were you aware that St. Francis of Assisi was a deacon? He had never wanted to be ordained to the priesthood, and when he explained to those in charge exactly what he wanted to do, which was simply to serve the poor, he was advised that he should be ordainedRead More

Pope Francis has introduced a new path to canonization for would-be Catholic saints. Now, in addition to martyrdom, living a life of heroic Christian virtue and “exceptional cases” (where someone has been venerated as holy since ancient times), Christians who lay down their lives for another will be eligible forRead More

Catholics, especially those of us who’d like to see changes to much accepted as “Gospel” over the centuries, have always been informed that if changes in church doctrine or practice happened at all, they would not happen “in our lifetimes.” Of course, many changes followed Vatican II – altar railsRead More

Archbishop Anthony Mancini of Halifax, seems an amiable and reasonable (though serious) type of guy, who recently led the bishops of the Atlantic Canadian dioceses to the eternal city for an “ad lumina” visit with Pope Francis. The purpose of these visits—which, as Mancini told Steve Murphy of CTV AtlanticRead More

Pope Francis has become the master of off-the-cuff answers to questions put to him by the reporters who travel with him, although the responses don’t necessarily reiterate certain dogmas or doctrines of the church he represents. There was no doubt, however, in his recent slam-dunk removal of any hope forRead More