WORDS TELL US ABOUT THE MEANING OF LIFE
Father John Walsh

Words matter a lot. Words of praise can buoy a person up for days, if not weeks or months. Everyone needs to be thanked for a job well done. We all need to be recognized. Our identity is often dependent on the manner in which we are recognized. Grade school nicknames are carried by some people throughout their lives. “Oh him, he’s a clown!” “Her, she’s … you know. “ Words can shatter a person for life. In our North American …

CHANGING THE HORIZON DURING ELECTION TIME
Father John Walsh

 
There is an election buzz in the air. The dates are approaching and the buzz is getting louder. Much is sound and fury signifying very little! The significance of the American elections is that they are geopolitical. More than many want to recognize, they will affect the whole world. They have affected us as Canadians in the past, and, perhaps, will affect us much more in the near and long-term future. In the almost immortal words of Pierre Elliott Trudeau on March 25, …

Quebecs Moral Quagmire
What Bill 21 Means for Religious Pluralism in Canada
By Michael W. Higgins
July 9, 2019

It wasn’t supposed to happen, but happen it did. Having thrown off the shackles of clericalism and everything else Catholic, the once-pious province—a Quebec steeped in the life of a church seen as sole protector of French identity, culture, and religion in the New World—has embraced a new form of dogmatism and intolerance: the radical secularism of laïcité.
On June 16, a week after Pentecost, the National Assembly in Quebec City passed Bill 21, a draconian …

THE CHALLENGES OF THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY
Father John Walsh

The twenty-first century is opening many new ways to understand ourselves as human beings. In fact, we are writing a new human narrative; perhaps even creating a new way of being “human.” To whom can we turn for advice and counsel to find our way and to become comfortable in a brave new world. Charles Taylor has impressively treated how we became who we are in his opus Sources Of The Self – The Making Of Modern Identity and writes: “the intention of …

JUST JUMP
Rabbi Michael Whitman
 

The Exodus from Egypt, which Jews celebrate on Passover beginning this Friday night, April 19, is an event that creates our identity as Jews. It is also an event that provides inspiration and meaning for everyone, in every generation struggling under oppression. Its significance applies equally to nations, peoples, and individuals. Here is a message each of us can use in our own lives.
Shortly after leaving Egypt, and thinking they were finally safe and free, the Jewish People see Pharaoh’s mighty army coming after them. With the …