THE POPE OFFERS A DEATH-DEFYING CHALLENEGE TO YOUNG PEOPLE
Father John Walsh

Young people have abandoned the Church. On any weekend (Saturday or Sunday) a visit to a local parish it takes only a visual overview of the small congregations to realize that young women and young men are scarce. The reasons young people are leaving the church are manifold. Many youth say the Church is dead. I would venture that one reason is they know through experience and they feel that they are not being listened to. They are looking for …

WHEN TRAGEDY STRIKES … AT PRAYER
Father John Walsh

Too often it is only when tragedy strikes that people speak out and change occurs. I recall an incident when a teen-age girl, who had exhibited so much promise as a ballet dancer, was crossing over from one side of the train tracks to the other. Just then an unsuspected train going in the opposite direction to where she was looking, took her life. People had known for years that the crossing was a tragedy waiting to happen. It was too late to …

FAITH LEADERS COMMEMORATE TRAGEDY AT QUEBEC MOSQUE
Rabbi Michaele Whitman
January 28, 2018.:

Are We Our Brother’s Keeper?
When the Bible records the first murder, we read:
Cain rose up against his brother, Abel, and killed him.
God said to Cain: Where is your brother?
And Cain answered: I don’t know. Am I my brother’s keeper?
And God said: What have you done? Your brother’s blood cries out to me.
Our rabbis point out the original Hebrew does not read “dam achichah” singular, your brother’s blood; but “d’mei achichah” plural, your brother’s bloods.
Because a murder is never a single …

IDENTITY PRECEDES OUR MISSION AS IT DID FOR DR. KING
Father John Walsh

There are many people who know how to be Christian by avoiding sin and what to do by following the prescribed prayers and rituals but few have the courage to ask why. Martin Luther King Jr. knew why he was a Christian. He was inspired by his faith to speak openly and freely about the plight of those who were denied their civil rights. He relied on Isaiah in his “I Have A Dream” speech: I have a dream …

THE LEGACY OF DR. KING
Imam Dr. Zijad Delic (Ottawa on MLK Day)

We learn the hard way from our distant past and current history, as well as our present time, that freedom is not for free. The use of freedom requires unique people – people of vision, effort and self-sacrifice. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was an exceptional role model. Dr. King was a different kind of king. He was not a fairy-tale king. He was real! He left a lasting legacy in his short life of 39 years – the …

IMAM DR. ZIJAD DELIC SHARES HIS CHRISTMAS MESSAGE AND PRAYER
TO MY CHRISTIAN SISTERS AND BROTHERS
Imam Dr. Zijad Delic

Peace be with you all;
God Almighty in the Qur’an, in the Chapter Ali ‘Imran (the family of Imran), states: “(And remember!) When the angels said: “O Mary! Behold, God gives you the glad tidings of a son through a word from Him; his name shall be the Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, honoured in this world and in the next, and of those who are granted nearness to Lord.” ) 3:45)
In the spirit …

Today there are words frequently used like winning, greatness, defeating, nuclear power
They have become popular words, words that have become populist words
Creating a culture in which only the strong and powerful are victorious
A world in which there can only be a few winners and the rest are losers
Do lives matter? Black lives, immigrant lives, refugee lives, lives of poverty, homeless lives.
All calling for respect, all calling for compassion, all calling to be sisters and brothers
To find in our human nature the impulse to transcend our egos and our selfishness
To dethrone …

BILL 62 NIQAB (FAITH) IN THE PUBLIC SPHERE
Imam Dr. Ziyad Delic

Is Bill 62 a toxic discourse? It makes the Muslim community think one more time about the Niqab and Niqabi women’s place in Quebec/Canada from a Canadian human rights perspective and the freedom of religion in Canada.
The Supreme Court ruled that freedom of religion is not dependent on religious rulings or dogma and freedom protects all sincerely held religious beliefs and practices regardless of whether they are sanctioned in jurisprudence or not. The3 exception is when there are security concerns.
The …

MY GOD! BILL 62 OPENS OLD DOORS

Father John Walsh
The old doers that are open and people ae walking through are the doors of scepticism, intolerance, the relativism of diversity, and the door that leads to awkwardness. The use of the Niqab leads many non-Muslims to be sceptical about the arguments used by Muslims to justify the wearing of Niqab by Muslim women. The scepticism arises because the Niqab is not essential to the faith of Islam and is optional for Muslim to wear or not wear. Those who decide to …

THE HAPPIEST DAY
Rabbi Michael Whitman

Dear John,
Your presence at Kol Nidre is a presence of love, and proof of the possibility of reconciliation after even the deepest rupture.
The historical precedent for Yom Kippur, according to the Bible, is the day Moses returned from the top of Mt. Sinai with the second set of stone tablets, upon which were engraved the Ten Commandments – a replacement for the tablets Moses smashed in the aftermath of our terrible sin of the Golden Calf.
Moses’ appearance with the new tablets on the tenth day of …