THE MESSAGES OF HIJRAH — HERE AND NOW
Imam Dr. Zijad Delic

The season of Hajj signifies a time of forgiveness, mercy, sacrifice, commitment and renewed opportunities for unity among all Muslims. The new Muslim Hijri year of 1441 starts on Friday, August 30th. The new Hijri year brings together Canadian Muslims with the international Muslim family (Ummah) to recall the Prophet’s Hijrah (migration) from Makkah to Madinah (Medina). The Hijrah has an historical perspective, but Muslims have always been encouraged to contemplate Hijrah on a far deeper level. Hijrah is based …

HOW TO START A HARD CONVERSATION
Rabbi Michael Whitman

The Jewish calendar is not just a way for Jews to mark time. It is also a textbook, a source of universal lessons about every aspect of life relevant to each of us. We are currently experiencing one of the most important lessons our calendar teaches. We are approaching the Jewish High Holidays (Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year; and Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement), with its heavy subjects of judgement, apologies, and forgiveness. Each of us has moments in our lives …

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 …