Canada is God’s country.   Well, there are many different countries/provinces/regions/counties that try to lay claim to that title. But with our vast and varied terrain, the peaking mountains, dipping lush valleys, expanse of beautiful prairies, rugged coastlines, and frozen tundra… how can anyone compete?   Regardless of that competition, editors of the newly-released Northern ...read more

Liturgically, this is one of my favourite weeks of the year. Today we celebrate the feast of the Archangels — St. Michael, St. Gabriel, and St. Raphael. One of my customs this day is to look up Scripture references to the different Archangels and meditate on it as I consider the work of these heavenly ...read more

The Archbishop of Bombay is calling the violence in India against Christians by Hindu extremists “inexplicable,” a “disgrace” and “madness,” Cardinal Oswald Gracias made the comments to L’Osservatore Romano earlier this week. Anti-Christian violence has ravaged the country after the murder of a Hindu leader by Maoist rebels in late August. Perhaps the most affected ...read more

The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops plenary meeting had barely begun Monday morning when the floor was turned to its most highly anticipated speaker. This would be the first time that an Assembly of First Nations National Chief addressed the annual gathering. Phil Fontaine was set to chasten the Canadian bishops for their lack of ...read more

I’m not sure when it was that I heard my first John Michael Talbot song. Perhaps it was one of the songs we sang at Mass one day. I do remember when I was part of the 5:15 Saturday Music Group at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Toronto, we were quite the JMT fans. ...read more

I picked up a few bad habits in Journalism school. One is that I have two cappuccinos before 10:00am and the other is that every morning the first thing I do is turn on the news. The former gives me a jolt of energy, the latter sometimes has the ability to give me the shivers. ...read more

One of my earliest recollections of encountering the life of a saint was a biography on St. Pio of Pietrelcina, or Padre Pio as he is more commonly known. Though I don’t remember the title, I can vividly recall my mother reading the book to me as a young boy. I was captivated by it ...read more

Should you rate the Masses you go to? Probably not. Probably we should celebrate the fact that, regardless of music or homily or our attention span, we meet Christ in the Eucharist and that is more than enough. Still… if I were asked to pick my favourite Mass, it would begin with a story and ...read more

If you’re in the Toronto area this weekend, I would suggest stopping by St. Michael’s Cathedral Sunday, September 21st, for Archbishop Thomas Collins’ Lectio Divina. After a two month summer break, the Archbishop is back with a new season of Lectio focusing on St. Paul. For the first edition, His Grace will be reflecting on ...read more

Covering the 49th International Eucharistic Congress was an intense experience — long hours, little sleep, an abundance of sights and sounds. I left Quebec City pleased yet exhausted… and after the closing Mass… wet and a little muddy. Upon returning to Toronto I began reading through the notes I had taken during that week at ...read more