Michael Swan, The Catholic Register
Michael is Associate Editor of The Catholic Register.
He is an award-winning writer and photographer and holds a Master of Arts degree from New York University.
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A ‘penitent’ Pope will be coming to a wounded nation
There has never been a papal visit to anywhere that has been anything like what will unfold when Pope Francis comes to Canada — a papal journey of sorrow, mourning and repentance holding forth a thin candle of hope up against the flood of our own Catholic sins.
Catholic teachers pushing for faster fossil fuel divestment
After 10 years of pushing CanadaöÏÓãÊÓƵapp second biggest pension plan to get serious about climate change, OntarioöÏÓãÊÓƵapp unionized Catholic teachers feel like they’re making progress, but they’re still not satisfied.
Deacon Harry Lafond is well aware of the serious, sorrowful situation which has prompted Pope Francis to announce a visit to Canada. But he does not believe the papal visit should drown in tears.
Out of the Cold under COVID restrictions
Out of the Cold still isn’t out of the woods as the global pandemic meanders through its fourth wave in Ontario.
Money root of pandemic mental health issues
You don’t have to tell the counsellors and therapists working at Catholic Family öÏÓãÊÓƵapp, Archdiocese of Toronto that money — or the lack of it — can have a severe effect on oneöÏÓãÊÓƵapp mental health.
Regis College, St. MikeöÏÓãÊÓƵapp join forces
The intellectual muscle of the Canadian Catholic Church has been recalibrated by combining Regis College and the University of St. MichaelöÏÓãÊÓƵapp College into a federation just one year after negotiations between the two Toronto graduate schools began.
Apology ‘most pressing issue’: Fontaine
When Chief Phil Fontaine arrives in Rome to meet with Vatican officials and Pope Francis he will be laser focused on having the Holy Father apologize on Canadian soil, in an Indigenous context, for the damage done to children and communities by Catholic participation in the residential school system.
Dealing with grief in changing world
As restaurants, theatres and stadiums open up again, and as daily COVID case counts dwindle across most of the country, the Canadian Grief Alliance estimates that as many as 4.5 million of us are grieving one or more of nearly half-a-million deaths we have experienced in the last 20 months, nearly 29,000 of them directly from COVID.
Fundraising on hold as national strategy worked out
Regional efforts to raise $30 million on behalf of Indigenous healing and reconciliation projects appear to be on hold while the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops hammers out a national framework for regional and diocesan campaigns.
Women religious on university front lines
Higher education for Catholic women has been a fight, and it was the sisters on the front lines.