The Catholic Register - Guest Columns Wed, 22 Jan 2025 16:56:16 -0500 Website design by Concerto Designs concertodesigns.ca en-gb When daily bread costs too much /opinion/guest-columnists/item/36105-when-daily-bread-costs-too-much /opinion/guest-columnists/item/36105-when-daily-bread-costs-too-much

The release of Food Banks CanadaƵapp HungerCountƵapp 2023 report shows how food banks are the proverbial “canary in the coalmine” reflecting the state of our societyƵapp socio-economic health.

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cmajtenyi@catholicregister.org (Cathy Majtenyi) Guest Columns Thu, 09 Nov 2023 12:30:56 -0500
ThereƵapp no sense speaking of women deacons /opinion/guest-columnists/item/36102-there-s-no-sense-speaking-of-women-deacons /opinion/guest-columnists/item/36102-there-s-no-sense-speaking-of-women-deacons

There was much buzz at the recent Synod on Synodality in Rome regarding the possibility of women deacons. In the New Testament, St. Paul refers to a woman named Phoebe as a “servant” or “deacon,” and “patron of many” (Romans 16:1-2), and it seems that at one time in the early Church, women had designated roles of service that no longer exist in the same form today.

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burnsh@catholicregister.org (Sr. Helena Burns, FSP) Guest Columns Thu, 09 Nov 2023 12:23:06 -0500
No burying our heads to Laudate DeumƵapp truth /opinion/guest-columnists/item/36095-no-burying-our-heads-to-laudate-deum-s-truth /opinion/guest-columnists/item/36095-no-burying-our-heads-to-laudate-deum-s-truth

This morning I filled the hatch of my car with donations of winter clothing from parishioners to be distributed to homeless people in EdmontonƵapp inner city. ItƵapp the start of a Christmas collection by the ecumenical Inner City Pastoral Ministry, and this is early November. The donations will likely swell in the weeks ahead.

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glenargan@catholicregister.org (Glen Argan) Guest Columns Thu, 09 Nov 2023 12:03:56 -0500
Synod was a true dialogue of the Church in the Third Millenium /opinion/guest-columnists/item/36076-synod-was-a-true-dialogue-of-the-church-in-the-third-millenium /opinion/guest-columnists/item/36076-synod-was-a-true-dialogue-of-the-church-in-the-third-millenium

Three of us from Concerned Lay Catholics agreed to make the trip to Rome. We saw this as an opportunity to connect with and learn from similar organizations working in other parts of the world, and to learn as much as possible about the official Synodal process itself. We had connections to people both inside and outside the process, so we were confident that our experience would be balanced and well-informed.

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Guest Columns Fri, 03 Nov 2023 09:25:57 -0400
Learning trust on faithƵapp hidden precipices /opinion/guest-columnists/item/36073-learning-trust-on-faith-s-hidden-precipices /opinion/guest-columnists/item/36073-learning-trust-on-faith-s-hidden-precipices

One of my favourite things about public speaking is the conversations that happen at the end of the event. After ideas, emotions and (hopefully) the Spirit whirl around a large room with many hearts, something is distilled between two previous strangers. There is such immense trust in these brief encounters. A story to share. Words of gratitude. Another perspective.

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lperrault@catholicregister.org (Leah Perrault) Guest Columns Thu, 02 Nov 2023 15:00:00 -0400
Catholic colleges shine a light of hope /opinion/guest-columnists/item/36072-catholic-colleges-shine-a-light-of-hope /opinion/guest-columnists/item/36072-catholic-colleges-shine-a-light-of-hope

As a newcomer to Vancouver, and in only the second year of my presidency at Corpus Christi and St. MarkƵapp College, I am still in a stage of wonder, discovering new things every day, about the city and indeed about the colleges themselves.

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jturcotte@catholicregister.org (Gerry Turcotte ) Guest Columns Thu, 02 Nov 2023 14:00:00 -0400
Tender is the night when we connect /opinion/guest-columnists/item/36071-tender-is-the-night-when-we-connect /opinion/guest-columnists/item/36071-tender-is-the-night-when-we-connect

Before I leave the house, I always check outside to see how many layers of clothes I need on the colder evenings. It did not feel too cold, and so I dressed lightly with only three layers, which were topped off with a hoodie and my omnipresent leather jacket. However, as I approached the downtown area the heavens opened, and I found myself driving through a deluge of rain.

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robert.kinghorn@ekinghorn.com (Robert Kinghorn) Guest Columns Thu, 02 Nov 2023 11:30:32 -0400
Engaging anti-Semitism rejects Christian roots /opinion/guest-columnists/item/36070-engaging-anti-semitism-rejects-christian-roots /opinion/guest-columnists/item/36070-engaging-anti-semitism-rejects-christian-roots

Some months ago in this space, I discussed the relationship between Catholics and Jews. I return to this question in the wake of the brutal, sadistic violence perpetrated by the terrorist organization Hamas against Jewish Israelis on Oct. 7.

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abennett@catholicregister.org (Andrew Bennett) Guest Columns Thu, 02 Nov 2023 10:47:48 -0400
Hamas massacre demands return to first principles /opinion/guest-columnists/item/36042-hamas-massacre-demands-return-to-first-principles /opinion/guest-columnists/item/36042-hamas-massacre-demands-return-to-first-principles

The first question in judging the morality of an action is not who performed the act but rather what action was performed. One would think that would be obvious, but in our day it isn’t. Too often otherwise immoral actions are given a nod of approval if it is our fellow partisans who perform those acts.

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glenargan@catholicregister.org (Glen Argan) Guest Columns Thu, 26 Oct 2023 16:00:00 -0400
Military prayer ban denies chaplains’ purpose /opinion/guest-columnists/item/36041-military-prayer-ban-denies-chaplains-purpose /opinion/guest-columnists/item/36041-military-prayer-ban-denies-chaplains-purpose

“If you deny me before the world, I will deny you before my Father, which art is Heaven.” 

(Matt 10:33)

With the recent salvo across the bow of religious rights and freedoms, the very person of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF), the Chaplain General, Brigadier General J. L. Guy Bélisle, a Roman Catholic Pastoral Associate, has turned inclusion into exclusion. It is shocking to think that the very department of the CAF intended Charter guarantees of freedom of conscience and religion, thought, belief, opinion and expression would so readily enforce denial of those same rights.

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Guest Columns Thu, 26 Oct 2023 15:00:00 -0400