In the last month I have been travelling around Ontario and last week I was in Calgary, Alberta. Our country is massive and oh so varied in topography. The Rockies were the backdrop when we visited Stoney Nakoda First Nation. So breathtaking! I…
This day is a wonderful opportunity to consider someone who could easily make the “short list” for nomination as a secular saint. He is not canonized by any particular religion. He is held in high esteem. He is recognized world-wide…
In the Catholic church, St. Maximilian is honoured as a confessor of the faith and a martyr of charity. He is most well known for offering to stand in the place of one of the men sentenced to starve to…
The contributions of legions of contributors to the history of Canada have long been acknowledged: explorers, fur traders, loggers, farmers, capitalists and politicians have all had their lives and exploits detailed in countless stories. Even indigenous Canadians are beginning to…
February 8 marks the memorial of St. Josephine Bakhita. This is also the annual day of prayer and awareness against human trafficking. When we hear St. Josephine Bakhita’s story, we realize that this is not a coincidence. As a young…
Remembrance Day started out as a means to remember all those who died in World War I. It was to be the war to end all wars. Why did it not work? There are 32 armed conflicts going on at…
December 12th is the Feast Our Lady of Guadalupe (Patron of the Americas). In December of 1531, on a site revered by Aztecs as a shrine to the goddess Tonantzin, the Blessed Virgin appeared to an indigenous man, Juan Diego.…
Novalis is very pleased to announce a new series on the churches and Indigenous Peoples in Canada! Sponsored by the Centre on the Churches, Truth, and Reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples (CCTR) of the Faculty of Theology at Saint Paul University…
Sometimes reading the lives of the saints leaves us more conflicted than inspired. This is especially the case when the saint lived in a time and culture very removed from our own where values and practices are not only foreign…
Wars not only destroy human lives; they destroy homes and heritages, they ravage fields, trees, lakes and soil. But the life that God bequeathed to all creation is stronger than death. And so it was that, the chalky, bomb-pummelled, soil…