The unholy noises of the city surround Burnside Park where the Rev. Edmund Harris delivers his Saturday afternoon service. He plants himself behind a makeshift altar, light-blue stole draped over his peacoat, and asks the people milling about to “gather ’round.” Some settle into folding chairs; others stand. A regular known as “Mama Kelley” passes Read more
It would make for some pretty amazing headlines if Pope Francis turned out to be a Marxist. Between his hints at rehabilitating liberation theology—condemned by his predecessors—and talk about casting off “the economic and social structures that enslave us,” Marxism isn’t totally out of the question. But happily for nervous church leaders, Francis’s first Apostolic Exhortation, issued Tuesday, doesn’t quite suggest someone Read more
When Marvel Comics announced the debut of its latest superhero — a 16-year-old Pakistani-American Muslim from Jersey City, N.J. — it was correctly seen as a positive development. Created and written by two American Muslim women, Kamala Khan (aka Ms. Marvel) holds promise. But while Khan is a comic book character, she should not become Read more
For all his ubiquity, the biblical Andrew is a shadowy figure. In one of a handful of scriptural references, he is the apostle who tells Jesus that five loaves and two fishes won’t feed 5,000 people; a miracle soon proves otherwise. Like other widely honoured saints, Andrew himself defies the laws of finitude by appealing Read more
As Christians we are often heard complaining about the ‘commercialisation’ of Christmas. And yet most of us would admit that, despite the frenetic pull towards consumerism, there is also an underlying ‘good will’ effect at this time of year which is mindful of those less well-off and puts a human face on poverty. There will Read more
Not everyone gets to be an astronaut, and not everyone wants to be. But, no matter the job, everyone wants to feel valued and be respected. Jobs in the fast food industry are often a young person’s first taste of working life – from slinging burgers after school to delivering pizzas on the weekend. The Read more
This year, some people are celebrating “Thanksgivukkah,” as Thanksgiving is celebrated the day after the first Hanukkah calendars are lit on Wednesday night. The convergence of these two holidays won’t happen again for another 77,798 years, according to some calculations. Hanukkah, the Jewish Festival of Lights, is celebrated for eight days beginning at sundown on Read more
Contrary to popular belief, Christian persecution is not simply the result of radical Islamic terrorism. In fact, the largest segment of martyrdoms in the 20th century took place in the Soviet Union. According to Vatican analyst John Allen, Jr., author of the newly released The Global War on Christians, these Christians are indisputably “the most persecuted religious Read more
A massacre of the innocents is taking place in the heart of Africa as the world looks the other way. The humanitarian emergency in the Central African Republic (CAR), a landmass bigger than France where the average male life expectancy is 48, remains a blind spot for most of the international community. Samantha Power, the US Read more
Jesuthasan Rojananth, a 23-year-old Catholic Tamil from Mannar, heard that the security situation in Sri Lanka had improved for ethnic Tamils. So when he had problems renewing his student visa in Malaysia earlier this year, he decided to return to his home country. He’d been away from Sri Lanka since February of 2010, when he Read more