Interim writer, Andrew Lawton, Laying Down the Lawton By Andrew Lawton Just as every business is essential if you rely on it to feed your family, church is essential if you rely on it to feed your soul. These are not radical, or even novel, ideas, yet they remain controversial in the face of lawmakers seeking to shut things – [...]
What is Marriage? Man and Woman: A Defense Sherif Gergis, Ryan T. Anderson and Robert P. George (Encounter, $24, 136 pages) In 2013, Sherif Girgis, Ryan T. Anderson, and Robert P. George co-wrote a brief book, What is Marriage. Last year, the book was re-released and rightly so. Although the book was originally released during the height of the same-sex "marriage" debate [...]
By Paul Tuns In late October, the news media was in a frenzy that the Catholic Church had apparently changed its doctrine on same-sex sexual relationships after the producer of a new documentary on Pope Francis released clips of his forthcoming film. Evgeny Afineevsky, screenwriter for Francisco, a documentary about Pope Francis, in a segment from his documentary suggested that the Pope [...]
The Christian scriptures abound in “hard sayings,” statements which are difficult to interpret—or difficult to implement. Who, for example, finds it easy to enact the exhortations of Sermon on the Mount to “love one’s enemies” or “turn the other cheek” (Lk 6:27–28)? One of the hardest sayings in Scripture, however, is not about our actions but about God’s. In the book of [...]
By Paul Tuns Strange Rites: New Religions for a Godless World by Tara Isabella Burton (PublicAffairs, $35, 320 pages). We are told, by pundits and polling data, that fewer people are practicing any religion in the West, and the secularization of America is happening at an ever-quickening pace. Recent surveys show that “religious Nones” — those who do not adhere to any [...]
By Josie Luetke Shortly after I became involved in the pro-life movement, I became cognizant of the push by mostly younger members to secularize its branding, even though we were all Christian. Green as I was and enamored with the clarity of the science of when life begins and the simplicity of the philosophical arguments against abortion, I was sympathetic. Pro-life could [...]
Politics is about service, to God and our fellow man An early memory of party politics dates to July 8th 1974 as my dad drove our car on the crude track out of the rustic setting of jack pine-covered sand dunes near Grande Prairie, Alberta, at the conclusion of a week of church camp. I recall my dismay at the radio news [...]
National Affairs Rory Leishman Should morally enlightened judges strike down any statute that sanctions pornography, abortion, or euthanasia? The late, great Antonin Scalia did not think so. As a devout Catholic, he clearly understood that pornography, abortion, and euthanasia are unmitigated evils, yet as one of the most learned judges ever to serve on the Supreme Court of the United [...]
Commentary St. Jerome’s University, in Waterloo, Ont., and purportedly a Catholic institution, has decided to fly the LGBTQ flag on its campus to celebrate “Pride” month. Interim President Scott Kline, whose term began on July 1, 2019, defended the action as a way of sending the message that “all are welcome in this place.” The immediate reaction to the move has shown [...]
"Separation of church and state!” “Canada is a secular country!” “We can’t let religion dictate policy!” I’m sure we’ve all heard variations of these, if not the phrases verbatim, at various points in our lives. Indeed, the mere suggestion that a course of action may have a moral element seems to trigger knee-jerk reactions along these veins. There’s some truth to them, [...]
Father Alphonse de Valk Fr. Alphonse Anthony Maria de Valk, a Basilian priest for 55 years, passed away peacefully April 16 at the palliative care unit of the Scarborough General Hospital in Toronto at the age of 88 after a battle with pneumonia. Fr. de Valk was born March 27, 1932, in Rotterdam, Netherlands to Martien de Valk and Christina [...]
Fr. Alphonse de Valk On Easter Sunday of 1932, Alphonse Anthony Maria de Valk was born in the Netherlands. What used to be known as Christendom had just endured one World War and would soon suffer another. After living through that ordeal, the young de Valk took the path of so many Europeans after the war in emigrating to North [...]
Fr. Alphonse de Valk, RIP Fr. Alponse de Valk died April 16. He was a Catholic priest, historian, teacher, and leader, Read the tribute to Fr. de Valk from Interim editor Paul Tuns on the occasion of his retirement as editor of Catholic Insight. The Interim will have an obituary in the May edition of the paper. Fr. de Valk honoured at [...]
Yukon looks to join provinces, cities outlawing the procedure Ann Gillies speaking at a Campaign Life Coalition clergy luncheon in February warning that bans on conversion therapy threatens religious freedom and parental rights. On March 6, Justice Minister David Lametti tabled a bill to make it a crime to outlaw conversion therapy for minors to help them overcome same-sex extraction [...]
Amusements Three years ago I was asked to write about HBO’s The Young Pope, which was expected to be a sucker punch attack on the Catholic Church and the papacy. It turned out to be a startling but surreal story that sympathized with a youthful and charismatic new pontiff who planned to reverse the Church back past the liberalizations of [...]