Interim Staff: On March 20, the Quebec provincial government of Premier François Legault tabled a bill that, if passed, would expand the current religious symbols ban to include all school staff, including teachers, from wearing any religious symbols including the cross or crucifix. Education Minister Bernard Drainville said, “If we are going to be coherent with this idea that a figure of [...]
Paul Tuns: Three municipalities that declared December Chirstian Heritage Month in 2024 have reversed themselves and will not do so again. In January, The Interim reported that 56 jurisdictions in Canada, including the province of Saskatchewan, and cities such as Calgary, Mississauga, Regina, and Toronto, officially declared December “Christian Heritage Month” after an advocacy campaign by Molly Banerjei, a realtor from Toronto [...]
Donald DeMarco: The Fifth Annual Report on It was just another game in the long 162 marathon that is the season of baseball. Or was it? Boston Red Sox first baseman Pat Stapleton came to bat in the fourth inning against the Chicago White Sox with the score tied 2-2. Stapleton hit a line-drive that would have been far less memorable if [...]
Danielle Smith outraged about euthanasia Alberta Premier Danielle Smith appeared on the John Bachman Now Show on Newsmax in January. Toward the end of the interview, Bachman said that the increase in doctor-assisted suicide in Canada was frightening, and asked Smith for her opinion. Smith agreed that “one of the things that the federal government was allowing was a potential for [...]
Donald DeMarco: Fr. Paul Marx founded Human Life International. Rev. Paul Marx, was the 15th of 17 children born to devoutly religious parents, George and Elizabeth, on a dairy farm in St. Michael, Minnesota on May 8, 1920. Coincidentally, and perhaps in some way providentially, Benjamin Franklin was also the 15th of 17 children. It may also be of interest [...]
Rory Leishman: In The Moral Vision of the New Testament (1996), Richard B. Hays, renowned New Testament scholar and professor emeritus at Duke University, convincingly demonstrated that the “New Testament offers no loopholes or exception clauses that might allow for the acceptance of homosexual practice under some circumstances.” Yet in his last book published last September and co-authored with his son Christopher, [...]
Interim Staff: Monsignor Philip Reilly, founder of the Helpers of God’s Precious Infants often referred to as “the father of sidewalk counselling,” died at the age of 90 on Nov. 30. The native New Yorker, was serving as a chaplain at a Brooklyn monastery when he founded Helpers of God’s Precious Infants, to, in the words of National Catholic Register, “to awaken [...]
Editor’s Note: This is a resource from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops based on 1 Corinthians 12:31-13:8a. It could be used in any number of settings including the dedication of pro-life memorials and pro-life prayer services. The editor would like to thank Fr. Edward Murphy of Blessed Trinity Parish in Toronto for bringing it to our attention. Lord, love is patient. [...]
Paul Tuns: Toronto Cardinal Francis Leo called out the Trudeau government for “normalizing euthanasia” as he condemned the Health Department’s consultation to expand euthanasia through advance directives. In the Feb. 21 letter to Health Minister Mark Holland, the Cardinal stated, “Your government is normalizing euthanasia – by extension, those experiencing loneliness, isolation and depression associated with their medical condition are increasingly vulnerable [...]
A History of the Muslim World: From its Origins to the Dawn of Modernity Michael Cook (Princeton, $54, 895 pages) Michael Cook, a professor of Near-Eastern Studies in Princeton and author of numerous books on Islam, has written a massive, wide-ranging history of the Muslim world, from Muhammad’s birth in the sixth century through is spread over most of the Old World, [...]
The Revelation of Ireland: 1995-2020 Diarmaid Perriter (Profile, $47, 552 pages) Diarmaid Perriter is a professor of Irish history at University College in Dublin and a columnist for the Irish Times and at times his latest history of Ireland – he has written 14 books on Ireland – seems more journalism than history. That is certainly due to fact that this “history” [...]
Paul Tuns: The House of Commons Finance Committee has recommended to the federal government that it change the Income Tax Act to remove the “advancement of religion” as a charitable purpose under the tax code and, in another recommendation, strip all pro-life groups of charitable status. Among the 462 recommendations made by the Finance Committee to the government as part of the [...]
Paul Tuns Review: We Who Wrestle with God: Perceptions of the Divine by Jordan Peterson (Portfolio, $48, 544 pages) Former University of Toronto psychology professor and international darling of the Right Jordan Peterson’s fourth book, We Who Wrestle with God seems to have landed with a thud after two bestselling self-help books. The massive tome is an exegesis on Genesis, Exodus, and [...]
Editor’s Note: This question and answer between Paul Tuns, editor of The Interim, and Rod Taylor, leader of the Christian Heritage Party, occurred on Jan. 29. The Interim: The federal election is scheduled for October but the Liberal leadership switch and potential loss of confidence in a parliamentary vote could mean a spring election. Is the Christian Heritage Party ready for an [...]
Interim writer Victor Penney, Sporting Life Are parents sacrificing the souls of their children on the altar of sports? I started thinking about this recently when I came across an article about the high-stakes world of preteen go-kart racing. The Washington Post ran a story about two boys, Julian and Alessandro, who’ve been “fierce competitors since they were 9 and [...]