Rev. Brent Hawkes “It’s like a David and Goliath story, right from the start,” said the wife of the complainant. Only, this time Goliath won. She was reacting to the Jan. 31 acquittal of Rev. Brent Hawkes, senior pastor of Metropolitan Community Church of Toronto, on historical sexual assault charges from the mid-1970s when he was a teacher and coach. [...]
You thought that war was hell; that trudging through mud in the trenches for months on end, and then going over the top into the teeth of enemy fire, was the worst sort of physical and psychological torture a human could endure. Think again. On today’s university campuses, safe zones can hardly cope, apparently, with the sufferers of a burgeoning epidemic of [...]
Lawyer Clayton Ruby questions victim’s memory Editor’s Note: The story below contains colloquial and graphic details of an alleged sexual assault. Also, the decision in the historic sexual assault trial of Rev. Brent Hawkes, originally scheduled for Jan. 18, was postponed till after The Interim went to press. Because Associate Chief Judge Alan T. Tufts needed more time, the matter was adjourned until [...]
Q: The allegations date back to the mid-1970s. Some leaders fear that even after retirement somebody disgruntled somewhere will bring up a complaint out of nowhere. Why do we even prosecute historic sexual assault? A: Regardless of whether they’ve held authoritative roles, most observers would recognize that allowing minors to drink in one’s home would be most unusual for a teacher and [...]
"In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered” (Lk 2:1). St. Luke’s account of Christ’s Nativity begins with the appearance of Imperial power for good reason. Besides being the story of a King’s birth, Christmas is also the story of the effects of that birth: of the old order that this King upsets, [...]
Limited space permits just a brief consideration in these pages of the Institute for Catholic Education’s Catholic lens of the controversial 2015 Health and Physical Education (HPE) curriculum document for Ontario schools. For a detailed treatment visit www.viewyourenvoymediasite.ca. When the controversial 2015 HPE curriculum for Ontario schools was released, parents with children in the Catholic school system were reassured by bishops, trustees, [...]
Christmas is upon us. We’ll be trimming our trees, putting wreaths on doors, eating sumptuous meals, singing carols (or having them sung to us) and opening presents. I’ve recommended Christmas-themed books, animated specials, and DVDs to Interim readers in the past. This year, my focus will be on a talented cartoonist with strong Christian principles, Johnny Hart. Hart’s work was published in [...]
Pope Francis issued an Apostolic Letter in which the pontiff made permanent a temporary measure he instituted last year permitting priests to absolve penitents seeking God’s forgiveness for abortion. Some pro-lifers expressed concern that Pope Francis was lessening the gravity of the sin of abortion. Reading his letter and the Vatican’s officials comments afterwards, and not reacting to the headlines, demonstrates he [...]
Gwen Landolt opposes Wynne government's redefining family relationships. Kathleen Wynne’s Liberal government introduced Bill 28, the “All Families Are Equal Act,” which, if passed, will legally redefine “mother” and “father” as “parent” to accommodate homosexual couples who adopt or conceive children through artificial means. REAL Women vice president Gwen Landolt criticized the Ontario government for “ramming through a revolutionary bill [...]
Law Matters John Carpay Alberta’s education minister has launched a formal inquiry into two Edmonton-area Baptist schools, ostensibly to ensure a “welcoming, caring, respectful and safe learning environment to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) students.” This inquiry has its origins in Bill 10, passed in a matter of hours, without public consultation. This new law requires every school [...]
Jason Kenney defends Baptist schools from NDP's pro-LGBQT mandates. Jason Kenney is in a running war of words with Alberta Education Minister Dave Eggen over Christian schools that refuse to implement the NDP-mandated pro-LGBTQ policies. On the campaign trail for the Progressive Conservative leadership, Kenney blasted Eggen for “lobbing rhetorical bombs” at the schools, which are run by the Baptist [...]
Rory Leishman Like other trendy Protestant Churches, the Anglican Church of Canada has conformed its teachings over the past few decades to the current pattern of the world on everything from contraception and abortion to same-sex “marriage” (SSM). This once influential denomination has lapsed into a state of theological confusion, ecclesiastical disarray, and near-terminal decline. The chaos came to a [...]
Clouds as a gateway to God Red Lodge Montana I spent 20 years of my life running from God. I won’t go into the reasons here – for a long time I blamed poor religious education, but that was just an excuse – but I began my adult life in full flight from questions about God, faith and spirituality. Obviously [...]
Patrick Brown's double-cross on sex-ed. Social conservative organizations like Campaign Life Coalition endorsed Patrick Brown in the 2015 Ontario Progressive Conservative leadership race based on his perfect parliamentary voting record during his time as an MP and his promise to scrap the early sex-ed curriculum. When Campaign Life Coalition’s political team met him that spring, Brown explained he would not [...]
REAL Women of Canada has launched a petition calling on Parliament to counteract the “discrimination currently being experienced by Christians in Canada” and is gathering signatures for its September presentation in the House of Commons. The petition asks the government “to permit Christians to robustly exercise their religious beliefs and conscience rights,” which are protected under the Charter and the Canadian Bill [...]