End of Life Care

A few years ago — let’s say 20 — I watched as the police handled a disturbance. An elderly gentleman was standing in the middle of the sidewalk talking animatedly to an invisible friend. It seemed to be a delightful conversation, and the man actually excused himself to his imaginary friend when the authorities intervened.

“The joys of parenthood: apparently the best kept secret.”

The appointment of a Medical Aid in Dying (MAiD) provider as Interim Clinical Director of Palliative Care at a Catholic hospital in Ontario has provoked renewed concern about the future of Catholic health care in Canada.

19th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A) Aug. 13 (1 Kings 19:9, 11-13; Psalm 85; Romans 9:1-5; Matthew 14:21-33)

Elijah expected a grand show. The word of the Lord directed him to stand on the mountain because God was going to pass by. At first, it seemed that he would not be disappointed. There was a wind so strong that it split rocks. But God was not in the wind. This was followed by a strong earthquake — but no God. Finally, there was a consuming fire, but God was not even in the fire. 

Message of thanks from Pope Francis to the volunteers of World Youth Day XXXVII during his Apostolic Journey to Portugal.

The contemporary political and cultural mood demands recall of what would normally be a blinding statement of the obvious in a liberal democracy: expression is not automatically endorsement.

As controversy and deep division continued in an Indian archdiocese over the direction the priest faces during the celebration of the liturgy, the Vatican confirmed that Pope Francis named Slovak Archbishop Cyril Vasil of Košice as his pontifical delegate to help resolve the dispute.

As he lay in a Calgary hospital bed in late July, retired Bishop Fred Henry summoned the energy to publicly break the silence around what he considers the prevailing “lie” about missing Indian residential school children.

Ottawa Archbishop Marcel Gervais, who shepherded the bilingual diocese covering Canada’s capital from 1989 to 2007, died Aug. 6, Ottawa-Cornwall Archbishop Emeritus Terrence Prendergast announced in an Instagram post.

Catholics in Slovenia are rallying emergency aid and turning to prayer as record floods have ravaged that nation, killing at least six and leaving hundreds homeless.