On the Threshold

By Glen Argan (Originally published in The Catholic Register) Authors of dystopian novels are bound to get a lot wrong. After all, they are looking into what they believe will be a dark future which is inherently unpredictable. The year 1984, for example, turned out to be nothing like George Orwell’s famous novel of the same name. Still, when I

By Glen Argan (Originally published in The Catholic Register) Since the Quiet Revolution of the 1960s, Quebec governments have been bent on driving religion out of their culture. Ironically, this campaign has coexisted with the broader campaign to preserve Quebec’s uniqueness in an English-speaking North America. I say “ironically” because it was the Catholic Church which for centuries provided one

By Glen Argan (Originally published in The Catholic Register, June 16, 2019) In our liturgy, Catholics confess that we have “greatly sinned, in my thoughts and in my words, in what I have done and in what I have failed to do.” Sin takes more than one form, and often what we fail to do makes as much space for

(Originally published in The Catholic Register, Toronto) By Glen Argan The overwhelming election victory of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party has heightened fears among members of the nation’s minority religions, including Christians. Yet Christians in the Western world might well learn some lessons, both positive and negative, from Modi’s politics of Hindu nationalism. Modi is one of

(Originally published in The Catholic Register, Toronto) By Glen Argan Fourteen years. That’s how long Jean Vanier said his life was in “a holding pattern.” After he left the Canadian Navy in 1950, he did not invite two mentally disabled men to live with him in Trosly, France, until 1964. Even then, Vanier had no idea that his “l’Arche” would

By Glen Argan (Originally published in The Catholic Register, April 7, 2019) Hatred, murder and mayhem will not prevail. The power of love is stronger. At least, that’s the dream. In his March 31 homily at a Mass in Morocco, Pope Francis urged the country’s tiny Catholic community to be “an oasis of mercy.” He encouraged them “to persevere on

By Glen Argan (First published in The Catholic Register) For fans of the Edmonton Oilers, like myself, the Stanley Cup playoffs are a time of mourning. Our team has only made it to the playoffs once in the last 13 years. Well, we can cheer for another Canadian team, but this season all three which made the playoffs – Winnipeg

By Glen Argan (originally published in The Catholic Register, October 28, 2018, http://www.catholicregister.org) My plan had been to write this week on the 25th anniversary of Pope John Paul’s encyclical The Splendour of Truth, the sainted pope’s most controversial document. However, as often happens, events intervened, and I put off writing that reflection. Maybe next time. Writing about truth’s “splendour”