By Glen Argan In the current state of distress highlighted by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò’s claim that Pope Francis has long known about accusations of sexual abuse against American Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the story of the previous pope’s butler, Paolo Gabriele, should be recalled. In 2012, Gabriele was arrested and convicted of stealing sensitive documents from the office of Pope
Read more(Published first in The Catholic Register, http://www.catholicregister.org, September 2, 2018) By Glen Argan The Roman Catholic Church today has nearly 3,000 dioceses and archdioceses, each with at least one bishop. The first letter to Timothy in the New Testament describes the character of a bishop in these words: “A bishop must be above reproach, married only once, temperate, sensible, respectable,
Read moreBy Glen Argan In his Easter message, Regina Archbishop Donald Bolen has given a stunningly beautiful reflection on the meaning of the cross and resurrection. The archbishop sits beside a crucifix in the parish church in Balgonie. The original church was destroyed by fire, but in the remains of the church, someone found the wooden corpus, charred, but basically unharmed.
Read morePope Francis has repeatedly shown himself to be a pontiff who does not pontificate. Rather, he is the world’s and the Church’s smiling spiritual guide to difficult endeavours such as family life and our relationship with the environment. This is just as true of his latest apostolic exhortation Gaudete et Exsultate (Rejoice and Be Glad), on the call to holiness
Read more(From The Catholic Register, April 8, 2018, http://www.catholicregister.org) Indian residential schools were established by Canada’s federal government, but Christian churches, including the Catholic Church, bought into the plan with enthusiasm. When the churches assumed the task of running residential schools in the 19th century, no one in the settler culture saw them with the same eyes that we possess today.
Read more(Originally published in The Catholic Register, http://www.catholicregister.org, March 25, 2018) By Glen Argan Nicodemus is the organization man who realizes his organization does not have the answers. So, he looks further afield. You are not supposed to do that, but he does it anyway. His heart hungers for more than arid policies, and what do you know, but he finds
Read moreBy Glen Argan (From catholicregister.org of Feb.14, 2018) The disciplines of Lent – prayer, fasting and almsgiving – are an exercise in conscience formation. Lent is much more than conscience formation, but it is that. Likely, however, most adult Catholics believe our consciences are already well formed. We know the difference between right and wrong, and most often we do
Read moreBy Glen Argan Many people knew Archbishop Joseph MacNeil who died Feb. 11, 2018 at age 93 better than I did. There are priests, such as Fathers Mike McCaffery, Jack Hamilton, Archie MacKenzie and Don MacDonald, who worked closely with him over the years. McCaffery especially. MacNeil made him, at various times, president of Newman Theological College, rector of St.
Read moreHere is my latest column in The Catholic Register. By Glen Argan Canadian Catholics should perhaps be upset with governments that trample on our basic rights. Whether our silence reveals resilience or indifference may be determined by the test of time. Last month, the federal Liberal government announced it will only give grants for hiring summer students to organizations which
Read moreLast week, I received a letter from Adriana LaGrange, president of the Alberta Catholic School Trustees’ Association in response to the letter which I sent to the association Nov. 13, 2017 and posted on this website Jan. 21, 2018. Although the letter is long and contains detailed quotes from government legislation, I post it here, with Adriana’s permission, so that
Read more
On the Threshold 