It is Saturday and we arrive to a house in a middle-class neighbourhood of west Amman. There is quite a crowd gathering for the day’s events. Inside, the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary have a full-morning planned. In the back room there are dozens of children participating in an activity. They are all Iraqis displaced because ...read more

A council for new evangelization, Bishops from the Middle East (and the world) travel to Rome for a Synod, and an upcoming canonization. Catholic News Service’s, Carol Glatz and John Thavis review a busy week at the Vatican. To download Flash Player please click here ...read more

When the Canadian bishops gather for their annual plenary assembly, it’s fair to say that they’re not overwhelmed with requests for media accreditation. The discussion topics, be they administrative or pastoral, rarely generate much buzz in the nation’s pews. Yet for the past two years, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) plenary has seen ...read more

“And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars and upon the earth distress of nations in perplexity a the roaring of the sea and the waves, men fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world; for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.” Luke 21: 25-26 ...read more

Wednesday afternoon the Synod of Bishops on the Middle East received a special guest speaker: Rabbi David Rosen, advisor to the Chief Rabbinate of Israel and director of the department for Inter-religious Affairs of the American Jewish Committee. Rabbi Rosen told the Synod that it is necessary to hear the story of Christians living in ...read more

Have you been following the Synod of Bishops? This year’s synod facilitates the unique overlap of two sacred centres, as the leaders of the Church in the Holy Land meet in the Vatican. To keep up with the developments, I check a few resources daily, such as Catholic News Service and the Vatican Information Service. ...read more

Religious sectarianism among communities is prevalent in countries like Israel, Afghanistan and Iraq. Today, a socio-economic divide between two religious groups is something we would rarely, if ever, see in western society. Canadians, for example, enjoy a religious freedom unimaginable in a country like Iraq. So what happens when this kind of divide does happen ...read more

It is my hope that, with Bishops from around the world gathered for this year’s Synod on the Middle East, the eyes of the world will be turned to Rome for new insights on how to respond to issues in the Middle East. When I was in grade 10, we had a foreign student come ...read more

Under a gray, rainy, roman sky the Bishops participating in the Synod on the Middle East made their way to the Synod Hall. Pope Benedict began the Synod by reminding participants that October 11th is the day the Second Vatican Council was inaugurated 48 years ago. At that time October 11th was the feast of ...read more

On Sunday, October 10, 2010, during the opening Mass for the Synod of Bishops for the Middle East, I have to admit that the number 23 was on my mind. I was first introduced to the symbolism of the number some years ago, over lunch with a wonderful pastor from Church of the Virgin Mary, ...read more