Vol XVII. No. 13
Archive - Dec 2009 - Oct 2019
GLOBAL AND ECUMENICAL IN SCOPE
CANADIAN IN PERSPECTIVE
Wayne A. Holst, Editor
My E-Mail Address: waholst@telus.net
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*****
Dear Friends:
An important development occurred this week with the
announcement from the Vatican that Pope Francis would
be open to visit Canada. I begin to investigate what that
means in my Special Item for this issue (below).
I include other items which hopefully interest you as well.
Blessings on your week,
Wayne
PLEASE NOTE - If a link below, seems to be dead, cut and
paste it into the address bar at the top of your web page
and it should work.
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SPECIAL ITEM
WHY SHOULD FRANCIS VISIT CANADA?
A Brief Comment
For some months, Canada's Indigenous people have been advocating strongly for a visit from Pope Francis. Many Indigenous people are Catholic, but others have been expressing the same. The discovery of unmarked graves at former residential schools has triggered the more recent surge in requests, but a papal apology has long been demanded.
There has also been criticism that the Catholic Church has not fully compensated residential school survivors as the Canadian Truth and Reconciliation Commission had proposed.
I have been investigating the residential school issue for thirty-five years and realize there are significant complexities to having the pope visit and apologize. However, after the Truth and Reconciliation commission stated this as part of its series of requirements, it has been high time for a just and conciliatory move on the part of the Roman Catholic Church.
For many school survivors, the pope represents a past that cannot ever be forgiven. For others, thousands of children have died without benefit of an apology.
If, in fact, the pope does come to Canada, it would represent a victory in itself for Indigenous people. Many recognize that, personally, the pope is deeply affected by the pain that has been inflicted.
A major stumbling block is the difference between what the pope feels as an individual and what he represents as head of a sinless church (according to Catholic teaching). Working this out will not be easy.
Catholic theology can indeed change over time as has been the case with its teachings on colonialism.
I am grateful for these early indications on the part of Francis. More comment and clarification will be forthcoming as we continue to learn about the pope's proposed visit.
Wayne
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COLLEAGUE CONTRIBUTIONS
Mark Whittall,
Ottawa, ON.
Sermons and Blog
October 22nd, 2021
"Why Bad Things Happen"
--
Jim Taylor,
Okanagan, BC
Personal Web Log,
October 26, 2021
"Autism Study Shakes Preconceptions"
--
Ron Rolheiser,
San Antonio, TX
Personal Web Site
October 25th, 2021
"Beware of Your Inner Circles"
--
Philip Yancey,
Colorado
Philipyancey.com
October 28th, 2021
"What Makes a Church Toxic?"
*****
NET NOTES
PUTTING THE HALO BACK
IN HALLOWEEN
A Catholic Perspective
Catholic Register,
October 27th, 2021
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HALLOWEEN AND JESUS:
RECONCILIATION IN THE DARK
Many Do Not Know This Tradition
A Protestant Perspective
Sojourners,
October 28th, 2021
--
HOW DO YOU SPOT A WITCH?
The Book that Destroyed Many Women
Religion News Service,
October 21st, 2021
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FAMILIES OF KIDNAPPED MISSIONARIES
IN HAITI PREACH FORGIVENESS
Gang Leader Threatens Only Killing
The Christian Post
October 25th, 2021
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MOST IN SURVEY SAY LIFE
WAS BETTER BEFORE FACEBOOK
Generation Z Addicted to Social Media
The Christian Post,
October 21st, 2021
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17 COPTIC CHRISTIANS
GO MISSING IN LIBYA
Fears Rise Over Possible
Terrorist Abduction
Christian Post,
October 25th, 2021
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DOUBT THAT LED TO DEVOTION
The Untold Story of C.S. Lewis
Christianity Today
October 2021 Essay
--
MARY MAGDALENE
STEWARD OF THE GOOD NEWS
She Should Be Remembered Well
Catholic Register, Toronto
October 24th, 2021
--
250 YEARS AGO,
METHODISM CAME TO THE USA
Here are Examples of How it Spread
Religion News Service,
October 22nd, 2021
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THE EVANGELICAL CHURCH
IS BREAKING APART
Christians Must Reclaim Jesus
from His Church
The Atlantic
October 24th, 2021
*****
WISDOM OF THE WEEK
Provided by Sojourners and the Bruderhof online:
To love a place is not enough. We must find ways to heal it.
- Franz Dolp
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Truth is divine action entering our lives and creating the human action of liberation.
- James H. Cone
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Jesus rejected hatred because he saw that hatred meant death to the mind, death to the spirit, and death to communion with his Father. He affirmed life; and hatred was the great denial.
- Howard Thurman
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Being an artist means: not numbering and counting, but ripening, like a tree which doesn’t force its sap, and stands confidently in the storms of spring, not afraid that afterward summer may not come. It does come. But it comes only to those who are patient, who are there as if eternity lay before them, so unconcernedly silent and vast. I learn it every day of my life, learn it with pain I am grateful for: patience is everything!
- Rainer Maria Rilke
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The poor are waiting for us. The ways of service are infinite and left to the imagination. Let us not wait to be instructed in how to serve. We invent and we live the new heavens and the new earth each day of our lives.…If we don’t love, God remains without an epiphany. We are the visible sign of his presence and we make him alive in this infernal world where it seems that he is not. We make him alive each time we stop next to a wounded person.
- Annalena Tonelli
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Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies. Nothing is small for our good God, for he is great and we are small. That is why he lowers himself and cares to do small things, in order to offer us an opportunity to show him our love. Since he does them, they are great things, they are infinite. Nothing he does can be small. Again: practice fidelity even in the least things, not for their own sake, but for the sake of what is great – that is, the will of God.
- Mother Teresa
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