Father Raymond J. de Souza

The long legal tragedy of Conrad Black and his companions is now over. The Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit dismissed Lord Black’s appeal on Wednesday, and did so dismissively. In a unanimous opinion written by Judge Richard Posner, the appellate court rejected all the arguments on all the counts for all four defendants. (more…)

Formal arrangements have yet to be made, but it now appears that the critical decisions have already been taken for a dissolution of the Anglican Communion. Every 10 years, all the world’s Anglican bishops meet at the seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Lambeth Palace. They are scheduled to meet this summer, but already some 250 have decided not to attend, boycotting because of the failure of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, to discipline American and Canadian Anglicans for blessing same-sex unions and ordaining actively homosexual clergy. (more…)

After years of enervation, the Church in Quebec is finding new sources of energy
- in Quebec City -

This year, just in time for today’s feast of St. Jean Baptiste, there is a renewed religious spirit here. The Archdiocese of Quebec has just finished hosting a very successful International Eucharistic Congress, the closing Mass of which was celebrated on the Plains of Abraham for a crowd of some 50,000 who listened to Pope Benedict XVI via video-link from Rome. With over 10,000 delegates from all over the world, the week-long congress was a manifestation of Quebec’s Catholic culture not seen here in more than a few generations. (more…)

Remember when it was said that everyone complained about the weather but no one did anything about it? No more. Today Stephane Dion announces his new carbon tax – a tax aimed at changing the weather (eventually). I’ll leave to others the environmental questions, but the carbon tax – and its apparent popularity in the polls, at least in theory -points to significant changes in the way that we think about taxation. (more…)

The Ontario legislature voted unanimously last week to maintain the recitation of the Lord’s Prayer at Queen’s Park, adding non-Christian prayers on a rotational basis. It was defeat for Premier Dalton McGuinty, who only a few months ago proposed “moving beyond” the Lord’s Prayer. In the end, the Premier tried to move past the entire issue, missing the relevant vote altogether. (more…)