The Catholic Commons

Canada and other parts of the world have new leaders. Is it time for new conversations? Our Bishops want us to stay involved, for strong schools. The Parliament Brief legal scan returns. Socially-Assisted Death (SAD) continues to be inflicted on the infirm. We offer a prayer from Pope Francis’ Fratelli tutti.

2025 Canada federal election: looking beyond left and right, killing the conversation about life in Canada, prudence and theenvironment, globalization, trust in government; a prayer in celebration of the life of Pope Francis.

One of the main themes of Pope Francis’s encyclical Fratelli tutti is the menace posed by the indifference settling over our world. Indifference has always been present in this life, but modern means of communication, production, and distribution have made it easier than ever for us to isolate ourselves, to retreat into our own world or a world accessible only to those who think exactly the same way we do, and to condemn everyone else as wrong, or even simply unworthy of our notice. And those same developments of communication, production, and distribution have made the potential consequences of such indifference many times more devastating.

Catholic Conscience is consecrated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. It is through her intercession that we have grown, and we remain deeply grateful, thoroughly committed to our consecration.

The goal of our newsletter is to help readers become familiar with current events and help them practice relating those events to Catholic social teaching, in order to help them to properly form their consciences.

Our world is rapidly growing more complex. Individuals seeking to thrive in business, education, retirement, child rearing, or even grade school require ever-increasing and sometimes seemingly unfair levels of moral, technical, and verbal sophistication. We hear reports of rising levels of social anxiety, particularly among children and teenagers.

In 2017 – our first year – we had a few hundred website visits and hosted perhaps half a dozen local parish events. Last year we had tens of thousands of visits, including page views from virtually every country on earth, and by making use of local volunteers we supported live events far removed from our point of origin.

Catholic Conscience is consecrated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. It is through her intercession that we have grown, and we remain deeply grateful, thoroughly committed to our consecration.

An article published late last year by the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) has answered a question that has been on the minds of environmentally-conscious people since the beginning of pandemic lockdowns: how much of a break did the immense slowdown in commuting, air travel, and other forms of polluting activity give to the earth’s atmosphere? In a few words, the answer was ‘not much, and things may be more challenging than we thought.’

Last week the Church celebrated the feast of St. John the Baptist. St. John and his relationship with Christ have much to teach us about the human dignity of unborn children. They should also prompt reflection on solutions for mothers and families in distress.

Every civic act matters. Your vote matters. That letter you write to your city councillor matters. Your decision to volunteer for a charity, join a political party to vote for its leader,  start a new initiative, or run for office yourself—your faith that leads to good works matters.

Every civic act matters. Your vote matters. That letter you write to your city councillor matters. Your decision to volunteer for a charity, join a political party to vote for its leader,  start a new initiative, or run for office yourself—your faith that leads to good works matters.

In this issue of the Catholic Commons, you’ll read about a keynote speech the Pope gave last year talking about a global retreat from democracy into authoritarianism—the kinds of societies where people can’t give the fullness of their gifts to their neighbours for the common good of all.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What

  In the new Quick Commons feature, we’ll share three need-to-knows from this newsletter for your fast review.  Our next webinar in the Beauty of Creation series on Thursday, December 16 will cover our fundamental natures as human beings through science and the Catholic

Dear friends, On September 20, the 2021 federal election ended and Canadians chose their next government. Many have said that the election changed little in Canada. That this Parliament doesn’t look much different from the last one. That may be true

Dear friends, The big day is almost here. Monday, September 20th: Election Day in Canada. This will mark the end of our fourth Catholic Action campaign, offering formation and discernment tools for Catholic voters. First, let’s begin with the most critical

Dear friends, We mentioned last month speculation that there would be a federal election in late summer or early fall. The speculation turned out to be true! As you undoubtably are aware, a federal election will be held on September 20,

Dear friends, With summer in full bloom and the end of the pandemic in sight, the last thing many Canadians want to think about is a federal election. Recent research bears this out: Nanos Research, a major Canadian polling firm, found

THE CATHOLIC COMMONS COMMON SENSE. COMMON PROJECT. COMMON GROUND. COMMON GOOD. Dear friends, You may have noticed the slightly different subject line of this email, and some of you may have already guessed: we are changing the name of the Common