BOB MCKEON

One of the concerns raised in the Last Judgment scene in Matthew's Gospel is whether "when I was in prison you visited me."

This evening it escapes no one that we are the privileged witnesses of an historic moment in the life not only of this archdiocese but also of the Church in Canada. For the first time in our country, a man who is deaf is ordained to the ministerial priesthood.

DR. GERRY TURCOTTE

There is a moving story about a family's Christmas tradition that tells of a husband's aversion to receiving presents when so many in the community were in need.

The passage of a new Education Act by the Alberta Legislature affords the opportunity for the Catholic community to give pause and to reflect on the great gift of Catholic education that we have here in Alberta. This is a gift that gives the Catholic communities of Alberta the right to organize and run their own Catholic schools – and this with full funding from the province.

RED DEER – Many Alberta Catholic parents have heard about the passing last month of Bill 3, the new Education Act. But I haven't seen much detail to answer the question: "What does it mean?"

As Canadians and northerners, we share many memories of cold winters. At Christmas time, I often reflect upon one particular evening of a prairie winter in the early 1960s. Though the frost was cruel that night, the reminiscence is warm.

For many, perhaps most, Catholics, the most frequent place of encounter with the Bible is in the Liturgy of the Word at Mass. Prior to the Second Vatican Council, that encounter was severely restricted. The Scripture readings at Mass were on a one-year cycle and most of the Bible, including most of the New Testament, was never proclaimed.

Catholic Social Services has hired a man of deep faith as its new chief executive officer. He is Stephen Carattini, a New Yorker who spent 35 days walking the Camino de Santiago in Spain last summer trying to discern God's will.

VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict has issued new rules to strengthen the religious identity of Catholic charities and ensure that their activities conform to Church teaching.

The Vatican has praised a United Nations vote making Palestine a non-member observer state but called for full recognition of Palestinian sovereignty as necessary for peace in the region.