×
Convivium was a project of Cardus 2011‑2022, and is preserved here for archival purposes.
Search
Search
Reflecting on politics, pastors, and graceReflecting on politics, pastors, and grace

Reflecting on politics, pastors, and grace

Politics has become our supreme forum for common life, so everything of importance is run through a political filter.

Raymond J. de Souza
1 minute read
When the massacre at Mother Emmanuel AME church in Charleston took place, I was in the United States. I heard the news from another priest who, clearly devastated by the bloodshed in the house of God, added quickly thereafter a comment about the debate over gun control.

I was struck by how even such a great wickedness was seen so quickly through the prism of politics. And indeed, in the days after the massacre, the talk shifted to political debates over gun laws and the Confederate flag.

The pastor of Mother Emmanuel, Clementa Pickney, murdered in his own church while leading a Bible study, was also member of the South Carolina state senate, a pastor holding political office.

The next day I gave an interview to a Catholic television network about the new encyclical of Pope Francis, Laudato Si'. The first question was about Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush's comment that, even though a Catholic, he did not look to the Church for guidance about environmental policies...

Read the full article at The B.C. Catholic Website.

You'll also enjoy...

Robert Thompson’s House of Faith

Robert Thompson’s House of Faith

Robert Norman Thompson was part of a cross-partisan group of Canadian leaders that made a 1960s era “House of minorities” almost accidentally effective in its pursuit of far-reaching social and economic legislation. Indeed, many people, around the time of Canada’s 1967 Centennial referred to Thompson as “Mr. Canada”.

Cultivating Civic Virtue

Cultivating Civic Virtue

Persuasion is integral to a healthy democracy, and persuasion can only take place when you routinely interact with people different than yourself ...

There can be no peace, after Westphalia

There can be no peace, after Westphalia

Realists would tell us that peace is the absence of war, but Epiphany reminds us that there can be no end to war, neither that within or without, apart from adoration which is shown, today, by the Magi Where there is no room for direction, O'Donovan writes, "Society is ruled by the imperative of uni...