Father Raymond J. de Souza, Author at Crux

Father Raymond J. de Souza

SPECIAL_TO_CRUX

Father Raymond J. de Souza is the editor-in-chief of Convivium, a Canadian online journal that explores the place of faith in common life. He serves as parish priest on Wolfe Island, in the Thousand Islands in the St n. Lawrence River, and as chaplain at Newman House, the Catholic chaplaincy at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. He teaches in the Queen’s Economics Department and is chaplain of the Queen’s football team. He is Senior Fellow at Massey College, University of Toronto, and a Senior Fellow at Cardus, Canada leading Christian think tank.

Vatican’s strong Venezuela stand gives backing to bishops
- Commentary, Global Church
- August 5, 2017
In the aftermath of Sunday’s vote for Maduro’s new constituent assembly – boycotted by the opposition – the government seized opposition leaders and continued its killing of protesters in the streets. The Venezuelan bishops stood with the opposition, and with the protesters. Now the Vatican has forcefully called on the government to back down.
READ MORE
A note on the ‘ecumenism of hate’ and papal rhetoric
- Commentary
- July 31, 2017
Jesuit Father Antonio Spadaro and Reverend Marcelo Figueroa caused controversy by using the expression “ecumenism of hate” in a La Civiltà Cattolica article to describe the relations between Catholics and Evangelicals in the United States. It’s not fair to criticize Spadaro/Figueroa for inflammatory rhetoric without conceding that it is of a piece with the pontifical style which they are proposing as a model for Christian engagement. And it would be dismissive to consider that style to be just loose talk, without a pastoral purpose.
READ MORE
New method for declaring saints welcome in an age of Christian persecution
- Commentary
- July 19, 2017
Pope Francis’s ‘Mairoem hac dilectionem’ does not create another category of martyrdom, but an alternative category. Martyrs, for example, do not require a miracle for beatification; oblatio vitae cases still do. On the other hand, candidates for beatification are required to have lived a life of “heroic virtue.” The oblatio vitae category requires a life of “ordinary virtue,” which should be reasonably easy to demonstrate for anyone proposed for beatification.
READ MORE

Article by pope’s confidantes adds little to understanding Trump’s America

A recent article in the influential Rome-based ‘La Civiltà Cattolica’ – which is reviewed by the Vatican’s Secretariat of State before publication – politics of the Trump administration has its roots in an unholy alliance between “Evangelical Fundamentalism” and “Catholic Integralism.” But does it patronize Evangelicals and mischaracterize certain Catholics to make its point?

Canada offers a better model on religious freedom

Tolerance for religious minorities was written into the very establishment of Canada, more than a century before the country was established in 1867. Today, religious liberty and religious pluralism are under siege the world over. The 150 years – and more – of the Canadian experience have much to offer.