15
Jun
14
Jun
St. Peter’s Basilica and Occupy Vancouver
Before you enter St. Peter's Basilica you must pass through St. Peter's Square (Piazza San Pietro). It's a magnificent elliptical space (240 metres wide) constructed during the pontificates of Alexander VII and Clement IX (1657-1667). Colonnades embrace the square and all who enter....
13
Jun
Game of Thrones 101
The University of Regina, which annually ranks among the top 10 universities in Canada in the Maclean's poll, isn't satisfied. Apparently, it's looking to go global. As soon as word gets out that it's offering Game of Thrones 101, the university's fame will extend all the way to Westeros, the mythical kingdom in which the deadly game is played....
12
Jun
Talking ‘Bout My Generation
I've been hearing a lot of talk about "millenials" lately. There are many criticisms of the generation, but very few genuine attempts to outline the resources and insights that have emerged from the millenial perspective. It is the Ignatian model always to view others with an eye towards what good is already present in them and nurturing that good before worrying too much about criticizing error....
11
Jun
Scent of Green Papaya – Living the Present
A young girl, Mùi, who is gentle and peaceful, becomes a servant for a rich family. The often absent husband leaves taking with him all the household's money. He becomes ill and returns only to die shortly after. The years pass and the family falls on hard times. Two sons have left and the wife now realizes she considered Mùi one of her own. However Mùi changes homes. She becomes a servant for a pianist who was a friend of the family. That man is engaged to be married but is alienated from his fiancee. He starts a relationship with Mui and this causes the engagement to be broken off. The pianist educates Mùi and they get married....
10
Jun
The Burning Babe by St. Robert Southwell, SJ
From time to time, over the next few months, as part of the "Our Culture" section, igNation will post poetry written by Jesuits. Poems from Gerard Manley Hopkins and St. Robert Southwell will appear as well as poems by contemporary Jesuits. Saint Robert Southwell, was an English Roman Catholic priest of the Jesuit Order. He was also a poet and clandestine missionary in post-Reformation England. After being arrested and tortured, Southwell was tried and convicted of high treason for his links to the Holy See. On 21 February 1595, Southwell was hanged, drawn and quartered at Tyburn. In 1970, he was canonised by Pope Paul VI as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales....
09
Jun
El Camino – Surrendering to Providence (2)
And on the seventh day God rested, evening and morning of the seventh day. It is my seventh day and I am resting. Good enough for God: good enough for me! I have walked 137 km in 6 days, not quite the pace I was hoping for, but good enough. It's the hills that slow me down; some are so steep that I am reduced to a crawl....
06
Jun
Rescued from the rubbish by a hired pen
British historian Keith Wrightson describes the city of Newcastle-upon-Tyne during the devastating plague of 1636 as "a society under immense stress" at a time of larger political and religious tensions. He has created a memorable and moving book after stumbling onto a document in a local archive, a will containing the dying wishes of someone with the plague. It was time to put things in order very quickly, but this individual couldn't write and so his family sought the help of the door-to-door document writers of that era: a scrivener. In 1636, one of many plagues hit the bustling city of Newcastle-upon-Tyne in England's north-east....
05
Jun
A Karamazovian Consolation
After being encouraged by a respected friend, I undertook, what is for me, 'the monumental task' of reading The Brothers Karamazov. Since I am a slow reader, I usually have an aversion to lengthy books. I tend to read them so slowly that I, eventually, become impatient to finish the book, until I give up reading the book altogether. What convinced me, then, to read The Brothers? Perhaps, I thought that it would be as good, if not better than, Crime and Punishment, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Perhaps, I thought I might find wisdom and knowledge in the reading of it. Well, I am only half way through the book, and wisdom has already visited me....
04
Jun
The First Grader – Unredeemed History
The First Grader directed by Justin Chadwick is based on the true story of Kimani Maruge, a Kenyan man who enrolled in elementary education at the age of 84 after the Kenyan government announced universal and free elementary education in 2003....