Joseph Schner, SJ

Joseph Schner, SJ, is a professor of Psychology and Religion at the Toronto School of Theology.


37 posts

    29 Jan

    With the coming of the New Year PBS has begun screening the fifth season of Downton Abbey. The plot of this ongoing saga revolves around the family of Lord Granton and the domestic household's attempt to cope with the changes of the 20th Century both on a social and personal level. Over the past four years the program has gained a large audience in Britain, Canada and the United States. What is the reason for the success of this weekly television program that follows the day-to-day fortunes of these diverse characters?...

    20 Nov

    At the beginning of each month I am delighted to receive in the mail a copy of The American Organist. This magazine is the journal of the American Guild of Organists, an organization with wide membership in the United States and throughout the world. Each issue of The American Organist features an article on a recently built pipe organ. During the past six years (2008 to 2014) the journal has featured four new pipe organs in Jesuit churches: Madonna Della Strada Chapel at Loyola Chicago, Fordham University Chapel, St. Francis Xavier Church in New York City, and the Dahlgren Chapel at Georgetown University, Washington, D.C....

    31 Jul

    Kristine Barnett was delighted with her baby son Jake. He was a vivacious and responsive child, and she and her husband Michael eagerly looked forward to following his development from infancy to manhood with all the stages in between. Their delight soon turned first to worry and then to fear as Jake seemed to go more and more into himself. Eventually it seemed that Kristine and Michael ceased to exist for him. His world became one of endless order – toys and cards, string and pencils – all became objects of obsessive ordering that consumed more and more of his time. Although he had begun to speak very early, speech soon disappeared. Their little boy lived in a world apart from them, in silence and a seeming disregard for human life around him. The physicians' diagnosis was autism....

    04 Dec

    St. Joseph together with the Virgin Mary and St. John the Baptist are Advent saints for prayerful reflection during this time of preparation for the birth of the Lord. Earlier this year as a continuation of Vatican II's remembrance of Joseph's role in the mystery of salvation, Pope Francis added his name to the list of saints in the Eucharistic Prayers. We begin Advent, in Year A of the liturgical cycle, by reading the Gospel according to Matthew who focuses his infancy narrative on Joseph. Benedict XVI in The Infancy Narrative, a prologue to his two volume, Jesus of Nazareth, notes that Matthew places Joseph with the "great figures of the Old Covenant"....

    12 Nov

    After five long years of silence, J.K. Rowing, the creator of Harry Potter's world rewarded her fans with a new novel, The Casual Vacancy. This year she has published, under a pseudonym (Robert Galbraith), The Cuckoo's Calling. Although both leave Harry's world for that of the muggles, both reveal her deep exploration of the reality that served as a foundation for the earlier works....

    31 Jul

    A large prairie field flanked by woods and bordered by a stream may seem like an unusual setting for Canada's newest cathedral. But then one might remember Constable's paintings of Salisbury Cathedral in which the stream, woods and field are complemented by grazing cattle. The new Cathedral of the Holy Family on the outskirts of Saskatoon offers a comparable vista without the cattle although it is next door to the local zoo....

    12 Apr

    One year and a half ago I began a new adventure. Not an adventure in far-away places or unknown fields, but right here at home and with very familiar topics. The adventure lies exploring with my new fellow students....

Subscribe to igNation

Subscribe to receive our latest articles delivered right to your inbox!