Religion

The BC Supreme Court ruled Monday, Jan. 8, 2024, that two Jehovah’s Witnesses congregations, including one in Coldstream, must hand over personal information records requested by their former members to the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner. (File photo)

B.C. Court orders Jehovah’s Witnesses to hand over personal information

BC Supreme Court acknowledges infringement on religious rights, say those rights are not absolute

 

While some are welcoming the Vatican’s declaration on blessings for same-gender couples as a sign of progress, other Canadian Catholics see the document as cementing the church’s existing position: that romantic relationships between people of the same gender are lesser than those of their heterosexual counterparts. Pope Francis delivers a speech during his weekly general audience in the Pope Paul VI hall at the Vatican, Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Andrew Medichini

Vatican same-sex blessing not the blessing some were looking for

‘A blow’: Some LGBTQ+ Catholics disappointed in pope’s statement on blessing couples

 

(File photo)

Secular group petitions B.C. municipalities to stop prayer at meetings

‘We’re asking for specific commitments that these communities will end the unconstitutional practice’

 

A report by the BC Humanist Association states prayers that were offered at West Kelowna council’s, one of seven B.C. municipalities, inaugural meeting in Nov. 2022 were in violation of a 2015 Supreme Court of Canada decision that ruled ‘opening municipal council meetings with a prayer was an unconstitutional violation of the state’s duty of religious neutrality.’ (Gary Barnes/Capital News)

Prayer at B.C. councils violates Supreme Court ruling: Secular group

The information is contained in a report by the BC Humanist Association

A report by the BC Humanist Association states prayers that were offered at West Kelowna council’s, one of seven B.C. municipalities, inaugural meeting in Nov. 2022 were in violation of a 2015 Supreme Court of Canada decision that ruled ‘opening municipal council meetings with a prayer was an unconstitutional violation of the state’s duty of religious neutrality.’ (Gary Barnes/Capital News)
Maria Lia Zervino one of the first women chosen by Pope Francis to be on the Dicastery for Bishops poses for a picture during an interview with the Associated Press in Rome, Thursday, Aug. 17, 2023. For Zervino, who worked alongside the former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio when both held positions in the Argentine bishops conference, the upcoming synod of bishops is a watershed moment for the church and quite possibly the most consequential thing Francis will have undertaken as pope. This edition is different because Francis has allowed women and other laypeople to vote alongside bishops. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, File)

Women’s voices and votes loom large as pope opens meeting on church’s future

Male hierarchy still runs the Vatican

Maria Lia Zervino one of the first women chosen by Pope Francis to be on the Dicastery for Bishops poses for a picture during an interview with the Associated Press in Rome, Thursday, Aug. 17, 2023. For Zervino, who worked alongside the former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio when both held positions in the Argentine bishops conference, the upcoming synod of bishops is a watershed moment for the church and quite possibly the most consequential thing Francis will have undertaken as pope. This edition is different because Francis has allowed women and other laypeople to vote alongside bishops. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, File)
The Supreme Court of Canada is shrouded in fog in Ottawa, on Friday, Nov 4, 2022. The Supreme Court of Canada has refused to hear an appeal from three British Columbia churches who argued their constitutional rights were violated when provincial restrictions banned indoor religious services during the COVID-19 pandemic.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

Highest court refuses to hear B.C. church appeal on COVID-19 ruling

Langley, Chilliwack and Abbotsford churches contesting ban on indoor religious services

The Supreme Court of Canada is shrouded in fog in Ottawa, on Friday, Nov 4, 2022. The Supreme Court of Canada has refused to hear an appeal from three British Columbia churches who argued their constitutional rights were violated when provincial restrictions banned indoor religious services during the COVID-19 pandemic.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
FILE - A bronze statue of the Archangel Gabriel blowing a trumpet stands at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine as the sun rises in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of the borough of Manhattan in New York on Sunday, March 26, 2023. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey, File)

Do you believe in angels? Poll says about 7 in 10 Americans do

‘People are yearning for something greater than themselves — beyond their own understanding’

FILE - A bronze statue of the Archangel Gabriel blowing a trumpet stands at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine as the sun rises in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of the borough of Manhattan in New York on Sunday, March 26, 2023. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey, File)
In June, a pride flag was hung from the bell tower at Summerland United Church. The flag was later moved to the overhang at the front entrance to the church. The flag has since been taken. (Contributed)

Pride flag taken from Summerland church

Summerland United Church displayed flag as sign of inclusiveness

In June, a pride flag was hung from the bell tower at Summerland United Church. The flag was later moved to the overhang at the front entrance to the church. The flag has since been taken. (Contributed)
Assembly of First Nations National Chief RoseAnne Archibald speaks during her closing address at the Assembly of First Nations Special Chiefs Assembly in Ottawa, Thursday, Dec. 8, 2022. Archibald says the Pope’s willingness to return Indigenous artifacts stored at the Vatican Museum suggests the items will make their way home. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Spencer Colby

Pope’s willingness to return sacred items means they will come home: national chief

Much of the Vatican’s current collection is from a world exposition in 1925

Assembly of First Nations National Chief RoseAnne Archibald speaks during her closing address at the Assembly of First Nations Special Chiefs Assembly in Ottawa, Thursday, Dec. 8, 2022. Archibald says the Pope’s willingness to return Indigenous artifacts stored at the Vatican Museum suggests the items will make their way home. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Spencer Colby
Pope Francis leaves at the end of his weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square, at the Vatican, Wednesday, April 26, 2023. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Pope allows women to vote at upcoming bishops’ meeting

‘This is a significant crack in the stained glass ceiling’

Pope Francis leaves at the end of his weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square, at the Vatican, Wednesday, April 26, 2023. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama in a ceremonial yellow hat arrives at the Tsuglakhang temple to give a sermon in Dharamshala, India, Tuesday, March 7, 2023. Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama apologized Monday after a video showing him kissing a child on the lips provoked outrage.(AP Photo/Ashwini Bhatia,file)

Dalai Lama apologizes after video shows him kissing boy

Incident occurred at a public gathering in February in Dharamsala, where the exiled leader lives

Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama in a ceremonial yellow hat arrives at the Tsuglakhang temple to give a sermon in Dharamshala, India, Tuesday, March 7, 2023. Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama apologized Monday after a video showing him kissing a child on the lips provoked outrage.(AP Photo/Ashwini Bhatia,file)
Archbishop and Primate Linda Nicholls of the Anglican Church of Canada will tour the Northwest during Easter weekend, April 6 to 9, visiting eight different parishes and serving community members in the Smithers soup kitchen.

Canada’s first female Anglican Archbishop to tour Northwest B.C. Easter weekend

Visit will take Linda Nicholls, Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, to 8 parishes

Archbishop and Primate Linda Nicholls of the Anglican Church of Canada will tour the Northwest during Easter weekend, April 6 to 9, visiting eight different parishes and serving community members in the Smithers soup kitchen.
Pope Francis waves to faithful during his weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square, at the Vatican, Wednesday, March 29, 2023. Pope Francis went to a Rome hospital on Wednesday for some previously scheduled tests, slipping out of the Vatican after his general audience and before the busy start of Holy Week this Sunday. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Responding to Indigenous, Vatican rejects Discovery Doctrine

Vaticans says decrees ‘did not adequately reflect the equal dignity and rights of indigenous peoples’

Pope Francis waves to faithful during his weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square, at the Vatican, Wednesday, March 29, 2023. Pope Francis went to a Rome hospital on Wednesday for some previously scheduled tests, slipping out of the Vatican after his general audience and before the busy start of Holy Week this Sunday. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
The Mount Cashel orphanage in St. John’s, N.L., is shown in a 1989 file photo. The Archdiocese of Vancouver and a private Catholic school in British Columbia have denied any wrongdoing in claims of sexual abuse by former students and filed their own lawsuits against the alleged abusers. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan

Vancouver archdiocese and private school deny wrongdoing, sue alleged abusers

Legal filings come after class action lawsuit certified alleging abuse at two Catholic schools

The Mount Cashel orphanage in St. John’s, N.L., is shown in a 1989 file photo. The Archdiocese of Vancouver and a private Catholic school in British Columbia have denied any wrongdoing in claims of sexual abuse by former students and filed their own lawsuits against the alleged abusers. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan
A phone sits on a paper sheet reading: “I believe in the human beings, today people judges you for the image that you have, they see only masks they don’t know even who you are” inside the Chicco community of L’Arche, an International charity that helps people with intellectual disabilities, in Ciampino, near Rome, Wednesday, March 22, 2023. The findings of expert reports commissioned by L’Arche itself reveal that their founder, Jean Vanier, perverted Catholic doctrine to justify his own sexual compulsions and abuse women and that the movement he created had at its core a secret, a mystical-sexual “sect” founded for the precise purpose of hiding the sect’s deviant activities from church authorities. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Shattered: Catholic community of L’Arche confronts its founder’s lies

Once-revered, Jean Vanier abused at least 25 women through a secret, mystical-sexual ‘sect’

A phone sits on a paper sheet reading: “I believe in the human beings, today people judges you for the image that you have, they see only masks they don’t know even who you are” inside the Chicco community of L’Arche, an International charity that helps people with intellectual disabilities, in Ciampino, near Rome, Wednesday, March 22, 2023. The findings of expert reports commissioned by L’Arche itself reveal that their founder, Jean Vanier, perverted Catholic doctrine to justify his own sexual compulsions and abuse women and that the movement he created had at its core a secret, a mystical-sexual “sect” founded for the precise purpose of hiding the sect’s deviant activities from church authorities. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Pope Francis and Gov. Gen. Mary Simon watch a traditional dance during the final public event of his papal visit across Canada as he prepares to leave Iqaluit, Nunavut on Friday, July 29, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette

Pope Francis’s tour came with a minimum $55-million price tag for Ottawa

‘Think of all the money that could have gone to survivors’

Pope Francis and Gov. Gen. Mary Simon watch a traditional dance during the final public event of his papal visit across Canada as he prepares to leave Iqaluit, Nunavut on Friday, July 29, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette
The Jesuits of Canada have released a list of priests they say were credibly accused of sexually abusing minors over the past 70 years. The Jesuits logo is seen in this undated handout. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO

Jesuits of Canada releases list of 27 members ‘credibly’ accused of child sex abuse

Names the result of probe examining records dating back to the ’50s

The Jesuits of Canada have released a list of priests they say were credibly accused of sexually abusing minors over the past 70 years. The Jesuits logo is seen in this undated handout. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO
(Black Press Media Creative)

Mormon church fined $5M for obscuring size of portfolio

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its investment arm…

(Black Press Media Creative)
A statue of Mother Earth sits at the front of an altar used by a Colombian shaman, healer and traditional medicine man who leads the Hummingbird Church ayahuasca ceremonies, on Sunday, Oct. 16, 2022, in Hildale, Utah. Like many groups using psychedelics as sacraments, Hummingbird functioned underground for many years, hosting word of mouth ceremonies. But in Feb. 2021, they decided to go public. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)

Psychedelic churches in US pushing boundaries of religion

Growing numbers of people turning to ayahuasca in search of spiritual enlightenment

A statue of Mother Earth sits at the front of an altar used by a Colombian shaman, healer and traditional medicine man who leads the Hummingbird Church ayahuasca ceremonies, on Sunday, Oct. 16, 2022, in Hildale, Utah. Like many groups using psychedelics as sacraments, Hummingbird functioned underground for many years, hosting word of mouth ceremonies. But in Feb. 2021, they decided to go public. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)
(Pastor Arthur Lucier/Instagram)

Lawyer questions consitutional right for B.C. pastor to be denied COVID appeal

Arthur Lucier wants to challenge the ‘constitutionality’ of 2021 Public Health Orders and his freedoms

(Pastor Arthur Lucier/Instagram)