After 11 years as Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Winnipeg, Richard Gagnon retiring

 

Richard Gagnon never intended to go into church ministry—he was happy working as a teacher. “I wasn’t looking for a change, but I felt there must be more he should be doing with my life, that I was meant for more than this,” he said. 

And now he is retiring as Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Winnipeg, after 11 years in the city. Does he have any regrets? Only one, he said. “I regret running out of time to do all I want to do here,” he said. “There is so much more I want to do.” 

Read my story about Archbishop Gagnon in the Free Press.

“It’s more than a job. It’s a calling.” The importance of spiritual care at personal care homes

“It’s more than a job. It’s a calling.” That’s what Michelle Thiessen says about her work as a spiritual care provider at Holy Family Home for seniors in Winnipeg. Read the article in the Free Press here. 

And speaking of spiritual care, it’s a strong interest of mine. Spiritual care providers provide a valuable service to residents and staff alike at personal care homes, hospitals and other places. 

Over the years I’ve been able to do some stories about this important work, or about the importance of spirituality when it comes to overall health. These include: 

Spirituality vital to health care: Jane Philpott

Caring spirits: Winnipeggers provide guidance and solace as hospital patients and their families navigate life-changing challenges

Spiritual care practitioners providing critical support for health-care workers

Spiritual Care Helps Patients, Saves Money

In proclaiming Year of Jubilee, Pope Francis calls for debt forgiveness for the world's poorer nations

On Dec. 24, when Pope Francis opened the holy door at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome to launch the 2025 Year of Jubilee, he called on wealthy countries and institutions to practice Jubilee by reducing or cancelling the debts owed by the world’s poorer nations. 

In addition to that, he proposed the need for a new financial framework “lest this prove merely an isolated act of charity that simply reboots the vicious cycle of financing and indebtedness.” 

This new framework should be based on “solidarity and harmony between people,’’ he said, adding this growing debt “threatens the future of many nations.” 

In calling for debt relief for poorer countries, the Pope was taking seriously the biblical tradition of Jubilee, which comes from what Christians call the Old Testament of the Bible. 

Read about the Year of Jubilee and the biblical call for forgiveness of debts in my latest Free Press column.

Role of White Christian churchgoers in election of Trump to White House

What with Trump threatening to take back the Panama Canal, suggesting Canada should join the U.S. and musing about taking over Greenland, it's hard to have space in your brain for how he got to be president in the first place. But if you want to know what role religion played in that decision, read on.

The more White and Christian an American is—and the more frequently that person goes to church—then the more likely it was they voted for Donald Trump in the recent U.S. presidential election. 

That’s the finding from a Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) from a survey of 4,757 voters that explored the impact of partisanship, race, and religion on voters’ choices. 

According to PRRI, religious divides in presidential vote choice were stark, with white evangelical Protestants strongly backing Trump and Black Protestants, the religiously unaffiliated, and non-Christian voters overwhelmingly supporting Harris. 

White evangelical Protestants continued to be the religious group with the strongest backing of Donald Trump, with 85% reporting that they voted for the President-elect. 

Majorities of both white Catholics (59%) and white mainline/non-evangelical Protestants (57%) also report voting for Trump. 

Strong majorities of Black Protestant voters (83%), unaffiliated voters (72%), those from other non-Christian religions (67%), and Jewish voters (62%) reported voting for Harris. 

Hispanic Catholic voters were more likely to report voting for Harris over Trump (55% v. 43%). In contrast, Hispanic Protestants were more likely to report voting for Trump over Harris (64% v. 36%). 

Among white evangelical Protestants and white Catholics, higher church attendance was correlated with higher support for Trump. Weekly church attenders voted for Trump at significantly higher levels (88%) than those who seldom or never attend church (77%). 

White Catholics who attend church weekly reported voting for Trump at higher levels (64%) than those who attend monthly (58%) or seldom/never (56%). 

The opposite pattern appears among white mainline/non-evangelical Protestants. Those who attend weekly (52%) reported voting for Trump at lower levels than those who attend church less often. 

What about Christian Nationalism? PRRI found that a strong majority of Americans who qualify as Christian nationalism adherents and sympathizers reported voting for Trump (83%). 

Of those who reject Christian nationalism, 64% reported voting for Harris. 

While only 25% of voters indicated they believe God ordained Trump to be the winner of the election, belief in Trump’s divine endorsement is highest among white evangelical Protestants (60%), Hispanic Protestants (45%) and Americans who qualify as Christian nationalism Adherents and Sympathizers. 

Few Hispanic Catholics (25%), white Catholics (21%), or white mainline/non-evangelical Protestant voters (20%) agree that God ordained Trump to win. 

Voters who qualify as Christian nationalism Adherents and Sympathizers (59%) are five times as likely as Christian nationalism Rejecters and Skeptics (11%) to agree that God ordained Trump to win.

You can read the full PRRI report here.

Slaughter of the innocents and the war in Gaza. Can we avert our eyes?

 

It’s a haunting painting. Titled Scène du massacre des Innocents (“Scene of the massacre of the Innocents”), it was painted by the French painter Léon Cogniet in 1824. 

It illustrates the killing of baby boys by Herod’s soldiers following the birth of Jesus (recorded in the gospel of Matthew 2:16-18). Today it hangs in the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Rennes, France. 

In the painting, a terrified mother cowers in a corner, muffling the cries of her small infant son so they won’t be discovered as the soldiers — who are seen behind her, just out of her view, rampaging through Bethlehem as they chase down other desperate mothers carrying their babies in their arms. 

What makes the painting so riveting is the mother’s gaze. She’s looking directly at the viewer, pleading for help but most certainly knowing it will not come — her son will be slaughtered. 

Cogniet’s painting came to mind when I read about a horrifying new study that found that 96 per cent of children in Gaza feel that their death is imminent and almost half want to die as a result of the trauma they have been through.

Read my most recent column reflecting on the painting and the study in the Free Press.

 

 

“A divided church has no message for a divided world.” World Council of Churches leader speaks in Winnipeg about the importance of Christian unity

“A divided church has no message for a divided world.” That’s what the Rev. Dr. Jerry Pillay, general secretary of the World Council of Churches, said during a visit to Winnipeg last week. 

Pillay was in the city to meet with Indigenous leaders and to share his message about the importance of Christian unity. He also spoke about the wars in Gaza and Ukraine, echoing the Council’s position that all wars are contrary to the Bible. 

Oh, and he was also disappointed that Winnipeg wasn’t as cold as he was promised it would be! 

Read my interview with Pillay in the Free Press.

Photo above from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada from Pillay’s visit to Winnipeg.

Oblates, National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation sign agreement for release of personnel records

The personnel records of Oblate priests who worked at residential schools in Canada are now available to survivors, Indigenous communities and researchers.

Records, information and documents will be shared after an agreement was signed Wednesday between the Oblates of Mary Immaculate and the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation.

“As Oblates, we were complicit in a colonial system that harmed Indigenous people,” said Fr. Ken Thorson, head of OMI Lacombe Canada. “Now we want to do what we can to make it right."

The head of archives at the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation commended the Oblates, saying the order is being “much more open than any other public archive in Canada … I appreciate their openness.”

 

Read my story about this agreement in the Winnipeg Free Press.