Michael Swan

When should patients with dementia be approved for MAID? A new report highlights experts' concerns over the factors leading patients with dementia to request and receive MAID

On the scheduled day of her MAID death, Mrs. F became “overwhelmed” with all the visitors. Visitors were sent away. The MAID provider determined she gave final consent to MAID because she could repeat the provider’s question & squeezed the provider’s hand. www.canadianaffairs.news/2025/09/29/w...

'Where reconciliation happens': Indigenous reconciliation on display in immigrant-dense church Orange t-shirts in the pews reflect a solidarity across Indigenous and immigrant cultures on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation

“We live on the land that is actually not ours. It belongs to somebody else,” she said. “Any nations that ever come over here, we took over all the land.” www.canadianaffairs.news/2025/09/29/w...

YouTube video by The Pope Video For collaboration between different religious traditions - The Pope Video - October 2025

May religions not be used as weapons or walls... www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JNh...

Both Mourning And Dancing - Henri Nouwen Gratitude at its deepest level embraces all of life with thanksgiving: the good and the bad, the joyful and the

Jesus calls us to be grateful for every moment we have lived henrinouwen.org/meditations/...

We commemorated the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation at Our Lady of Lourdes in Toronto today.

No More Victims - Henri Nouwen Jesus’ total, unlimited, unconditional participation in the suffering of the world has opened to us the possibility of living in

“I do not ask you to take them out of the world, but to guard them from the evil one” henrinouwen.org/meditations/...

Staying in the Present - Henri Nouwen Many of the good and important things that have happened to me in life were completely unexpected. And many things

God is present in my life, yet I act and speak as if I am in control. But if the future is not in my hands, then I have all the more reason to stay in the present & give honor and glory to God from where I am, trusting God is the God of life who makes everything new. henrinouwen.org/meditations/...

Holy See at UN reaffirms commitment to women's rights | ICN On Monday 22 September, Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, Secretary for Relations with States and International Organizations of the Holy See, addressed the High-Level Meeting commemorating the 30th...

Violence is not limited to sexual exploitation and trafficking but includes also practices of prenatal sex selection and female infanticide. These acts, condemned in the Beijing Declaration, continue to result in the deaths of millions of "missing girls" each year. www.indcatholicnews.com/news/53313

Gratitude Transforms - Henri Nouwen The opposite of resentment is gratitude (from the Latin gratia = favor). Gratitude is more than an occasional “thanks be

Gratitude Transforms - Henri Nouwen henrinouwen.org/meditations/...

A Church that Listens (RFQ 4.1) - Regis College Canada’s first Indigenous canon lawyer knows what obstacles lie in the path of Indigenous people becoming recognized, stable leaders and ministers in the

“How cool would it be if it was Indigenous women who were the first in Canada to actually receive these designations (catechist, lector, acolyte)?” regiscollege.ca/a-church-tha...

Our Suffering God - Henri Nouwen God’s compassion for all human suffering is exactly what becomes visible on the cross. What this means is that we

From a Christian perspective, history is the unfolding of the intensity and immensity of God’s suffering, but also of God’s resurrection, because in the midst of all the suffering, you can see signs of hope again and again and again. henrinouwen.org/meditations/...

I Will repeat once more, this is incorrect. Outside of American Evangelism and neo-pentecostal movements, faith is not a feeling. It is not an emotion. It is more than open to reason. It relies upon reason.

Faith is tied to reason, not emotion.

That is incorrect. It's not a definition of faith that any faith tradition recognizes. St. Augustine defines it as a way of seeking understanding, not as a way of ignoring the truth.

arguments are faith. They are the furious id lashing out against truth. And it makes the Mediaeval Europe look very rational.

Faith can't tell you climate change isn't real. Faith can't tell you holy war is good. Faith can't make racism right. Faith can't defeat the Scopes Monkey Trial. Faith doesn't make gun ownership a human right. Faith doesn't make the earth 6,000 years old. None of these American ....

Infinite Mercy - Henri Nouwen To relearn what praying for the world means, we have to realize that the burden of the world has become

Jesus made an unbearable burden bearable. We now have a companion who has tasted the agony of humanity more fully and deeply than any other person in history. henrinouwen.org/meditations/...

Just because American Evangelicals define faith as something separate from reason doesn't mean the rest of us live lives in opposition to evidence. We walk by faith, because faith is reasonable.

Unbearable Burdens - Henri Nouwen Life becomes an unbearable burden whenever we lose touch with the presence of a loving Savior and see only hunger

Life becomes an unbearable burden whenever we lose touch with the presence of a loving Savior and see only hunger to be alleviated, injustice to be addressed, violence to overcome, wars to be stopped, and loneliness to be removed. henrinouwen.org/meditations/...

When Prayer Descends - Henri Nouwen How do we concretely move from head to heart? When I lie in my bed, not able to fall asleep

You may be distracted by your worries, but if you keep going back to the words of the prayer, you will gradually discover that your worries become less obsessive, your attention becomes more focused, and you really start to enjoy praying. henrinouwen.org/meditations/...

The impact of religious involvement on trust, volunteering, and perceived cooperativeness: evidence from two British panels Abstract. Does religious involvement make people more trusting and prosocial? Considering conflicting theories and mixed prior evidence, we subject this qu

academic.oup.com/esr/article/...

Statistics Canada, Imagine Canada have found the opposite in credible studies. Real life experience also tells me that if I meet a baseball coach, a hospital visitor, a Meals on Wheels driver, they likely go to church, synagogue, mosque.

Fear is Not of God - Henri Nouwen Knowing God’s heart means consistently, radically, and very concretely to announce and reveal that God is love and only love,

This sounds very simple and maybe even trite, but very few people know that they are loved without any conditions or limits. henrinouwen.org/meditations/...

Canada's 'insular culture' drives decline in volunteerism Older Canadians are keeping volunteer organizations running, but burnout looms as younger generations stay away

“We know that people who participate in religious life volunteer more, are more empathetic, are more likely to give more money to charity.… I don’t know what we have to step into that place to replace it.” @canadianaffair.bsky.social

www.canadianaffairs.news/2025/09/08/c...

The Careful Balance - Henri Nouwen Somewhere we know that without a lonely place, our lives are in danger. Somewhere we know that without silence, words

Without silence, words lose their meaning; that without listening, speaking no longer heals; that without distance, closeness cannot cure. henrinouwen.org/meditations/...

The Call for Patience - Henri Nouwen If we are patient, we can look at all the events of each day – expected and unexpected – as

Patience is the attitude that says we cannot force life but have to let it grow in its own time. henrinouwen.org/meditations/...

The Call for Patience - Henri Nouwen If we are patient, we can look at all the events of each day – expected and unexpected – as

Patience is the attitude that says we cannot force life but have to let it grow in its own time. henrinouwen.org/meditations/...

Before Birth and After Death - Henri Nouwen I am a human being who was loved by God before I was born and whom God will love after

When I die love continues to be active, and from full communion with God I am present by love to those I leave behind. henrinouwen.org/meditations/...

The study of rhetoric is long, complex and not on the curricula of most schools.

God is the Source - Henri Nouwen For Jesus, and for us, prayer provides the insight and affirmation that if we do anything that is worthwhile –

Prayer is the experience of knowing that God is the source of everything we claim as our own. To pray is to say with Jesus, “Not my will, but yours. Not my words, but yours. Not my worth, but yours. Not my glory, but yours. Not in my name, but in yours.” henrinouwen.org/meditations/...