If Christ is king, why so much darkness? Why disease? Why government orders that seem to defy common sense? Whatever it is that is making you anxious, take heart. Be not afraid. Christ is King. But we must not forget that he first reigned from the Cross. Are you afraid of covid? Be Read more…
On the feast of St John Henry Newman, October 9, the Very Rev. Provost Paul Pearson clothed Br Jeffrey Sullivan in the habit of St Philip, and he thus began his noviciate at the Toronto Oratory. Jeffrey Sullivan was born in 1992 in Ottawa, Ontario. Interested from an early age Read more…
Work on Renovatio has continued, with the new seminary building starting to take shape. After the pouring of additional cement for the basement, steel was put in place, and another level of cement was poured. Please continue to pray for the Toronto Oratory and the Renovatio project.
Renovatio has been progressing well, with construction of the new seminary building in full swing after the demolitions in June. Following excavation, the construction team has moved on to building up the underlying architecture, and concrete has been poured. In addition to the new building, some interior renovations are also Read more…
Now that our final permits are at last in the offing, Renovatio has moved into a new phase, commencing with the demolition of existing structures to make way for the new seminary building. Although scaffolding went up in the winter, it was not until the beginning of this month that Read more…
The Very Rev. Jonathan Robinson, Founder and Superior of the Oratory of St Philip Neri in Toronto, died June 3 at home, after a brief illness. Fr Robinson was born in Montreal in 1929 and ordained a Catholic priest in 1962. He was educated in Montreal, Edinburgh, and Rome. For several Read more…
Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth… (Isaiah 53:7) More than seven centuries before the coming of Christ, a Hebrew prophet named Isaiah wrote these words as part of a series of Read more…
In the midst of the present COVID-19 crisis, many Catholics have been inspired to rediscover ancient prayers against disease. During the centuries-long struggle against the bubonic plague in Europe, prayers for plague victims were a regular part of the Church’s life, and many texts interceding for plague victims were set Read more…
In 2019 Fr. Michael Eades had a book published with Toronto University Press entitled And in our Hearts Take Up Thy Rest, based on his doctoral study of the Trinitarian pneumatology of Fr Frederick Crowe, SJ. On Friday, February 14, 2020, the Lonergan Research Institute, of which Fr Crowe was Read more…
Love comes suddenly to His temple, as Malachi foresees. Candlemas is the dawning of that light. The light is Christ, of Whom St John speaks: shining in a darkness that cannot overcome it. What is the temple? It is ourselves: the flesh in which He joined Himself to us, to Read more…