Religion

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

 

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’

 

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

 

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)
Tourists take pictures with a stuffed polar bear upon arriving to Longyearbyen airport, Norway, Friday, Jan. 6, 2023. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

Church helps Norwegian mining community evolve in dark, warming Arctic

Northern community navigating a drastic change in its identity

Tourists take pictures with a stuffed polar bear upon arriving to Longyearbyen airport, Norway, Friday, Jan. 6, 2023. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)
Pope Francis touches the coffin of late Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI before it is carried away after a funeral mass in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican, Thursday, Jan. 5, 2023. Benedict died at 95 on Dec. 31 in the monastery on the Vatican grounds where he had spent nearly all of his decade in retirement. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

Faithful mourn Benedict XVI at funeral presided over by pope

Heads of state, royalty, clergy from around the world, and thousands more attend ceremony

Pope Francis touches the coffin of late Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI before it is carried away after a funeral mass in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican, Thursday, Jan. 5, 2023. Benedict died at 95 on Dec. 31 in the monastery on the Vatican grounds where he had spent nearly all of his decade in retirement. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
Nuns arrive at dawn to view the body of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI as it lies in state in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican, Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2023. The Vatican announced that Pope Benedict died on Dec. 31, 2022, aged 95, and that his funeral will be held on Thursday, Jan. 5, 2023. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Pope praises ‘gentle’ Benedict ahead of funeral

Nearly 160,000 people had passed through the basilica for former pope’s official viewing

Nuns arrive at dawn to view the body of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI as it lies in state in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican, Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2023. The Vatican announced that Pope Benedict died on Dec. 31, 2022, aged 95, and that his funeral will be held on Thursday, Jan. 5, 2023. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, third from left, meets with the winners of the 2022 Ratzinger Prize, Joseph Halevi Horowitz Weiler, left, and father Michel Fedou, partially hidden at right, at the Mater Ecclesiae monastery inside the Vatican where Benedict XVI lives, in this photo taken Thursday, Dec. 1, 2022. Second from left, is the foundation’s president Father Federico Lombardi, and fourth from left is Benedict XVI’s long-time personal secretary Bishop Georg Gänswein. (Fondazione Vaticana J.Ratzinger via AP)

Benedict XVI, first pope to resign in 600 years, dies at 95

German theologian tried to reawaken Christianity in a secularized Europe

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, third from left, meets with the winners of the 2022 Ratzinger Prize, Joseph Halevi Horowitz Weiler, left, and father Michel Fedou, partially hidden at right, at the Mater Ecclesiae monastery inside the Vatican where Benedict XVI lives, in this photo taken Thursday, Dec. 1, 2022. Second from left, is the foundation’s president Father Federico Lombardi, and fourth from left is Benedict XVI’s long-time personal secretary Bishop Georg Gänswein. (Fondazione Vaticana J.Ratzinger via AP)
Rabbi Bentzion Schtroks led the Menorah lighting ceremony at the West Langley Hall in Walnut Grove on Tuesday, Dec. 20. (Special to Langley Advance Times)

Celebrating Chanukah in the snow

Outdoor Menorah lighting at Walnut Grove hall draws 150

Rabbi Bentzion Schtroks led the Menorah lighting ceremony at the West Langley Hall in Walnut Grove on Tuesday, Dec. 20. (Special to Langley Advance Times)
The Knights of Columbus annual nativity scene atop Terrace City Hall on Dec. 14, 2021. (Ben Bogstie/Terrace Standard)

Nativity scene banned from B.C. town’s city hall after decades-long run

Volunteer group hoping to get Terrace to change its mind after annual tradition rejected

The Knights of Columbus annual nativity scene atop Terrace City Hall on Dec. 14, 2021. (Ben Bogstie/Terrace Standard)
Rev. John Koopman of Free Reformed Church in Chilliwack who was found guilty of violating COVID-19 orders on religious gatherings. (Screenshot www.sermonaudio.com)

Fraser Valley pastor found guilty of hosting church service in violation of COVID rules

Rev. John Koopman’s lawyer to make Charter argument that prohibition violated freedom of religion

Rev. John Koopman of Free Reformed Church in Chilliwack who was found guilty of violating COVID-19 orders on religious gatherings. (Screenshot www.sermonaudio.com)
The Knights of Columbus annual nativity scene atop Terrace City Hall on Dec. 14, 2021. (Ben Bogstie/Terrace Standard)

Northern B.C. officials ban nativity scene from Terrace city hall roof

The move reflects a 2015 Supreme Court of Canada decision

The Knights of Columbus annual nativity scene atop Terrace City Hall on Dec. 14, 2021. (Ben Bogstie/Terrace Standard)
St. Peter’s Roman Catholic Church in Nanaimo. (Chris Bush/News Bulletin)

B.C. is Canada’s least religious province, has country’s 6 least religious metro areas

For the first time, non-religious people outnumber religious people in British Columbia

St. Peter’s Roman Catholic Church in Nanaimo. (Chris Bush/News Bulletin)
TWU sociology professor Michael Wilkinson has recently done a three-year study on what it means when people say they have “no religion,” especially in B.C. (Michael Wilkinson/Special to the Langley Advance Times)

Almost half of Langley residents have no religion: census

The increase is typical for B.C., which is the least religious province in Canada

TWU sociology professor Michael Wilkinson has recently done a three-year study on what it means when people say they have “no religion,” especially in B.C. (Michael Wilkinson/Special to the Langley Advance Times)
A woman walks through an abandoned church in Thunder Bay, Ont., Friday, March 4, 2016. Statistics Canada says 34.6 per cent of people in this country have no religious affiliation — more than ever before. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson

More Canadians than ever have no religious affiliation, census shows

Growth in the non-religious population, decline in people reporting as Christian linked

A woman walks through an abandoned church in Thunder Bay, Ont., Friday, March 4, 2016. Statistics Canada says 34.6 per cent of people in this country have no religious affiliation — more than ever before. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson
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