The Prayer-Filled Pandemic
During the pandemic, I not only spent a considerable amount of time praying, but I also thought a great deal about the nature of prayer, what it should mean in our lives, what we do when we pray.
“Grace,” circa 1918, by Swedish-American photographer Eric Enstrom. In 2002, the iconic photograph was designated the state photograph of Minnesota (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)
For many years whenever I thought about the nature of prayer, the following words entered my mind: “Prayer is the raising of the mind and heart to God.” I imagine I learned that definition from the catechism I studied when I was in Catholic grammar school. It is impressive how a definition would stay with me that long a time. I do not think that this definition is erroneous, but perhaps there is a better way to think about prayer. I can recall the exact moment I changed my view of prayer. It was when I read Gregory Baum’s provocative book “Man Becoming.”
Dissertation will explore Christianity and Holocaust February 28, 2021
A couple years ago, Prof. Robert Ventresca at King’s University College in London, Ont., was marking papers submitted to him by a precocious, intense, serious and curious undergraduate enrolled in his seminar on the role of religion in the Holocaust.
Now the world-renowned Catholic scholar of the Holocaust is looking forward to the research his former student Mia Theocharis will produce on Christianity and the role it played in and after the Holocaust as she works toward a PhD at the University of St. Michael’s College in Toronto.
“I am especially interested in Mia’s focus on the fundamental transformation in Jewish-Catholic relations after the Holocaust, including the profound changes in Catholic teaching about Jews and Judaism in the wake of Vatican II,” Ventresca told