Ted Schmidt (“Hector”) turns 100

  A special Mozart mass with a Hallelujah chorus was celebrated in heaven today in gratitude for the life of F Hector “Ted” Schmidt. “Hector “ as he was mockingly known by his five sons turned 100 today. Born on January 15, 1909 to Sarah “Sadie” Downs and Fred Schmidt of 460 Palmerston Blvd, Ted [...]

Remembering Fintan on the solstice

Fintan the Unforgettable On the morning of the winter solstice , the darkest night of the year,Fintan Kilbride slipped peacefully away in the palliative unit of Toronto’s Princess Margaret Hospital. The quiet man who had brought so much light and hope into the lives of the young here and abroad left behind a legacy of [...]

Studs,the dignity man

“Community organizers like Obama know what’s going on. If they remember. The important thing is memory. You know in this country, we all have Alzheimer’s. Obama has got to remember his days as an organizer. It all comes back to the neighborhood. Well I hope the election is a landslide for Obama.” – Studs Terkel [...]

Ken Loach: director “from below.”

If Jesus were here today he would be a film maker and unlike Fox news he would not be “fair and balanced.” Messiah Productions would be unambiguous by beginning with a perspective “from below.” What does the world look like from the vantage point of the poor and voiceless? Somewhere and everywhere lurking below the [...]

Fintan the Unforgettable

On the morning of the winter solstice , the darkest night of the year,Fintan Kilbride slipped peacefully away in the palliative unit of Toronto’s Princess Margaret Hospital. The quiet man who had brought so much light and hope into the lives of the young here and abroad left behind a legacy of such overwhelming goodness [...]

Overthrow: the Chilean disaster

Tis the season, if you can’t be jolly, try a little truth-telling.And that’s exactly what Stephen Kinzer has done in his elegantly written popular history Overthrow: America’s Century of Regime Change. The veteran New York Times reporter, a former Bureau chief in Turkey Guatemala and Berlin prepares us for what lies ahead: The invasion of [...]

John Dear, Disarmed and Dangerous

John Dear does not quit easily. After being arrested more than 75 times, his Jesuit superiors were getting fed up with him, so in 2002 he was given an option: go back to teaching high-school religion or go to the poorest part of the U.S. and minister there. Undeterred, he found himself in a tiny, [...]

Tom McKillop: Order of Jesus

Previous writing from Catolic New Times will be posted on weekends. Tom McKillop: Order of Canada, ‘father’ of families, friend of Jesus By Ted Schmidt One day in the summer of 1960, I came down to the old ramshackle club which stood at 121 Bellwoods Avenue in Toronto’s Little Italy. I was there to ask [...]