Tim McCauley
Fr. Tim McCauley was raised in New Brunswick and received into the Catholic Church in 1995. Ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Ottawa in 2002, he has previously served as pastor of St. Margaret Mary's and Vocations Director for the Archdiocese of Ottawa. He now serves as Chaplain at Carleton University and is in residence at Saint Patrick Basilica in Ottawa. While labouring in his little corner of the Lord's vineyard, or in his spare time, he enjoys contemplating the beauty of truth and the truth of beauty.
Bio last updated February 4th, 2022.
Articles by Tim McCauley
Covid and the Tears of Christ
By Tim McCauley
February 2, 2022
We must not let fear of this pandemic stop us from trusting God and praying through our doubt and frustrations, writes Father Tim McCauley.
Christ wept over ancient Jerusalem for the people’s lack of faith, failing to recognize God in their midst in the Person of Christ But that does not mean that it is His direct will that people die from this pandemic, that society shuts down, that churches are limited in their capacity, and that people live in irrational fear
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That All Faiths Feel At Home
Tim McCauley
November 1, 2021
Father Tim McCauley argues instead of claiming Islamophobia is entrenched in Canada, we must ensure Muslims and all believers are made welcome.
I realize the era of the 1980s was vastly different from our current climate in terms of the number of Muslims in Canada, the rise in Muslim extremism in various parts of the world, and Islamophobia In regard to Muslims, has this changed since 9/11? As the world has witnessed a rise in Muslim extrem...
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Putting Aside Pandemic Mistrust
Tim McCauley
July 13, 2021
We must not let the stresses and fear of the COVID crisis seep into suspicion and crowd out mercy, Father Tim McCauley writes.
With trust, we assume that the vast majority of people have good intentions Nonetheless, if we are to speak meaningfully about mercy and trust, it is important to first acknowledge people’s emotional reactions such as anger The recipients of these deeds of mercy grow in trust in other people ...
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Trumping the Will To Power
Tim McCauley
September 29, 2020
Leading into the 2020 US Presidential debate, Father Tim McCauley sees in the U.S. President a Nietzchean superman wanna be taking advantage of a context where truth is understood as subjective.
But what kind of power? Is it military might? Or the power to do good in promoting democracy and human rights throughout the world? And how does Trump himself understand power? When Christ took on our human nature, He emptied Himself of power and chose to be weak However, we will not discover the ul...
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The Barbarian Invasion of Euthanasia
Tim McCauley
May 24, 2019
Looking at the issue of Medical Aid in Dying, Father Tim McCauley sees old barbarism and ancient heresy coming down the hall wearing modern white medical coats.
However, I suggest that the introduction of euthanasia in the history of Western civilization does in fact represent a form of barbarian invasion If this is true of the divine Son of God, how much more for us creatures who can only receive the resurrection and eternal life as an unmerited gift Let u...
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Finding The Whole in Addiction
Tim McCauley
April 25, 2018
Addiction is often characterized as God-shaped hole in the heart. But as Father Tim McCauley writes, Christians can find even in overcoming such compulsion the opening to a revelation of unifying Love.
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The End of the Summer of Love
Tim McCauley
September 12, 2017
Father Tim McCauley considers the 50 years since the great hippie upheaval of 1967 and finds a paradox: that generation’s lust for power has given way to a new counterculture of Christian love.
For Hendrix, Joplin and Morrison, the Summer of Love and the decade it symbolized came to a tragic end As the walking wounded continue to emerge from the purple haze of the Summer of Love, and to stumble out of the dark tombs of the Culture of Death, they will need to encounter authentic witnesses t...
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Born Of Love Not Lack
Pomeline Martinoski, Jeff Lockert, Tim McCauley, Ashley Chapman
August 25, 2017
Convivium readers, and even a member of the Convivium team, respond to Marlena Lougheed’s account of her decision to leave worldly life and join the Catholic religious order, Sisters of Life.
After reading Marlena's account of her vocation story in Convivium's A Love Louder Than Noise, I can recall the piercing silence with which God burst into my heart, the moment I finally let Him speak to me “I resonate with Marlena Loughheed's journey of discerning a call from God in the midst of the...
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The Might of Modesty
Tim McCauley
July 17, 2017
Father Tim McCauley reflects on questions of human dignity and respect as prompted by ever changing "summer fashions." Do you have a stance, opinion, perspective, or experience that relates to the conversation surrounding modesty? Add your voice to the conversation.
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Making Time For Time
Tim McCauley
June 2, 2017
Convivium contributor Father Tim McCauley reflects on the necessity of creating space to enjoy the passing of time and the discipline that must be cultivated in carving out time for rest, the sacredness of contemplation, love, and worship.
Wasting time on such leisure activities in a world tightly squeezed by time-constraints, carves out a space for what some spiritual writers call "natural" contemplation, or Robert Sibley, in his book A Rumour of God, refers to as the mysticism of the mundane ...
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Marching To Keep Hope Alive
Tim McCauley
May 9, 2017
Crowds at the annual March For Life on Parliament Hill this Thursday will echo the spiritual joy that filled Ottawa streets 70 years ago.
Devout Christians might lament that it is no longer possible to assemble 100,000 people for a religious celebration, but can we not discern a spiritual dimension to the March for Life? In 1947, Catholics celebrated the living Presence of Jesus among His people with a public Eucharistic procession, ...
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Cathedrals of Time
Tim McCauley
April 11, 2017
As Christians and Jews journey through Holy Week and Passover, Father Tim McCauley finds Montreal’s St. Joseph’s Oratory a place of worship, yes, but even more the embodiment of time God gives for our rest and renewal.
Joseph's, as you gaze at the sun setting in the western sky, suffusing the buildings below with a soft glow in warm, golden hues, almost as a heavenly benediction, Montreal could be the most beautiful city in the world! (The same could be said of the great country that surrounds us, first dedicated ...
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Revenge Is Sour
Tim McCauley
March 6, 2017
Father Tim McCauley points readers towards the necessity of recovering an approach towards politics which prizes perspective over personality.
I am grieved by the dissolution of civilized discourse in political life, yet the electric shock to my system came from meeting certain conservative Catholics who also seem to hate Pope Francis! Christians have always hoped that the Church (Protestant, Orthodox and Catholic) would be the light of t...
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Between Power Or Love
Tim McCauley
January 16, 2017
Writer, Tim McCauley comments on the importance of our heart's response to suffering, and gives Convivium readers a perspective on the debate over "mercy killing."
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Looking in the Devil's Lies
Tim McCauley
June 1, 2015
In his review of Father Robert Wild's Jousting with the Devil: Chesterton's Battle with the Father of Lies, Father Tim McCauley finds the means to bring the reality of Beelzebub back into civilized conversation.
As mentioned, Chesterton's encounter with black magic made him more aware of the devil and of supernatural realities, to the point where Wild proposes Chesterton as the patron saint of converts from neo-paganism " Chesterton obviously trusts the gospels and Christ's own testimony to the existence of...
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The Oxygen of Hope
Tim McCauley
October 1, 2014
Contrary to the lyrics of the ancient Pink Floyd song, we need to breathe in more than just air, says Father Tim McCauley
Our crisis of hope originates in part from our deficient philosophy of the human person, and from the eclipse of the infinite and eternal After all, it is in this place that the great hope is constantly proclaimed and communicated to us: that in Christ, the infinite and eternal One became man, suffe...
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The Flesh of Suffering
Tim McCauley
April 1, 2014
From the heart of Christ’s suffering in us comes the grace that releases our fears.
How can we recover the lost meaning of suffering and as Christians strive to transform a culture of death into a civilization of love? For starters, we can acknowledge our own fear of suffering and recognize that this fear is itself a call from God to turn back to the suffering Christ, to Jesus cruc...
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On the Table
Tim McCauley
April 1, 2013
Pushing and pulling to political extremes
As the debate unfolds within these pages about conservative or liberal interpretations of our common life, we must be careful not to slide into extremes, in society and in the churches, of libertines and reactionaries But when liberals become libertines and conservatives, reactionaries, we are in da...