Issues, ethics, memory
I was thinking over the Easter weekend of Father Bob Ogle, my late friend and political mentor. It was in April 1998 that he died at age 69 after more than a decade of serious illness. I wrote a brief piece about him for the Lives Lived section of the Globe and Mail and the... Continue Reading →
My recent book book Pulpit and Politics has been reviewed in the Clarion Journal of Spirituality and Justice, an on line publication. The reviewer is Ron Dart, a professor in the Department of Philosophy & Politics at the University of the Fraser Valley in Abbotsford, B.C. You will see that he recommends the book and is pleased that it... Continue Reading →
I was interviewed about my book Pulpit and Politics by two CBC Radio hosts in early January 2012. Michael Enright, host of CBC Radio’s The Sunday Edition talked with former MP Bill Blaikie and me on New Year’s Day. Then on January 7, Wojtek Gwiazda, host of the Radio Canada International's Masala Canada, interviewed me... Continue Reading →
Writer Christopher Hitchens has died at age died at age 62. One of his most popular and controversial books is God is not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything. In a guest column for this blog, Eric Schiller, a Quaker and a retired University of Ottawa professor, writes about the book and analyzes Hitchens' attack on organized... Continue Reading →
I had two recent launches in Saskatchewan for my book Pulpit and Politics. One of the events was at St. Peter's College in Muenster, where I was a boarding school student for three years in high school and first year university in the 1960s. My friend Father Andrew Britz interviewed me about the book prior to a time of questions... Continue Reading →
About 130 people attended an Ottawa launch on November 2nd for Dennis Gruending’s new book, Pulpit and Politics: Competing Religious Ideologies in Canadian Public Life. The event took place at Southminster United Church and was co-sponsored by Kingsley Publishing and an Ottawa-based group called Canadians for Democratic Renewal. Veteran journalist Juliet O’Neill, who is now... Continue Reading →
Several Post media newspapers carried a question and answer piece on either October 29 or 30 by journalist Paul Gessell with Dennis Gruending regarding his new book Pulpit and Politics: Competing Religious Ideologies in Canadian Public Life. The newspapers carrying the piece included the Ottawa Citizen, Regina Leader Post and Edmonton Journal. Those papers and a number of... Continue Reading →
The Ottawa-based Hill Times carried an interview with me in its October 17 edition regarding my new book, Pulpit and Politics: Competing Religious Ideologies in Canadian Public Life. It was released earlier in October by Kingsley Publishing of Calgary. It is available in Ottawa at Brittons magazine stores: 846 Bank Street or 352 Richmond Road, or from Alpine... Continue Reading →
Those of you who follow my blog will wonder why I have not been posting for the past number of weeks. In fact, several of you have contacted me to ask about it. The truth is that I have been taken up with the final edits of a book that I will publish in October.... Continue Reading →
Allan Blakeney, Saskatchewan premier 1971-82 My friend Allan Blakeney, the former premier of Saskatchewan, died in April 2011 at age 85. I describe him as a friend and he was, although I am aware that he had many friends of longer duration and also many admirers. As a CBC Radio host, I interviewed him on... Continue Reading →
Pulpit and Politics 