Anne Thériault, Freelance Journalist Profile

Articles

The surprising science behind miracles

1 week ago | broadview.org | Anne Thériault

Pope Francis was known to be a keen saint-maker, having canonized 942 new saints during his papacy — far surpassing his predecessors Benedict XVI and John Paul II, who canonized 45 and 482 saints respectively. One of his last official acts before he died was to advance the causes of several candidates for sainthood.
Broadview Magazine

Nov 5, 2024 | broadview.org | Julie Carl |Arlene L. Smith |Christopher White |Anne Thériault
The rise of the religious influencer

Oct 18, 2024 | broadview.org | Anne Thériault

In Robertson Davies’ 1970 novel, Fifth Business, the eccentric saint enthusiast Dunstan Ramsay reflects on the significance of canonization, noting how each era reveals its values through the saints it celebrates. “Some ages like wonder-workers, and some prefer gifted organizers whose attention to business produces apparent miracles,” Davies wrote.
Broadview Magazine

Sep 27, 2024 | broadview.org | Anne Thériault

Allan Baer had his first brush with activism was in 1973, in his hometown of Kitchener, Ont., when he tried to persuade city council not to scrap environmentally friendly trolley coaches in favour of gasoline-burning buses. He was unsuccessful, but he did learn an important lesson: that you can’t create change alone. “You’ve got to spend time finding a way of keeping in touch with other people and helping build that constituency, helping build the structure that can go forward,” says Baer.
Broadview Magazine

Sep 4, 2024 | broadview.org | Anne Thériault

“I’m old. I’m cranky. I’ve been here for two and a half years now.”This is how Ron Durston introduces himself. The 69-year-old lives in one of the 17 sleeping cabins that were built to address the homelessness crisis in Kingston, Ont., and he’s cranky because his housing worker is running late. That wouldn’t be a problem in and of itself, except that the worker is bringing Durston his favourite dark roast coffee, and, like many people, he’s out of sorts before his first cup of the day.
Stop Panicking about Your Kid’s Screen Time

Jul 29, 2024 | thewalrus.ca | Anne Thériault

Before the pandemic, my son didn’t get much screen time. We didn’t own a television, and long days of school and work meant that dinner, homework, and bath time ate up most of our evenings. On weekend mornings, he would watch cartoons on the family iPad. I wasn’t zealously against screen time, but I did feel a vague smugness over how little my son got.
Beheading Virgin Mary statue proved a point about gender equality

Jul 24, 2024 | broadview.org | Anne Thériault

Earlier this month in Linz, Austria, vandals beheaded a controversial sculpture of the Virgin Mary.
Broadview Magazine

Jul 4, 2024 | broadview.org | Anne Thériault

A Kingston, Ont., program providing private sleeping cabins for people experiencing homelessness is slated for cancellation by the end of the year. But a recent offer from a local United Church may be enough to save the project and give it a permanent home. Like many other Canadian cities, Kingston is in the midst of a homelessness crisis.
Making sense of solar eclipses through ancient superstitions

Apr 5, 2024 | broadview.org | Anne Thériault

On April 8th, a total solar eclipse will be visible across North America, its path ranging from Mexico to Canada. Since the beginning of human history, these sorts of astronomical events have been thought to herald strange occurrences here on earth. How could they not? Seeing the sun plunge into darkness must have felt like heady omens to people who didn’t fully understand what they were looking at.
What the monsters from Bible scriptures can tell us about ourselves

Apr 2, 2024 | broadview.org | Anne Thériault

When Esther J. Hamori’s brother died by suicide, she entered into a period of religious exploration, eventually returning to Judaism, the faith tradition she’d grown up in. That in itself is not unusual — many people turn to religion in times of grief — but Hamori, a professor of the Hebrew Bible at Union Theological Seminary in New York City, found consolation in an unlikely place: biblical stories about monsters.