Welcome to Veritas!

Welcome to our website where you will find our newsletter, a bulletin for events, photo galleries, and so much more.  We hope you will add us to your list of favourites and visit us often.

We are located on Barrington Street in the heart of downtown Halifax.  If you haven't been to our new store yet, we invite you to come by and see our much larger and brighter space.  Distinctly Catholic, we now offer a larger selection of quality books and merchandise - something for everyone!

        
Views from Barrington Street and Blowers Street, Downtown Halifax

Veritas Newsletter

Our latest newsletter for July 2010 has now been posted. Just go to the Newsletter page to read it online, or download your own copy.  Enjoy!

Summer Specials

Be sure to drop by the store for savings of 20% to 80% off select items.

Browsing through the Store

DVDs

Hundreds of DVD’s wait to be discovered at Veritas.  Some are for sale; others for rent, at $2.00 a week.

They are all chosen for their value in making it easier to appreciate our faith, but also for their humor and touching stories.  A few  titles:  “Helena”,  about  the mother of the Emperor Constantine; she is the first pilgrim to the Holy Land, in search of the places that had been touched by the Lord.   “Darwin’s Dilemma” deals with the Cambrian explosion and its significance for the theory of evolution.  The “Great Secret Rescue” of 800,000 Jews from the Holocaust deals with Pius XII.  “Pepino” is a boy who travels to Rome to get the Holy Father’s permission to bring his donkey into the Shrine of St. Francis in Assisi.  “Bakhita” is a girl sold into slavery five different times. Subjected to beatings and humiliations until Providence leads her to a convent, conversion and a holy life; she was beatified by John Paul II in 2000.

The collection has been significantly enriched lately with the addition of  a very  large  number of    family movies, classic videos, old and new,  for children and adults at unbeatable prices. Browse through and see for yourself.  Most of these DVD's  wait to be discovered. They offer relaxation and enrichment. They help hold the family together. 

Cardinal Newman's Corner

In anticipation of his beatification next Summer in Oxford by Pope Benedict XVI,  there is a display of books by Cardinal Newman and on him  which will surprise us. Cardinal Newman was one of the greatest converts in the history of the Catholic Church. The list of his writings is prodigious, starting with the Apologia Pro Vita Sua, An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine, A Grammar of Assent, The Idea of a University, The Dream of Gerontius, Mary the Second Eve.  Add to these his Parochial and Plain Sermons, Lead Kindly Light, Verses on Various Occasions.  These titles are grouped together with essays and biographies written by his admirers. Many are convinced that Cardinal Newman will one day be proclaimed also a Doctor of the Church, for his writings and the profound influence he has had on the teachings of Vatican Council II.  

Cardinal Newman was not only a great thinker, a great writer, but also a passionate announcer of the good news: shy man that he was, he has written some twenty volumes of letters to individuals with whom he corresponded on matters related to faith. His motto was “cor ad cor loquitur”: speaking from the heart is his secret.

A Rack Full of Devotions

From How to say the Rosary to Storm Novena, the display offers dozens of little pocket size pamphlets on the most popular devotions. There is the Novena for World peace, the Secret of Happiness as revealed to Saint Bridget, the Divine Mercy Chaplet, Prayers to St. Michael the Archangel, the Novena to St. Joseph, the Secret of Mary as taught by St. Louis de Montfort, the Wonders of the holy Name. Pure Love, Basic Helps for Confession, Come Holy Spirit, The Cross way to Resurrection.

Many, many others, all fitting in a pocket or purse, practical guides costing very little. Devotions are part of one’s daily life. A prayer to one’s patron saint is like a talk in the family. Reviewing these pamphlets one realizes how inventive the faithful have been and are  in calling for help.

Books on CDs

There is an open cabinet full of inspiring CD’s. Every month a few new ones arrive. Call it the “CD of the Month corner.” These CD’s are not musical. They are the spoken version of valuable books by distinguished Catholic authors: classics like Bishop Fulton Sheen, Dr. Scott Hahn, Father John Corapi, Matthew Kelly, Russell Ford, Jeff Kevins, Stephen Ray, Michael Barber and others.  Some of the authors are converts. The topics covered are many: ‘what to do if you are suffering”, “understanding the Eucharist”, “the passion of Christ”, “why is there a Hell?”, “from Mormon to Catholic”, “for better forever”, “the Virgin Mary in Scripture”, “becoming the best version of yourself”, “finding the fullness of faith”, and  many, many  other topics. Evidently, most of the topics help us understand better the implications of our beliefs, and help us explain them to others. 

CD’s are much less expensive than the books by the same title. Moreover, they can be played while we are driving to work or otherwise occupied. Sometimes it is easier to listen than to read.

Magazines

Our bookstore subscribes to about twenty magazines. Some offer current religious news, others are guides to reflection, to meditation on religious topics, on formation, on evangelizing. Some titles: Inside the Vatican, First Things, Catholic World Report, National Catholic Register, The Word Among us, My Daily Visitor, This Rock, The Bible Today, Homiletic and Pastoral Review, Catholic Digest,  The Atlantic Catholic, Traces,  The Interim , Take Out,  Street Feat,  etc. With the regular subscriptions one will find also copies of complimentary magazines to which the store does not subscribe but which are displayed occasionally for information to patrons.  Especially in our days, magazines become a necessity because of the fast development of news which we cannot ignore. Catholic magazines are also a correction to inaccurate or false reports that may appear in other publications. It is a necessity for us to keep properly informed about news dealing with the Church and the Faith.

Greeting Cards and Bulletins

This is another of the services available to Veritas customers. Greeting cards can become a means of spreading the Good News. There are cards for most occasions, pleasant and sad:  Baptisms, First Communions, Confirmations, Reception into the Church, Weddings, First Reconciliation, birthdays, anniversaries,  Religious Vows,  but also Get Well,  Sympathy, Mass intentions, graduation, Thank You  Cards can be used for all social occasions,  to  bring  a word of  faith, of love, of hope, of encouragement,   of  shared  prayer.

Musical Recordings

The CD’s are displayed on a table,   in various rows.  There  are liturgical  CD’s, and CD’s for  adoration, CD’s from Taize, instrumental, Gregorian, praise and worship, prayer and meditation, Irish Hymns, vocalists like Andrea Boccelli,  Marilla Ness, Fr. Stan Fortuna, John Michael Talbot, the rosary, stations of the cross, divine mercy, etc.   The variety, the number, and the beauty of the musical recordings is surprising.  Good for your own listening; good for a gift to a friend.

Occasional Displays

According to the seasons of the liturgical year, or the special programs encouraged  by the Church,  one can find little displays that do away with the need for searching through the shelves. It may be First Communion time, or Lent, or the Year of the Priest, Divine Mercy Sunday, the canonization of Brother Andre’ or the beatification of  Cardinal Newman.

Nativity Set

It may seem early, but it takes months to bring in a Nativity Set.  Veritas has some in store, of various sizes and styles. A Nativity set also requires hours of dedication to become an object of admiration, an occasion for meditation on the love of God for us, love which invented the Incarnation.

Thank you and we hope to see you soon!
Lucian