There is something seriously laughable, but also laughably serious, about former Facebook bosses bemoaning the global damage caused by social media giants.

Last month, standing on the basketball court of my first school as a teacher, Mimico High, I launched a book titled The Season.

The Our Father is the foundational prayer of Christian faith. So perhaps it is fitting that Pope Francis has placed it in the spotlight as we make ready to celebrate the Saviour’s birth.

Over the past few weeks I’ve heard wonderful homilies about Advent. Each was about preparation for the coming of the Christ Child through prayer, the Sacrament of Reconciliation and Holy Communion.

We are blessed on Wolfe Island with a magnificent church — more like a cathedral, visitors often say. Dedicated to our Lady under the title of the Sacred Heart of Mary, it was built in 1916-1917, and dedicated in June 1918. I had begun thinking a few years back how to mark the centennial.

Living a Christian life, too often seen as adherence to a list of “do’s” and “don’ts,” is better understood as creative participation in the artistry of the Holy Spirit. Each of us is given a mission in God’s eternal plan, a mission we are called to carry out with love, creativity and joy.
The only miracle that Jesus performed recounted in all four Gospels is the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, more commonly called the feeding of the 5,000 (or 4,000 in Mark’s Gospel, but who was counting precisely?).  
Recently while doing research, I stumbled upon a speech given by Bobby Kennedy the night Martin Luther King was assassinated in 1968. RFK’s message was simple and heartfelt: divisiveness leads to destruction and we must find ways to come together.
As we prepare for the coming of Our Lord in Advent, opportunities present themselves to put Jesus back (for a few weeks, at least) into the public gaze.
In a media world where absurdity abounds, one of the silliest statements of late is a claim that a trip to Myanmar damaged the moral authority of Pope Francis. Quite the opposite.
I have two groups I associate with socially: One group consists mainly of secular friends, many I’ve known for decades during my career in journalism; the other group is Catholic, the people I’m involved with in various pro-life causes or RCIA or those I see each week at Mass.