How little it takes. How few people cross our borders before we allow narratives of fear to start taking hold of us. 

NEW YORK – The daily schedule at the United Nations is jammed with substantial debates and conferences about issues of interest to the universal church.

In Grade 6, Tomasz Glod wrote a speech in school about why he would make a great prime minister. 

It isn’t just polls that show more than half of Ontarians wish there were no publicly funded Catholic schools. 

When I was five and people asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I said I wanted to be the first female prime minister of Canada. 

OTTAWA – While divided on abortion, the Conservative Party has adopted policies to remove the controversial pro-abortion attestation requirement of the Canada Summer Jobs program and to end funding for overseas abortion as part of Canada’s maternal and child health program.

CAPE TOWN, South Africa – The church in Zimbabwe said it is prepared to mediate between government and opposition leaders after six people were killed in violence that followed a disputed presidential election.

It’s probably a safe bet that Ontario’s new premier has never read Pope Paul VI’s encyclical Humanae Vitae, which reaffirmed the Church’s teaching on marriage, parenthood, procreation and contraception. 

OTTAWA – The repeal of Ontario’s controversial sex education curriculum by the new government has elicited reactions ranging from jubilation to gloom among Catholic education stakeholders.

MANAGUA, Nicaragua – As attacks on Catholic clergy continue and anti-government protesters are besieged by Nicaraguan police and paramilitaries, the bishops said they would pray an exorcism prayer.

LIMA, Peru – Peru's bishops expressed support for an overhaul of the country's judicial system after phone-tap recordings revealing influence peddling and corruption became public.

MCALLEN, Texas – The journey for many of the new migrants entering the U.S. near the border town of McAllen involves a mix of hardship and blessings.

Managua, Nicaragua – As the situation in Nicaragua continues to deteriorate, two of the country's bishops are travelling to Rome, where they will brief Pope Francis on the state of affairs in their nation.

Anyone looking for hope from the June 15 Supreme Court of Canada decision on Trinity Western University can find it shining in the pages of the judgment itself.

The churches that sponsor refugees may be nervous about their budgets over the next three years, but they will probably get through the coming flood of refugee arrivals, according to the organization that represents sponsorship agreement holders across the country.