Since the Quiet Revolution of the 1960s, Quebec governments have been bent on driving religion out of their culture. Ironically, this campaign has co-existed with the broader campaign to preserve Quebec’s uniqueness in an English-speaking North America.
Invited to the Ideacity conference in June, I was listening to an eclectic string of interesting speakers, from a British historian describing what Jesus really looked like to the rise of anti-Semitism in Canada and around the world.
Eternal damnation
Re: Will there be a day when hell is empty? (May 19):
The purpose of this letter is to correct a theological misconception in a statement in Fr. Ron Rolheiser’s column.
A quarter century ago, towards the end of a year in which her children had been running amok, Queen Elizabeth lamented her annus horribilis, her horrible year. The bishops of America know that feeling.
Recently I experienced a rather serious injury. The official version is that I fell off a 15-foot ladder while rescuing a child from a burning building.
Curiosity is not my first response. The little voice is so imploring: “Is there just one more packet of seeds in this drawer, Mommy? I just need to plant one more packet of seeds.” I am making dinner, on a timeline, and the combination of little hands in the junk drawer and the garden boxes raises my blood pressure. I just want to finish cooking. Who has time for curiosity?
I read George Orwell’s 1984 when I was in high school. We were still in the midst of the Cold War and were taught it was a book about the evils of communism.
Graduation season is upon us. Universities, high schools, elementary schools and these days even kindergarten cohorts celebrate and move forward to places unknown to them.
I can never decide whether it’s the optimist or the masochist in me that believes the relentless assault on conscience rights is set to collapse under its own absurdity.
Un-Canadian
Re: Changing of the guard (June 2):
To say that there is “significant resistance” to the change in the Knights of Columbus uniform is a blatant understatement. In a survey of District 2 (encompassing the GTA and area) more than 90 per cent of the Fourth Degree members opposed the dictated change.
Latin may never bounce back from being all but dead, but the Vatican keeps trying and deserves credit for its efforts. If not them, no one else will.