Speaking Out

This past weekend I enjoyed a brief phone chat with Faye McCreedy, the youth ministry coordinator in the Archdiocese of Vancouver’s ministries and outreach office.

I had the great pleasure to see Top Gun: Maverick last weekend. Considering the action flick netted a Memorial Day weekend record $156 million domestic box office haul, I was one of many Canadians and Americans taking the “highway to the danger zone.”

Welcome to Earth 2022: where even the phrase “we’ve only got one world” is questioned.

Over the next 12 months, many Canadian provincial governments will be ousted or renewed as a series of regional elections kicks off beginning with the country’s most populous province Ontario on June 2. While not as flashy or media-crazed as a federal election, provincial decision days are vitally important as these legislatures control education, property rights and health care.

Last Sunday marked the fourth Sunday and 21st day of Easter. However, as the priest noted this in his homily during the Mass I attended, it came as a little bit of a surprise to me. I believe general society helped shape my reaction. Upon reflection, it is easy to see that our culture has a simplified, or perhaps more appropriately, misguided perception of Easter.

What does it take to attain the reward of eternal life in Heaven?

Last autumn gifted me an occasion to reflect upon my experience with Catholic education when I attended Holy Family Academy Elementary School and St. Joseph’s Collegiate  from 1997 to 2010 in Brooks, Alta.

Last year was my first time attending the National March for Life.

The road to Golgotha is long and arduous. Bewilderment and tension perfuse through the masses, crowding together, eager to catch a glimpse of the blood-soaked figure crouched under the crippling weight of a wooden cross. A Roman centurion, donned in red, kicking up clouds of dust with his sandals, orders brusquely in churlish Latin, “festina, Nazarene.”

Every year, just before Easter, we take a week to meditate on Christ’s Passion. We contemplate Jesus’ sacrificial death for us.