Ash Wednesday is on the horizon. While Catholics are getting ashes on our foreheads, much of the rest of the Western world will be buying chocolates and flowers. I don’t remember Ash Wednesday falling on Valentine’s Day previously. Google says the last time was in 1945, a little before my time.

Saskatoon-born singer-songwriter Kay Clarity hadn’t expected to launch her new pop music project Pax Paloma in mid-February, but witnessing the isolation and loneliness from the pandemic brought about a change of heart for the Catholic artist.

Below-zero February temperatures, red roses, sweetheart candies galore and the timely advent of romantically-saturated Hallmark movies are the tell-tale signsof an impending, and often dreaded, culturally memorialized feast: Valentine’s Day.

“Love at first sight” as a concept probably finds itself with an even split between advocates and detractors.

Online dating as a Catholic has always been tough for Lisa van der Wilt and the global pandemic hasn’t made it any easier.

We begin the season of Lent with Ash Wednesday on Feb. 14, only a few weeks after our celebration of the Christmas season. That’s early, so we may feel that we are not “ready” yet.