The front page of the Oct. 6 The Catholic Register looks and reads more like The National Enquirer than a respectable Catholic newspaper. It is distasteful. 

I must say how much I enjoyed Amanda Achtman’s article “A Northern encounter with living treasures.” If that’s not building God’s kingdom, I don’t know what is. If only there was more appreciation between generations! I’m soon to be 68 with four grandchildren and I don’t have an idea yet how to encourage this, but I will come up with one. I’m sure the Holy Spirit will inspire. 

Your fire-and-brimstone Oct. 6 editorial “Israel’s moral path” seems to miss the point that this internecine conflict is being waged on sacred ground: an affront to God. In Isaiah 54:10 we read, “For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the LORD that hath mercy on thee.” 

Congratulations on the Lives Lived for Life. How uplifting to learn about 14 Canadians who have assumed leadership roles in the pro-life cause such as the witty Jim Hughes, multi-talented Nicole Scheidl and serene Mary Wagner, to name a few. 

Anna Farrow’s Oct. 13 article “Christians sign on to back Canada’s Jews” was biased in conflating anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism. I have attended many pro-Palestinan rallies and have never witnessed anti-Semitism there. I’ve marched with Jewish people, cried for justice with them and shared Shabbat at the encampment at University of Toronto. 

The Register’s editorial “We stand with Jewish brethren” is one-sided and unconvincing. It blames Hamas leader, Yahya Sinwar, for extinguishing 42,000 Palestinians. He didn’t drop the bombs. Seventy per cent of the dead were women and children. The Israelis killed them by relentlessly bombing Gaza in a disproportionate response to the Oct. 7 Hamas attack.

Enemies and critics of Israel — they’re not the same thing — may take momentary heart from Pope Francis’ reported comments that the Gaza conflict might constitute genocide.

An excerpt from Pope Francis’ message to young people for the XXXIX World Youth Day to be celebrated on November 24, 2024.

"Why do men become beasts?"

The question was asked by South African Archbishop Buti Joseph Tlhagale. In a speech last August, he was warning men that they will be held accountable for the treatment of women. "The Son of God will make us pay for all the things we have done, or not done," the archbishop said.

My favourite book is “The Wound and the Gift,” the biography of Scottish poet and novelist George Mackay Brown. His poetry and novels were written with a sensitivity that was able to look beyond the wound, to see the gift within; a gift that often contributed to the person’s woundedness.