From a pessimistic perspective, a McGill University conference marking 30 years since the Morgentaler decision might seem another predictable festival of defensive triumphalism from pro-choice warriors.

28th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Oct. 14 (Year B) Wisdom 7:7-11; Psalm 90; Hebrews 4:12-13; Mark 10:17-30

It is said that significant numbers of Catholics have left the Church over the clergy sexual abuse crisis and the ensuing coverup. I cannot verify this since I do not know any Catholics who have made that decision. Nor have I read any news articles which quoted people who have left the Church or which provided analysis showing the emigration of disaffected Catholics.

The summer had been warm and humid, and unlike many churches that can afford air conditioning, the church on the street had to find its own way of surviving the muggy evenings. 

Is it possible for a Catholic bishop to not know sex with children is a crime? 

One late-summer evening, I snatched a moment to walk down to the lake. The day’s rain was starting to clear, golden sunshine emerging. The beach was criss-crossed with noise and activity: volleyball players, loudspeakers, food sales, toys, umbrellas. 

Never let the truth get in the way of a good story. That old newsroom jest has been bandied about for years, especially when questioning a dubious article in a rival publication.

The State of Alabama has had a controversial relationship with the Ten Commandments. Not so much its teachings but its physical representation.

The phrases “hot ticket” and “religious freedom forum” appear only infrequently in the same sentence, especially on Parliament Hill where the operative word is secularism, secularism and more secularism.

Mondegreens are those wonderful phenomena in language where a misheard phrase is substituted for the real thing, usually in music. The term comes from American writer Sylvia Wright who explained that she misheard the phrase “and laid him on the green” in a Scottish ballad as “and Lady Mondegreen.”