A friend who attended a commemoration Mass at a church in Montreal’s Villeray neighbourhood at the end of February e-mailed me this compelling observation shortly afterward.

In 35 years of journalism, I’ve had two significant encounters with jailhouse views of life and death. Memories of both came back sharply standing in Canada’s Supreme Court earlier this month when nine justices declared doctor-assisted killing legal.

The great Catholic journalist Malcolm Muggeridge said there is nothing more pathetic than a ruling class on the run. Well, maybe there is. Maybe it is  a community that lets its institutions die from the inside out.

As NDP leader Thomas Mulcair pointed out in a year-end CTV interview, January marks the start of a federal election year in Canada. Although voting is not expected for another 10 months, virtually every Ottawa eyelash flutter will be decoded for its electoral significance this year.

A colleague scolded me recently for my argument that any attempt to reconfigure the culture must avoid being a pretext for smuggling Christendom back into the story.

In mid-November, Pope Francis gave an address to new communities and ecclesial movements in the Church that was, even by his high standards, utterly inspiring.

Two days before its crews tidied up the National War Memorial in Ottawa on All Souls Day, Public Works Canada issued an advisory that flowers and other mementos would be removed. 

New Democrat MP Paul Dewar flushed with surprise when asked whether, as someone raised Catholic, he considers Canada’s involvement in the bombing of ISIL terrorists to qualify as a just war.