The cross I wear around my neck each day is a relatively large wooden one made by young people living in the poorest and most dangerous areas of Colombia. It is one of hundreds of thousands that they made as part of a project supported by Development and Peace. The crosses were given as a special gift from St. John Paul II at the World Youth Day papal Mass in Toronto on July 28, 2002. 

I was troubled to hear my Ottawa colleague describe what she saw Dec. 8 on Parliament Hill. 

Live simply so that others may simply live. These words haunt me. These words inspire me. 

How little it takes. How few people cross our borders before we allow narratives of fear to start taking hold of us. 

For the sake of the planet, the rights of Indigenous peoples and the future, the Catholic Church in Canada spoke out against the pipeline. 

The question in Section 5 of the form stares at me from my computer: “Estimated Attendance?” I am filling out the Nathan Phillips Square Special Event Application form provided by the City of Toronto. On April 25, we plan to gather as young Catholics to raise our voices for a more generous Canada.

“Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart” (Luke 18:1). So begins the parable of the widow and the unjust judge.