Families lived frugally in the rural Nova Scotia community I called home until early adulthood.

The old teapot is steeped in history, fortitude and faith. If it could talk, whistle or chatter, what a tale this 200-year-old china cauldron might tell.

The early days of 2020 have already relegated many best intentions and New Year’s resolutions to the try-again-next-year bin.

Prayer books, prayer groups, prayer meetings, prayer beads, prayer mats, common prayer, the Lord’s Prayer, a wing and a prayer.

Christmas is still weeks away and already we’re exhausted.

Traditionally, November is the time when we especially remember to pray for departed family members, friends and (maybe) enemies. 

The fall meeting of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops brought with it an unexpected invitation. The group SNAP (Survivor’s Network of those Abused by Priests) organized a viewing in Cornwall of the documentary Prey, a film that sheds light on the predatory actions of Hod Marshall, a now-deceased Basilian priest who was convicted for sexually abusing minors.

The Bride and I recently had a return visit with the doctor who specializes in memory problems. New tests had been done, and we were about to receive the results. 

Canada’s 43rd federal election is over — and for many Canadians it was dismal. It was a campaign of “gotcha” moments fought in the mud and a symptom of the greater rot in Canadian politics: the continued growth of so-called “affective partisanship,” or the tribal hostility felt by partisans of one party against partisans of another.

I’m still basking in the glow of the splendid Mass of canonization Oct. 13, presided over by Pope Francis and attended by tens of thousands of bishops, priests and faithful from all over the world.