When I first started thinking about what I would do for Lent this year, the last thing I imagined was a fast that would encompass 54 Fridays, running until Easter of next year.

I commend Fr. Michael Machacek for visiting Toronto parishes to “share information” and help give Catholics “hope” regarding the “horrors of priestly abuse.” But after reading the facts/figures he cites, I suggest that readers google a recent study published by Fr. Paul Sullins, a sociology professor who taught at the Catholic University of America (CUA) for many years. His report is entitled “Is the Catholic Clergy Sex Abuse related to Homosexual Priests?”

In a new book, The Case for Trump, scholarly classicist Victor Davis Hanson paints the U.S. president as a tragic hero like Achilles or Ajax from classic Greek literature.

The mirage that mass shootings — such as the massacre of 50 Muslims at prayer in Christchurch, New Zealand — are isolated incidents long ago vaporized. While mass killings are performed by deranged individuals whose behaviour falls well outside social norms, they are societal phenomena with societal roots.

Complete picture

I commend Fr. Michael Machacek for visiting Toronto parishes to “share information” and help give Catholics “hope” regarding the “horrors of priestly abuse.” But after reading the facts/figures he cites, I suggest that readers google a recent study published by Fr. Paul Sullins, a sociology professor who taught at the Catholic University of America (CUA) for many years. His report is entitled “Is the Catholic Clergy Sex Abuse related to Homosexual Priests?”

Separate terrorist attacks in the past five months have killed 80 people as they worshipped in New Zealand mosques, an American synagogue and a Philippines cathedral. These are just three among hundreds of attacks on worshippers over the past decade. 

The Ontario government is advancing further along the road of privatization, this time in the area of autism therapies.

I’ve begun to call it the Gospel on the Green Line.

Softening is a curious thing. We soften water, counteracting metals and minerals that stain and damage our clothing. We soften edges, to prevent slivers and injuries. We soften butter, to stop it from tearing through bread. 

With great promise can come deep sorrow.