It is fashionable for columnists to devote the first column of the new year to resolutions — those kept and those broken. For the record, I’ve done both.

Donald Trump has become a hero of the pro-life movement and the darling of conservative Christians. But there is ample evidence to question whether he is worthy of that mantle or even of our respect. Does he really live up to a Christian ideal of respecting life? 

Young people are not the future of the Church — they are the present.

Changing the current toxic cultural narrative around and about the Church consumes enormous Christian energy through a range of means and methods.

Shortly after U.S. president Richard Nixon resigned in disgrace, the Washington Post’s two young reporters who played such a pivotal role in uncovering Watergate received a personal letter from their gutsy publisher Katharine Graham.

End all persecution

Re: Persecution hits close to home (Jan. 13):

Bob Brehl states “we can go on and on about the persecutions of Christians around the world,” then abruptly switches to a story from The New York Times which discusses the homosexual individual from a Catholic San Diego parish who was harassed. Am I the only one who sees a disconnect? 

It was one of those nights when I was challenged by Pope Francis’ insightful observation in The Joy of the Gospel: “The Gospel tells us constantly to run the risk of a face-to-face encounter with others, with their physical presence which challenges us, with their pain and their pleas.”

The cover headline on the December issue of Sojourners magazine caught my eye — “Decolonizing the Spiritual Life: Contemplation, healing, and activism centred on people of colour.” It pointed to an article inside the U.S. magazine, an interview with Teresa Mateus of the Mystic Soul Project.

Remember the good old days.

Canada’s bishops have listened for years as frustrated Church leaders in the developing world decry Canadian companies for acting as if the worker codes and human rights mandated by Canadian law become optional when operating abroad.