On March 20, 2022, Archbishop Christian Lépine celebrated a Thanksgiving Mass to mark the 10th anniversary of his appointment as Archbishop of Montreal.

Since the legalization of euthanasia in Canada in 2016, I’ve had two people tell me of their parent who would be dying in this way. These were acquaintances who did not know me well, not even my last name, and yet they shared this deeply personal information. Yet in my entire life, I’ve never had even one woman mention in passing that she had an abortion. I’ve never had anyone casually tell me they accompanied someone to an abortion.

Listening hearts

I have never been more proud of the Catholic Church than when I heard Pope Francis’ response last week to our Indigenous community in Canada. It was not so much what he said, but an acknowledgement that he had listened.

Two mercifully flown decades ago, Mr. Dan Brown foisted on the world from some printing presses the Luddites sadly missed smashing, a purported novel called The Da Vinci Code.

I recently read an article reporting the reduced incidence of live births of Down syndrome across multiple European countries, attributed to increased pre-natal screening. My youngest son was born with Down syndrome in 2015, so you may imagine this kind of statistic is difficult for someone like me to learn about.

It’s been dubbed “the slap heard around the world.” During the March 27 Academy Awards ceremony, Will Smith went on stage and struck comedian Chris Rock in the face after Rock made a joke referring to Jada Pinkett Smith’s shaved head.

St. Mary’s University in Calgary is situated on a sprawling 35-acre property adjacent to Fish Creek Park, the largest urban provincial park in Canada. As a result, our campus is often teaming with wildlife, and here I don’t just mean student parties.

At the conclusion of the Lenten journey of Indigenous representatives to the Vatican, Pope Francis gave the delegation a laetare moment, a time to rejoice. The Pope’s poignant apology for the harm “members of the Catholic Church” did to Indigenous children in residential schools and his promise to visit Canada this summer is a major step toward healing a broken relationship.

Walking recently through the University of Toronto campus, I noticed a young fellow on the other side of the street jogging energetically past.

In a year when we often feel beaten down, Catholic education has something to celebrate, and it should. This year will see the completion of the grade school religion program, Growing in Faith, Growing in Christ, Grades 1 to 8. In 2023, the first kindergarten program will be published, followed by entry into secondary school with the first Grade 9 Religion program in 2024.