Andrea Mrozek: A cry for kindness in the courts
In late February, an Ontario Superior Court ruled in the case of divorced parents who did not agree about vaccination for their two youngest kids, age 10 and 12. The facts in brief: a man and a woman separate after seven years of marriage. They have three kids and remain in the family court system some seven years later. The eldest lives with the father and is vaccinated. The younger two live with the mother and are unvaccinated. The father wants them to be vaccinated; the mother is hesitant.
Leah Perrault: Soften our hearts to believe in hope
As the world feels like it might give way into dust, I’m clinging to a promise of hope. I can still feel the faint dry spot on my forehead where it was marked with ashes. We haven’t been promised permanence, and that annoys me. And still. The eternal Word promised to be with us always. Hope is falling, even here.
Readers Speak Out: March 20, 2022
Dyed in green wool
I am a proud, dyed-in-the-wool Patrician — school, college, church, parish and then Canada — so St. Patrick’s feast day is personal. It falls right in the middle of Lent so may reflect his charism of joy rising out of resilience.
Editorial: God bless the Irish
In his homily drawing from the Gospel narrative of the Transfiguration of Jesus, on the Second Sunday of Lent, Pope Francis issued a call to communion, and a reminder of the meaning of the communion of the saints.
Charles Lewis: Facing up to the Cross in Ukraine
A close friend of mine had a friend who was dying of cancer. When this man got his diagnosis his wife left him. She had never envisioned a life in which she would have to care for a dying husband. I have no idea whether she was incredibly shallow or had some severe phobia about disease and death.
Francis Campbell: Lent in the face of worldly cruelty
It can be a cruel, cruel world. The stories from Ukraine, at times either heart-breaking or heart-lifting, are testament to that.
Glen Argan: Waging spiritual warfare against war itself
The carnage has begun. Is there any way it can end without the annihilation of Ukraine? NATO has (rightly) refused to enter the fray, fearing that its participation will lead to the further spread of war and possibly to nuclear war. Negotiations between Ukraine and Russia are having no effect on the fighting. It may be months before economic sanctions bring Russia to its knees. Ukraine’s heroic defence is no match in the short run for Russia’s military might.
- By Glen Argan
Cathy Majtenyi: Let’s be precise about freedom’s meaning
The world sits on the edge of its collective seat as the horror of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues to unfold.
Readers Speak Out: March 13, 2022
Huzzahs for Sr. Burns
Kudos to Sr. Helena Burns for her defence of faith and morals. The Church is constantly under attack from outside and within.
Editorial: War and the Cross
Fifty-two years ago this June, Mr. Edwin Starr immortally caught millions of ears around the world with a song that asked a short, sharp rhetorical question.
Sr. Helena Burns: No call to re-Lent on penance or joy
When I first met Jesus at age 15, I was gung-ho for penances, self-sacrifice, offering up little sufferings, practicing mortifications, etc. In fact, I had picked up somewhere along the line that agony was the essence of Christianity and sanctity.