At least since the 1960s publication of The Population Bomb, many of us have believed there are too many people on this planet. Today, some overbearing environmentalists propel this myth forward by asking everyone from Prince William on down whether it is wise to have a third child. Or even a second. In Vancouver in 2020, a public campaign offered this slogan: “The most loving gift you can give your first child is not to have another.”

The opening to Luis Bunuel’s Un Chien Andalou is predictably impossible to watch. An eye is open, observing the viewer, and then a razor blade is sliced across its surface. Few could watch this without blinking or looking away, something the director depended on as he “cut” from a human to a cow’s eye. And yet, as I lay on the operating table, with a mask covering my entire face except for my exposed right eye, I remember thinking, as I watched the scalpel move towards me, and then felt it press on and into my eye, that this was one of the most beautiful sights I’d ever seen. I hoped it wouldn’t be my last.

Complexity is piling up like snowbanks on my lawn. We just get one wet snowfall shovelled in time for the next one to blow into a bank around the door. The piles started out neatly enough. But it is February now and the ice threatens to freeze my heart along with the missing mittens. The chaos and division desperately need some spring.

Civility beats bigotry

His Eminence Cardinal Wilton D. Gregory’s appointment to lead the Archdiocese of Washington is nothing short of a divine achievement that parallels former U.S. President Barack Obama’s rise to power.

More than 130 years ago, in a foundational encyclical of Catholic social teaching, Pope Leo XIII warned against “crafty agitators” within the political class bent on dividing society for pernicious ends.

The one thing all should hold dear is their freedom of conscience. It may be our most effective tool in combatting oppression and ensuring religious freedom. It’s there for everyone to use but to employ it sometimes takes courage. But when put to work it can feel liberating.

Writing last week in the Jesuit publication America, associate editor Jim McDermott posed a 30-word query that should become the reflection-starter of our time.

Sparse and empty shelves are becoming the norm in most grocery stores.

As a young man, I developed a curiosity about the Cistercian way of life. Part of my interest came from reading books by Thomas Merton, the dissolute young man who discovered a unity of life and spirit upon entering the Trappist monastery in Kentucky.

Fairness from Farrow

I would like to express my appreciation for Anna Farrow’s article “I did see a mob; it wasn’t the truckers.” The piece was fair and accurate in its insight given that Farrow was actually in Ottawa and able to judge what she saw. I liked, as well, her inclusion of the religious aspect of the protest, a fact that has not been noted. Canadians joined in the prayer even if they were not Catholics.