He spent a life chronicling show business, so why not a show at Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago for the funeral of Roger Ebert? Chicago’s great clerical showmen were on hand for the premiere. Jesse Jackson sent a message that Ebert “sought to explain America to itself,” which may well be apt if you consider America to be a vast, leisured people busy about entertaining themselves.

Voters in large, pluralistic democracies rarely reach consensus on any substantive issue, but the opinion of Canadians on sex-selective abortion is near unanimous. They overwhelmingly denounce it.

On my desk sit two books, one on top of the other, spines facing outwards so that the titles are clear to the students and the parents with whom I meet. Both are authoritative texts in the context of Catholic education. One is the Education Act, the other is the Bible.

The late-March decision to declare Private Members’ Motion-408 “unvotable” has generated a debate about the control of party leaders and the Prime Minister’s Office over what Members of Parliament can and can’t say in the House of Commons.

The sports conglomerate that clothes and equips the world’s No. 1 golfer would have us believe that “winning takes care of everything.” That’s the slogan Nike is trumpeting in an ad campaign with Tiger Woods, the golfing impresario who lost his moral compass and his putting stroke three years ago. But Woods is back on top now and that has rejuvenated a marketing bonanza for a sponsor intent on convincing consumers that winning erases his past failings.

When I was 12 years old, a Grade 8 classmate at Holy Cross Catholic School in East York was working at Maple Leaf Gardens selling ice cream and popcorn.

“Jesus is risen, there is hope for you, you are no longer in the power of sin, of evil! Love has triumphed, mercy has been victorious! The mercy of God always triumphs!”

Second Sunday of Easter (Year C)April 7 (Acts 5:12-16; Psalm 118;Revelation 1:9-11, 12-13, 17-19;John 20:19-31)

People are seldom brought to faith by mere words — it is what they see and experience that stirs their soul. The people of Jerusalem had probably heard the preaching of many would-be prophets and messiahs but these movementshad sputtered out and disappeared from the scene. The early community of Jesus followers wasdifferent — here divine power was clearly at work, just as in the words and actions of Jesus...

ROME - A friend of mine settled in for an interview with a British national broadcaster after the election of Pope Francis. She had been asked to join an American Jesuit to discuss the implications of the March 13 election.

Before going on air, the inter­viewer received a phone call from his producer in London, who was unhappy with recent interviews. “There’s too much good news,” the producer said...

Easter will mark the 29th anniversary of my conversion, baptism and confirmation into full membership in the Roman Catholic Church.

I’m sometimes tempted to wish I’d converted earlier but it seems to me there’s something ungrate­ful about such musings, a kind of rejection of the family and situation I was born into...