It all started with a call from a friend. “Would you be able to meet with a relative of mine who is sleeping rough on the streets and into drugs?” I said that if he was willing, I would meet with him. We arranged to meet at “Ripples of Kindness,” the outreach program run out of Sacre Coeur Parish in downtown Toronto. Little did I know that the meeting would lead me deep into the Rock ’n’ Roll scene of the ’80s and ’90s.

It’s a condition that increases the risk of heart disease by 29 per cent, strokes by 32 per cent and premature death by 26 per cent. It has the same effect on the body as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. People with this condition are more likely to catch viruses, contract respiratory illnesses and develop dementia, among many other ills.

I suppose I am one of the young, old. In January I will turn 65, and officially become a senior citizen.  Not long ago I spent a weekend with an old friend. During an evening of wonderful conversation he said, “you know Harry, we are in the prime of the rest of our lives.”  I thought his comment was noteworthy, so I wrote it down.

There he stood. Alone. Vulnerable. Attired as a Prince of the Church wielding spiritual power, he was unprotected from the risks of downtown Toronto street life.

How devastating to hear of the removal of Bishop Joseph Strickland from the Diocese of Tyler, Texas (“Texas bishop removed from office,” Nov. 19).

In what would be his farewell address to his Catholic audience at Toronto’s annual Cardinal’s dinner last year, Archbishop Thomas Collins challenged those present with the haunting question: “What have we become?”

Opening remarks by Hugh MacKinnon, CEO of Bennett Jones, as chair of the 44th annual Cardinal’s Dinner in Toronto on Nov. 14.

‘I believe’

As the darkest days of the year arrive in the northern hemisphere, my heart is aching with the knowledge of just how conflicted the world is. So many people not only fail to find comfort in faith, but struggle with the concept of belief itself. There is a crisis of engagement — in service clubs and churches and political issues, just to name a few. And it begs the question, what does it mean to believe in something.

Ironically, to understand why many Canadians stomach a system hostile to right-to-life organizations, anti-abortion legislation proposals and any meaningful discussions about pre-born rights or if life begins at conception, you have to look back to the birth of this nation.

I love Israel. But I hate what it is doing in Gaza. I yearn for the establishment of a Palestinian state in the Middle East. But Hamas, especially its Oct. 7 raids on Israel, is the greatest obstacle to that state becoming reality.