One question I regularly ask the young adults I minister to as a deacon at St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic Shrine is Ottawa is: “What are you reading?” Many do not read a great deal beyond obligatory work for their courses in university, and almost all of it is non-fiction. Thankfully, many read devotional works and the Holy Scriptures, which is certainly laudable, but I press them: “When was the last time you read a novel or a collection of poetry?” Most reply “I cannot remember,” or, “I don’t like fiction or poetry.” 

International migration has become one of our most pressing issues with about 3.5 per cent of the world’s population (280 million people) currently considered to be migrants. The majority are people on the move seeking gainful employment, while a large minority are fleeing war, violence, persecution, climate change, food insecurity and increased global inequality. 

The obnoxious-gusting-to-toxic pro-Hamas mob, and even moderate people who support their cause but cringe at their conduct, might want to consider a salient fact about the movement’s dead leader, Yahya Sinwar.

“The game is over. Everyone repeat after me now, the game is over.” I speak with authority in a commanding voice. 40 high school students at the Catholic Leadership Camp in Huntsville repeat after me, “the game is over.” They calm down and we begin to debrief together the chaos of the last hour.

The duty to engage in politics is not negotiable in John McKay’s view. “You have the absolute right not to vote”, the Scarborough-Guildwood MP asserts with this warning to those politically asleep at the wheel, “and I have the absolute right to impose a $100 fine on your tax return.”

Discussions of family size have increased in political and religious discourse as North American birth rates hit historic lows. Catherine Pakaluk, an economist and associate professor at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., recently authored Hannah’s Children: The Women Quietly Defying the Birth Dearth.

As the long days of summer fade and autumn’s cool, crisp air starts to settle in, it’s hard not to feel a shift in our spirits, too. But there’s so much to praise about fall.

Two letters from Pope Francis: one welcoming 21 new cardinals, including Toronto Archbishop Francis Leo; one to the College of Cardinals concerning financial reform.

Infants born alive after abortion has come up recently. But why discuss this most electric of third rail issues? Babies born alive after an abortion in the second trimester is “common.”

Did you ever make an Hour of Adoration before the Blessed Sacrament and wonder if there was a more fruitful way?