Pope Francis often speaks about how the elderly are a treasure and has dedicated much of his pontificate to promoting a culture of encounter between generations.Inspired by this emphasis, Bishop Hector Vila recently invited me to the Diocese of Whitehorse to deliver several workshops and presentations geared toward exploring the value of life at all stages.

The liturgical calendar turns briefly in late September and early October to the role of angels in salvation. First, there is the Sept. 29 feast of the messengers Gabriel, Raphael and Michael – not celebrated this year because the feast falls on a Sunday – and then the Oct. 2 memorial of guardian angels.

First impressions suggest to many that the Man of the Shroud of Turin is lying down, as Christ would be in His tomb before the Resurrection. However, a different perspective comes from the research of Dr. Gilbert Lavoie (“Jesus’ burial cloth,” The Catholic Register, Sept. 22).

This week, the mood at The Catholic Register is akin to that of expectant parents awaiting the moment when their any-time-now offspring will be in the world sharing life with them.

An excerpt from the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Synthesis of Diocesan Reflections in preparation for the second session on synodality to be held in Rome Oct. 2-27.

It’s a scene straight out of a horror movie. A 14-year-old girl douses a 15-year-old girl with “liquid from a black canister” and sets the girl on fire, to the shock of students and teachers at Evan Hardy Collegiate in Saskatoon.

In the roughly one kabillion words already spent analyzing the American presidential election, Pope Francis has put the preferential option facing voters most starkly – and darkly.

An invitation from Toronto Archbishop Francis Leo to pray the Novena for Saint Michael the Archangel, patron saint of the Archdiocese.

do not heap up empty phrases.

Matthew 6: 7

I recently emailed someone and assured them that I would provide a brief summary of the meeting we had attended. As soon as I hit send, I thought, isn’t a summary … brief? Indeed, aren’t summaries often called briefs? My daughter regularly claims something is an over-exaggeration. We don’t usually disagree on her main point, but always quarrel about the use of “over.” Isn’t an exaggeration already excessive? How can you over-exaggerate an exaggeration? Tautologies abound. 

The Shroud of Turin—venerated as the burial cloth of Jesus for centuries—has been vindicated.  Back in 1988 was big news that the Shroud had been carbon dated and the result was supposedly that the Shroud dated back to only the 1200s and was deemed a medieval fake. The findings were even printed in L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican’s newspaper. To many, it seemed conclusive (though no good explanation was offered as to how the image got on the cloth). But for many us, the so-called “science” felt off, and we continued to believe in the veracity of the Shroud.