Pope Francis instituted a World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly, which takes place this year on July 28, with the theme from Psalm 71 “Do not cast me off in my old age.”

Who greets you on a Sunday morning when you walk into your church? Gentlemanly ushers? Nervous pre-teens co-opted to offer a shy word of welcome? Or an off-duty police officer packing a pistol?

The third anniversary of the May 27, 2021 announcement by B.C.’s Kamloops Indian Band that the unmarked graves of 215 children were found on the site of its Indian residential school has come and gone but its claims are very much alive.

The word ‘impossible’ does not exist in Natale Giangioppo’s vocabulary.

Structurally, within our very life, the human person is one who thirsts and expects something beyond ourselves. Consequently, faith is a response to these authentic needs already ineradicably embedded in us.

Pizzelle. Pizzelle? I was intrigued. Is it a miniature pizza? 

It all sounded so safe, so ‘progressive’. The 2018 Cannabis Act promised to “minimize harms” to Canadians as it enabled ‘recreational’ users to legally possess and consume cannabis without fear of a criminal record, which would stigmatize them for life.

Reconciliation between Indigenous peoples and entities of the Catholic Church will be a long road to travel. Dr. Natasha Duquette has taken some steps along this road by recently offering an academic course called Indigenous Writers of North America.

Most Catholics experience the crisis of sexual abuse by clergy in relation to headlines, as stories from around the globe or from the local parish where a trusted priest has been removed.

Wacko. Liar. Cheater. Predator. Recent headlines shine the spotlight on a growing trend polluting our public spaces.