September 30 is a painful day in so many ways as we remember and honour the Indigenous children who didn’t return home from residential schools, the survivors, their families and their communities. We also acknowledge the ongoing trauma Indigenous people…
In the last month I have been travelling around Ontario and last week I was in Calgary, Alberta. Our country is massive and oh so varied in topography. The Rockies were the backdrop when we visited Stoney Nakoda First Nation. So breathtaking! I…
This day is a wonderful opportunity to consider someone who could easily make the “short list” for nomination as a secular saint. He is not canonized by any particular religion. He is held in high esteem. He is recognized world-wide…
This post is largely a photo and prose prayer based on photographs taken while preparing Northern Light (Novalis, 2020). Ponder each photograph to find how God is speaking to you as you consider these samples of the Canadian landscape. Last…
Remembrance Day started out as a means to remember all those who died in World War I. It was to be the war to end all wars. Why did it not work? There are 32 armed conflicts going on at…
Earlier this week, I saw a tweet from an Indigenous person lamenting that many Canadians would be wearing an orange shirt on September 30, and then for the next 364 days, it would be business as usual, with nothing changing…
The papal visit continues as I write, yet there is already so much to think about. I was moved as I watched Pope Francis arrive in Edmonton on Sunday. Despite his knee pain and limited mobility, I saw expressions of…
National Indigenous Peoples Day is a day recognizing and celebrating the cultures and contributions of the First Nations, Inuit and Métis Indigenous peoples of Canada. Novalis author Greg Kennedy, SJ penned this poem for today’s occasion. Canadian Indian Act III…
There’s nothing like a pandemic to remind us how fragile we are. Without warning, any sense of control we thought we had over our well-being went out the window. Medical officers of health and epidemiologists (people we’d probably never heard…
Sometimes reading the lives of the saints leaves us more conflicted than inspired. This is especially the case when the saint lived in a time and culture very removed from our own where values and practices are not only foreign…