One of the most encouraging developments of our recent pandemic confinements has been our webinars. We’ve had as many as 600 people participate in our discussions on everything from the climate change crisis to dealing with dementia in our parishes.…
The feast of St. Monica and St. Augustine provide opportunities for much reflection and consideration. As North African Christians, for example, it is remarkable that most depictions of them present them as white Europeans. Failing to depict them as African,…
If “back to school” is starting to feel like a regular occurrence, that’s no surprise. Canadian families and educators have had countless stops and starts to the school year since March 2020, and plans for the weeks and months ahead…
All stories are true… and some of them actually happened. As an Irish/Indigenous Catholic storytelling family, this aphorism sums up our attitude to stories. The following event likely never happened, but when we heard it many years ago, we immediately…
In his book, St. Clare of Assisi: Light from the Cloister, Bret Thoman, OFS describes how St. Clare (1193-1253) referred to herself as the “Little plant of St. Francis.” When she was 18 years old, she heard a sermon by…
Have you ever been in a time and a place where everything seemed to be just perfect? Perhaps for just a few moments, on a beach at sunset or, perhaps, for a few years, a time when family life was…
This year, the feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola has an extra sparkle. Not only is today Ignatius Day for Jesuits around the world, it also comes nestled within the Ignatian Year. Five centuries ago, while fighting willfully a hopeless…
The women of the Gospels are significant to us in so many ways. They are models of faith and discernment, and they give us a glimpse into the community of Jesus. Martha is an example and she is a significant figure for…
COVID-19 has taught us many things, but for me one of the most painful lessons was that our society has a long way to go when it comes to treating our elders with love and dignity. When the pandemic took…
As we slowly straggle out of the pandemic, with its various waves and our one-step-forward-two-steps-backward responses, it is only natural that we are all praying for a return to normal. But if the pandemic has taught us anything, it is…