There are sometimes good things in the news, like this report from the Telegraph that when conception occurs, that is, when the male sperm fertilizes the female ovum, and the 23-chromosomal DNA of both meiotic cells fuse to form a new human with 46 chromosomes, there is a bright flash of light. (But there is […]
In 2004, Canada passed the Assisted Human Reproduction Act, which legalizes certain forms of artificial reproduction of human beings, including in vitro fertilization and artificial insemination. The rub is that, although one may donate sperm and ova, one cannot get paid for doing so, for that would be seen as ‘trafficking’, even meretricious. The obvious […]
Another Canadian Senator, the Liberal Colin Kenney, has been caught using public money, and his servants’, sorry, his staff’s, time to do personal business for the esteemed member of the Upper House of ‘sober second thought’. These included renovations on his private residence and disinfecting the beds in his privately-owned tanning-salon business. Shades of Mike […]
It was reported amongst the Indo-Canadian community, and that is the far-away India, not the Native Canadians whose ranks were just increased by the Supreme Court decision to grant ‘status’ to 600,000 Metis (those of mixed-Native ancestry). More on this later, and what level of new financial boondoggle it might entail. No, amongst those of […]
Modern television (or do we say internet?) programs, particularly on Netflix, and other media, have become radically explicit, both in violence and in sex. Reading this article, even my somewhat jaded soul was surprised that such things could remotely pass for ‘entertainment’, to say nothing of actually being shown to a mass, and indiscriminate, audience. […]
*The Holy Father’s Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia is now promulgated. I have only read the first few pages, wherein the Pope advises us to read the document “patiently and carefully”. At over 200 pages, that may be unavoidable. There are already a number of commentaries out there, presumably by those who have read it […]
(As a bit of light-hearted reading before the issuance of the Holy Father’s Apostolic Letter later today, here are some thoughts on two superheroes, such as they are.) Yes, I must admit, I did watch Ant-Man, in two instalments, for a I had to sort of motivate myself to finish it. The campy film […]
(The following is an address I offered yesterday at Saint Hedwig’s Church for the Divine Mercy celebration. jpm) This being the Year of Mercy, decreed by Pope Francis, as well as Divine Mercy Sunday, as decreed by Pope Saint John Paul II, back in 2000, I thought that I had better not stray too far […]
A blessed Easter Octave Friday, which liturgically is a Sunday. There is an old adage about a ‘month of Sundays’, but the Catholic Church really does have a week of Sundays after the Solemnity of the Resurrection, the greatest feast in our calendar, the solemnity of solemnities, and the date from which all the rest […]
I met an acquaintance of mine recently in one of local stores (of course, government run) that sells liquid cheer, to refresh the weary soul after a long Lent. He was there to buy a blend of Canadian Rye Whiskey, voted last December by a connoisseur as the ‘best whiskey in the world’. As a […]