The Holy Father’s new encyclical, Laudato Si, whose title is taken from the canticle of Saint Francis of Assisi, lives up to radical Franciscan spirituality (from the Latin radix, going back to the root or source), sparing no punches in his denunciations of the waywardness of the world, calling for a return to a simple […]
A former student sent me an article from the Daily Mail, and asked me to comment upon it. Since the gist of the article follows upon my last post, I thought, why not get right to it, then on to other things, like the Holy Father’s latest encyclical. (warning: if you do go on Daily […]
Sometimes the truth is expressed in a clumsy, awkward way, like a beautiful person drunk at a party, stumbling and semi-coherent, trying to act funny. Thus it was in the past couple of weeks, when two high-profile men, established in their careers, both formed in a past era now long-gone, held forth their opinions on […]
Thomas Mulcair and his socialist NDP party are ahead in the polls for the upcoming federal election, hot on the heels of the NDP Albertan sweep. Of course, polls are only slightly indicative of the political temper, but they do signify something. What this signifies is more than just ‘politics’ or some vague partisan […]
A number of Canadian tourists are currently languishing in Malaysia, and may be criminally charged. Their crime? Standing nude for photos on the top of a sacred mountain. According to the Malaysian authorities, the gods of the mountain were angered, causing an ensuing 5.1 magnitude earthquake which killed a score of people. Hmm. I […]
Superheroes usually have alternate identities, to hide who they ‘really’ are, but in this very process, ‘who’ they are becomes obscured. One might answer: well, they are the identity with which they most ‘identify’. Even here, it still remains difficult to pinpoint who they are, deep down, in their heart of hearts. That is, likely, […]
For my thoughts on our visit to Torun, the birthplace of Nicholas Copernicus, please see our faculty reflections page at Our Lady Seat of Wisdom. You may enjoy some of the other reflections, and check out the college while you’re at it. May 29, 2015
To be honest, I was not fully aware until I came to Auschwitz that there was a whole city by that name, but one that retains the Polish original, Oswiecim. It is actually a pleasant city, which I discovered in an early morning run around the central, mediaeval quarters. Auschwitz was the Germanic form given […]
As we continue our pilgrimage through Poland, I am struck by the similarity of its situation to Canada, specifically to Quebec, circa 1960’s. Poland is culturally, aesthetically, visually, geographically and demographically one of the most Catholic countries in Europe, perhaps the world, just like Quebec used to be (stretching the analogy that Quebec is a […]
Curious and often suprising are the paths upon which God leads us. Out of the blue I was asked to accompany our parish priest, parishioners and other pilgrims to Poland to commemorate the hundredth anniversary of our parish, Saint Hedwig’s. I have only been here just over a day, and already I love the […]