It is a frightening world when those with power assume they can dictate to those without how they must think and what they must say.

In January, I had the great blessing of preaching at the Holy Mass for the relic of St. Francis Xavier in the parish in Mississauga named after him. There was an immense congregation, and in the very first pews were various political figures from the federal Parliament, provincial legislature and city hall.

Perhaps the notion of the common good will soon have its day in the sun.

In Lessons in Hope: My Unexpected Life with St. John Paul II, Baltimore-born papal biographer George Weigel reflects in a highly personal way on the 15 years he devoted to chronicling the life and times and impact of John Paul II in Witness to Hope (1999) and The End and the Beginning (2010). It is a story that emphasizes repeatedly and powerfully the idea of providence.

On March 13, 2013 the new pope, a surprise selection, received thunderous cheers when introduced to thousands of pilgrims packed into a drizzly St. Peter’s Square. It was a precedent-setting night. Argentine Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio became the first South American pope, the first Jesuit pope and the first pope named Francis.

Nothing changed after 20 very young children were slaughtered at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., five years ago.
As the Vatican prepares for an important Synod of Bishops on youth, an American organization has released a study that says young people who reject the Church typically fall into one of three categories: the injured, the drifters or the dissenters.

Beneath Canadians’ cringing at Justin Trudeau’s embarrassing Indian amble, there seemed charitable hope he could use the debacle for hard reflection on the difference between image and reality.

The massacre of 17 innocents at a Parkland, Fla., high school is not fading out of the news as quickly as other similar tragedies that have plagued the United States.

It’s a sneaky way to make a government look progressive, a religion look regressive, and to divide a congregation.