A reporter remembers to say thanks

Serving as a reporter for The Catholic Register is a “cup runneth over with blessings” experience, to borrow a passage from Psalm 23, week in and week out.

I connect with so many awe-inducing Catholics, Christians, people of different faith backgrounds, and even people of non-belief, from different walks of life who are building the Kingdom of God on Earth – sometimes unbeknownst to them – through their words and deeds.

Often, I find myself excited to call my parents right after an interview to rave about an interviewee’s inspiring conversion to faith, bravery amid persecution, giftedness at proclaiming the Gospel message through their artistic medium, or their steadfast unheralded commitment to life-affirming acts of service over decades. I’ve exclaimed, on numerous occasions, “this is the Holy Spirit on the move.”

Advertisement

I want to extend a special thank you to a few people I’ve written about in 2026 in honour of Thanksgiving weekend. These individuals’ observations, testimony or zeal for Jesus made a powerful, likely lasting, impression on me.

Let’s start with a story I wrote in January titled “Christianity is Iran’s forbidden fruit.” I spoke to a woman named Maryem, an Iranian-Canadian Catholic whose last name was concealed in the article for safety reasons, given the continuing instability in her birth country.  She came to Calgary in 2021 with her husband and two daughters as they desired to live and practice their Christian faith openly.

An earlier brave decision spawned this exodus. Maryem courageously sought out the Holy Bible, a text the Islamic Republic prohibited. One day she came across a rare copy and began to read.

Maryem said that she had read the Quran five times and “couldn’t find any love, generosity or anything to encourage me to love the religion.”  She loved reading the Bible as “Jesus talked about love and being kind. He said He didn’t have a religion or anything for us. He just wanted us to love God and love each other because we are all children of God.”

Thanks, Maryem, for your brave determination to choose Christianity against a dangerous backdrop and your heartfelt articulation about how the Bible communicates a Gospel of love.

In March, I was enlightened by Andrew McLuhan’s piercing intellectual insights about how his late grandfather Marshall’s famous proclamation “the medium is the message” resonates during the unfolding artificial intelligence revolution. He warned that each of us needs to judiciously discern whether specific uses of Large Language Models (LLMs) uphold our core values.

Advertisement

The prolific writer shared that his “love of words comes from the mysterious thing that happens when they come to me in my mind, and then through my voice or my hand in my pen or pencil.” He added that if he wants to safeguard the writing abilities he has accrued over time, he wants to resist outsourcing his imaginative and critical thinking abilities to LLMs.  

Andrew, I am thankful to you for your sense of wonder over how ideas become implanted in the human mind and how these thoughts can be illustrated in text. Your advocacy for human creativity and achievement was a breath of fresh air.

During one week in July, I spoke to inspiring musical artists on near-opposite ends of the age spectrum, 28-year-old Tate Pumfrey of Alexandria, Ont. and the 100-years-young Henrik “Riko” Ziernfeld, a Croatia-born Slovenian who emigrated to Canada in 1948.

I was struck by the young composer’s prodigious achievements in composing and arranging sacred music.  However, I left our conversation even more impressed by his advocacy of traditionalism and his innate gift at bringing people together through church tours, musical events and even square dancing.

The latter struck a chord because of his incredible 72-year commitment to Our Lady Help of Christians parish choir and his resolve to continue cultivating his faith by enhancing his dedication to praying the rosary over the past three years. I strongly believe we are not entitled to go on autopilot mode with our faith and zeal at a certain age. Riko models that disposition beautifully.

Finally, I want to thank Pat Colucci, the administrator of Cardinal Ambrozic Houses of Providence long-term care. I was quite bowled over when she described her staff’s perceptiveness about the men and women in their charge. They have an innate sense when the Lord is calling them home because of the tight-knit, consciously developed caregiver-patient relationships. This is God at work. He gives His children gifts to commune with each other on a profound, spiritual plane.

There is something so powerful about an unspoken connection of such strength at a time when words are increasingly used as weapons meant to divide. The contrast is stunning.

Truly, thanks to everyone who has shared their story with The Catholic Register over time. The power of your example, witness and words has touched more lives than you can envision.

Advertisement

(Amundson is an associate editor and writer for The Catholic Register.)