WASHINGTON -- In a 5-4 decision issued just before midnight Nov. 25, the Supreme Court lifted the pandemic restrictions on congregation sizes at houses of worship imposed by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

COVID-19 has triggered many things, some of them predictable, many not. Who, for example, would have guessed that the first major response to the virus would be panic buying of toilet paper? A rush on cellphone cases and Lego were two other unexpected results of the pandemic. Apparently, our behaviour has become so unusual that it is negatively impacting artificial intelligence algorithms, with one AI consultant claiming that “automation is in a tailspin.”

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has certainly not been kind to churches across Canada, with British Columbia, Manitoba and Ontario public health agencies restricting in-person services for a second time due to the unrelenting second wave.

There was a headline on a story from a reputable Canadian website earlier this month that posed a rather startling question: “Will COVID-19 kill Christmas?”

The Archdiocese of Toronto has temporarily cancelled public Masses in Toronto and Peel Region in the wake of new restrictions announced Nov. 20 by the Ontario government to combat the rising numbers of COVID-19 cases in those areas.

Cardinal Thomas Collins recognized the thousands of volunteers across the vast Archdiocese of Toronto who have ensured a safe re-opening of churches during the COVID-19 pandemic with a special Mass of gratitude Nov. 4.

If the COVID-era has left most Canadians a little more isolated, a little more cut-off from friends and family, the poor among us have experienced that loneliness more acutely than most.

There were more than 30,000 people gathered around the National War Memorial in Ottawa for Remembrance Day ceremonies last year. This Nov. 11 — with COVID-19 restrictions — there will be no more than 100.

VATICAN CITY -- As COVID-19-related deaths in Italy reached their highest daily level since early May and Italy began enacting new restrictions to slow the spread, the Vatican decided it will once again close its museums to the public.

MANCHESTER, England -- Catholic leaders in England are appealing to the government to reverse its decision to ban public Mass during a second national lockdown.

“I knew I had to quit when my 15-year-old daughter would say, ‘Mom, don’t go to work and cry again.’ ”

After 61 years Gideon Travel has reached the end of the road. 

It's been a unique start to post-secondary education for many students taking the next step on their educational path in this year of COVID-19.

Tents are being used to expand classroom space in the outdoors at a number of Toronto Catholic schools as they work to ensure staff and student safety while preventing the spread of COVID-19.

If “The Church on the Street” were a weekly contribution to The Catholic Register, then I would frequently have the wrath of the editor on my shoulders as I submit, “Walked around downtown; nothing happened. The end.” Especially in these COVID-ridden times the streets are devoid of much of the activity that unfortunately led one journalist to write-off the area as “plagued by crack addicts, drug dealers and low-rent sex trade workers.”