Outside the St. Brigid’s Out of the Cold shelter on the last official day of summer, as trees in the park are threatening to burst into red and gold, 28-year-old Harley was wondering whether this church basement might be a place where he could stay.

If John Turner hadn’t been talked out of it by his boss at the powerful Montreal law firm of Stikeman Elliott, he might have been a priest and not a politician. But he would have been one of those priests who wield power and influence under the genial guise of amusing tales, loyal friendships and long dinners within longer conversations.

If the Liberal government stands past the Sept. 23 throne speech, Martin Blanchet’s seven-year battle to get somebody with authority to look into how Canadian mining companies and others treat workers, communities and the environment in poor countries will finally get an airing in the House of Commons. 

A Saskatchewan judge has ruled against the provincial government and in favour of the religious freedom of a Métis man fasting and praying on the front lawn of the Saskatchewan legislature for a more robust suicide prevention strategy.

Maronite Patriarch Cardinal Bechara Rai wants a revolution in Lebanon, but not too much revolution.

In a time and place where Christians, and especially Catholics, are at each other’s throats over basic truths about the world we’re living in, how we teach theology matters a great deal to the University of St. Michael’s College’s newest theology professor.

Some small part of the revolution now on display in the streets of Minsk and other Belarusian cities may have begun in Catholic, rural Ireland in the 1990s. It was there that Belarus’ likely-elected president who is currently in exile visited for a month each summer for 10 years, when she was between the ages of 12 and 22.

If you ever doubted the miracle of the loaves and the fishes, check out your parish’s COVID-era finances. After months of closed doors and no revenue, followed by months of full-cost operations for Sunday congregations that are a fraction of normal attendance, somehow your parish is still up and running.