The Catholic Church in Nova Scotia has recently been exposed to unfriendly fire.

In the pro-life battle it’s imperative to gather ammunition that comes from outside the movement. If we are ever going to change the minds of the great mass of Canadians, we need to bring in information free of any political or social agenda — in other words, scientific research that could care less about our cause or our faith.

During the summer I decided to take a break from speaking about euthanasia. There were several reasons. First, it was getting more and more difficult to find groups that were interested in hearing the anti-euthanasia message. Then when something was arranged only a handful of people would show up.

The exposure of movie mogul Harvey Weinstein’s sordid sexual predator secret is ripping the mask off the sinister nature of our supposed surprise as well.

There are few, if any, parishes in Toronto that had three shooting deaths in the first month of the year and followed them up with two more in the next few months. Add to this an epidemic of drug overdoses and a picture of lawlessness could emerge.

When this column cited a vicious smear campaign against Fr. James Martin, it was expected that some people would disagree with his call to build a bridge of dialogue between the Church and the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. It was also expected some would agree with his call for civil discourse. Naturally, both things occurred.

Mark Shea thinks the Catholic Church is a vast accumulation of slobs and mediocrities. He means it as a compliment. He contends it brings us closer to Christ.

The mountain ash tree in our front yard is at the peak of its autumn brilliance. I sit on the couch in our living room awed by the array of gold, green, yellow and red.