Parents generally loathe having “the sex talk” with their children. Today they will also need to have “the gender talk.” Let me explain.

Seeing as this is the wonderful year of the wonderful St. Joseph, I shall diverge from my usually grim cultural commentary and instead celebrate the greatest saint in Heaven after Our Lady!

I recently gave a virtual commencement speech at Our Lady Seat of Wisdom College in Barry’s Bay, Ont. Incidentally, OLSW (as it shall henceforth be abbreviated) is one of only two Canadian Catholic colleges or universities on the prestigious Newman Guide of the Cardinal Newman Society.

When one hears about a new “Christian” or “Catholic” film, one usually emits an audible groan. Why so? Because — horrifyingly and too often accurately — “Christian” or “Catholic” film is synonymous with “poor quality” and “preachy.”

The Church loves you, single people!

Progress is a myth. What?! Progress is non-existent? No, but “progress,” if it is to be embraced with enthusiasm, must truly be progress.

“Feminism” is not a dirty word. At its most basic level, I define feminism as “the protection and promotion of women.” “Radical feminism” denies any significant differences between men and women beyond a few reproductive body parts, which, of course, is patently false, unscientific and demeaning. I was a radical feminist for a good portion of my life until I discovered John Paul II’s Theology of the Body.

Since the Daughters of St. Paul have always printed papal encyclicals and works of the popes, we naturally collected and published John Paul II’s extraordinary “Theology of the Body” — a series of catechetical talks he delivered in the early 1980s.

There has been a massive resurgence of a kind of Neo-Apocalypticism of late, due in no small part to the persisting coronavirus pandemic with all its fallout; the embrace of Socialism/Marxism/Communism by the West (particularly among the young); racism in the spotlight again; civil unrest and violence; emerging globalist totalitarianism; the dominance and imposition of gender ideology; the undermining of the family and rights of parents; ever more radical abortion and euthanasia policies; “surveillance capitalism”; the rise of “fake news”; and now, sweeping censorship of free speech by left-leaning Big Tech.

How often have we heard (or declared ourselves): “I can say what I want! Last time I checked this was a free country!” Um, when was the last time you checked?