How little it takes. How few people cross our borders before we allow narratives of fear to start taking hold of us. 

Before I became a Catholic 10 years ago I viewed the papacy as a monarchy, representing great strength and self-assurance. 

In a remote fishing village, the people became accustomed to the pounding of the heavy seas which imperiled every boat leaving their harbour, but they never could become accustomed to the deaths. The deaths of fishermen caught in the grip of an uncompromising ocean in the dead of night. 

In the current state of distress highlighted by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò’s claim that Pope Francis has long known about accusations of sexual abuse against former American cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the story of the previous pope’s butler, Paolo Gabriele, should be recalled.

24th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Sept. 16 (Year B) Isaiah 50:5-9; Psalm 116; James 2:14-18; Mark 8:27-35

I am looking forward to my next visit to Holy Family Church on King Street West in Toronto. It was my home for two years in the 1990s when I was a student at St. Philip’s Seminary, which is attached to the parish. 

Earlier this summer, I came as close as I’ve ever come to proverbially setting my hair on fire over the unfolding catastrophe seeming to cripple the Church. And that was before the infamous j’accuse letter from Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò alleging Pope Francis was well aware of the sexual scandal roiling around former cardinal Theodore McCarrick.

23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Sept. 9 (Year B) Isaiah 35:4-7; Psalm 146; James 2:1-5; Mark 7:31-37

The grim truth is that legalized euthanasia is not going away. This is not giving up but stating a hard truth. 

I left home in my teens; travelled afar, far from family and friends. Life in the new country was different,exciting, challenging. And horribly lonely.