Perhaps nowhere in society is the loss of the sacred more evident than in marriage and in the wedding ceremonies which solemnify a marriage.

This spring, I got an itch for change, and I cut my hair. Sixteen inches of curls lay on the floor. I instantly felt so much lighter. And as I went about my life, it was a big enough change that I didn’t recognize my own reflection. I walked by the microwave in the kitchen or a window on the street and did a double take to see myself clearly. And then I realized that this was also happening inside myself.

You will know them by their fruits.

Matthew 7: 16

I have often been fascinated by iconic pairings — how one person or one thing can be inextricably linked to another. Batman and Robin roll off the tongue, a pairing as natural as brie and crackers. Pisa and the leaning tower, Rome and the Vatican, are equally symbiotic. Advertising often depends on this or works hard to create the pairing, so that, for a time, Nike and Michael Jordan were synonymous, and Air Jordans were everywhere.

The Bride and I are quickly approaching a milestone anniversary.  On September 1, we will have been married 40 years.  I sometimes wonder, how did that happen, and am I really that old?

To tip or not to tip? And, if so, to tip 10 per cent or 25 per cent?

These are choices many Canadians are making as they strive to continue dining out on increasingly tight budgets. Sadly, they appear to be leaning towards the “not” side. 

In April 2019, when Notre Dame Cathedral was afire in Paris, I was on a cross-country drive. I had decided not to listen to the news, but rather to pray and think, so I was oblivious to the conflagration. As the kilometres sailed by, I became strangely obsessed with the thought that Western Catholics were starving for good religious art. I suddenly knew I was. 

The number 8 bus travels down Main Street in Mount Pleasant, a neighbourhood in Vancouver known for its trendy shops, trendier cafes, and urbane urban dwellers. As the bus passes the numbered avenues running west and east off Main it eventually makes its turn onto East Hastings Street. The last time I was at the corner of Main and Hastings was in 2004 when I worked as a federal public servant. My colleague and I were making a cross-country tour in aid of the Government of Canada’s desire to understand the federal role in cities better. 

Pope Francis instituted a World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly, which takes place this year on July 28, with the theme from Psalm 71 “Do not cast me off in my old age.” One way to respond to this call to care for our elderly loved ones is to discover their wishes related to care and to develop a plan to provide them with a safe environment.

Who greets you on a Sunday morning when you walk into your church? Gentlemanly ushers? Nervous pre-teens co-opted to offer a shy word of welcome? Or an off-duty police officer packing a pistol?

The third anniversary of the May 27, 2021 announcement by B.C.’s Kamloops Indian Band that the unmarked graves of 215 children were found on the site of its Indian residential school has come and gone but its claims are very much alive.