The topic of residential schools dominated this column in 2021, and too often that story is written as if Catholics and Indigenous peoples are two distinct parties, perhaps opposing or even hostile.

The Christmas season has so many wonderful feast days along the way, not least of which is Epiphany, the commemoration of the Magi’s visit to the Christ Child.

Some will sniff that a hierarchical Church is hardly an institution to concern itself with authoritarian politics.

For the first holiday outing in our new city, we headed out for the tree lighting in the town square. (It felt very Stars Hallow, for the Gilmore Girls fans, with lots of twinkly lights and a mayor’s words and Santa arriving by fire truck with all the usual characters.) After a line for sleigh rides, a queue for hot chocolate and another turn to take to see Santa, my little girl exclaimed loudly that “Mostly tonight, we were waiting in line!”

At the risk of being sentimental I want to talk about the greatest gift we receive at Christmas. That gift is Christ … and our faith in Him.

Isn’t it funny that the liturgical year starts with a period of waiting? Every year we get things going, by waiting. We wait for the birth of Christ through the season of Advent. I think this is fascinating and worthy of contemplation. Recently I found a source for such a contemplation in our country’s two official languages.

Advent is upon us once again. It’s a time of hopeful expectation and renewal, a chance to feast upon the mercy and goodness of God who sent His Son to Earth for our salvation.

In a speech to an international congress in Madrid last month, the president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Archbishop Jose Gomez, painted movements of social justice, “wokeness” and identity politics as pseudo-religions.

Advent, like Lent, is a prayerful time of joyful expectation of a major feast of the Christian year.

Often when a particular friend of mine says certain things, I don’t react right away. In fact, it might require days. Or impose a prudent pause until the 12th of Never.