Winter was settling in and it was a blustery, cold evening as I walked around the streets with Tracey, a survivor of the street who for 14 drug-addled years had called the alleys and drug dens of the downtown area “home.” 

I am writing this for all who suffer and for those of your family members and friends who suffer with you. In particular, I am writing this for those who, like myself, realize that their suffering may not end soon, or ever end.

The repercussions from last month’s viral video of a confrontation between a group of Catholic high school students and a Native American man in Washington, D.C., feed into the schism of faith and politics in the U.S.

Forgiveness is one of the highest human capacities, something which might help explain why it is so difficult to forgive.

On a recent Saturday morning visit to Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, a person mummy-wrapped in a dragonfly blue blanket lay motionless a few feet from the corner of Hastings and Main. 

The cross I wear around my neck each day is a relatively large wooden one made by young people living in the poorest and most dangerous areas of Colombia. It is one of hundreds of thousands that they made as part of a project supported by Development and Peace. The crosses were given as a special gift from St. John Paul II at the World Youth Day papal Mass in Toronto on July 28, 2002. 

In Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland, the church of Hallgrímur (Hallgrímskirkja) towers above the city. It is the tallest church in Iceland, rising almost 75 metres. Locals boast that you can see its spire from almost anywhere in the city — like a compass of sorts.

It is fashionable for columnists to devote the first column of the new year to resolutions — those kept and those broken. For the record, I’ve done both.

Donald Trump has become a hero of the pro-life movement and the darling of conservative Christians. But there is ample evidence to question whether he is worthy of that mantle or even of our respect. Does he really live up to a Christian ideal of respecting life? 

Changing the current toxic cultural narrative around and about the Church consumes enormous Christian energy through a range of means and methods.