Discussions of family size have increased in political and religious discourse as North American birth rates hit historic lows. Catherine Pakaluk, an economist and associate professor at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., recently authored Hannah’s Children: The Women Quietly Defying the Birth Dearth.

In 2013, I wrote a column for the National Post about Dr. Donald Low, a microbiologist at Mt. Sinai Hospital. He spoke about his cancer diagnosis, his fear of tremendous pain that might be looming and the loss of his dignity. He spoke without self-pity and urged Canada to make physician-assisted death legal. He died eight days later. 

Pope Francis often speaks about how the elderly are a treasure and has dedicated much of his pontificate to promoting a culture of encounter between generations.Inspired by this emphasis, Bishop Hector Vila recently invited me to the Diocese of Whitehorse to deliver several workshops and presentations geared toward exploring the value of life at all stages.

When I first heard rumblings about a documentary titled Jesus Thirsts: The Miracle of the Eucharist I had mixed feelings. While other recent programming such as this year’s Mother Cabrini film and the ongoing series The Chosen had drawn me in along with sizeable audiences sharing a hunger for Catholic representation in media, I found a sense of skepticism about a documentary tackling something as important to the faith as the Eucharist. 

Structurally, within our very life, the human person is one who thirsts and expects something beyond ourselves. Consequently, faith is a response to these authentic needs already ineradicably embedded in us.

Reconciliation between Indigenous peoples and entities of the Catholic Church will be a long road to travel. Dr. Natasha Duquette has taken some steps along this road by recently offering an academic course called Indigenous Writers of North America.

Most Catholics experience the crisis of sexual abuse by clergy in relation to headlines, as stories from around the globe or from the local parish where a trusted priest has been removed. Yet the pain of abuse within the Church bleeds somewhere else, in Someone else’s wounds, which are the only place where hope for healing may be found for any of us.

Abortion for any reason at any time has become radically normalized. One need look no further than abortion groups’ distribution of abortifacients at pop star Olivia Rodrigo’s concerts to see how much it pervades our culture. As a father of three daughters within the average ages of Rodrigo’s fans, my heart breaks for all women who have been sold the false promises of abortion. Thankfully, the distribution of these drugs has since stopped after widespread media backlash. Nevertheless, scenarios like this show that the lies of abortion are constantly bombarding vulnerable women and girls.

An apology has great power to heal a wrong suffered. 

I witnessed an apology by a Catholic deacon (having no involvement with the case) offered to a Baptist woman who alleged abuse by a pastor in her denomination. She broke down in tears saying how meaningful it was to see a man wearing clerical garb providing an expression of compassion and regret as to how a fellow cleric had acted towards her.

Pundits generally, and perhaps columnists in particular, do not often admit to making mistakes. So, it is a special kind of pundit who can step away from previously professed opinions and admit to getting things wrong.