Prayer books, prayer groups, prayer meetings, prayer beads, prayer mats, common prayer, the Lord’s Prayer, a wing and a prayer.

Christmas is still weeks away and already we’re exhausted.

Traditionally, November is the time when we especially remember to pray for departed family members, friends and (maybe) enemies. 

The fall meeting of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops brought with it an unexpected invitation. The group SNAP (Survivor’s Network of those Abused by Priests) organized a viewing in Cornwall of the documentary Prey, a film that sheds light on the predatory actions of Hod Marshall, a now-deceased Basilian priest who was convicted for sexually abusing minors.

The Bride and I recently had a return visit with the doctor who specializes in memory problems. New tests had been done, and we were about to receive the results. 

Canada’s 43rd federal election is over — and for many Canadians it was dismal. It was a campaign of “gotcha” moments fought in the mud and a symptom of the greater rot in Canadian politics: the continued growth of so-called “affective partisanship,” or the tribal hostility felt by partisans of one party against partisans of another.

I’m still basking in the glow of the splendid Mass of canonization Oct. 13, presided over by Pope Francis and attended by tens of thousands of bishops, priests and faithful from all over the world.

I spent the two Sundays before election day handing out small booklets entitled “For Heaven’s Sake, Vote!” to parishioners after Mass. The booklet is a federal election guide published by Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Toronto.

To characterize our adult son as a film fanatic might fall short of the mark.

A recent exchange of letters between the U.S. publications Commonweal and First Things on the topic of Christian nationalism might seem in Canada to be yet another internal squabble among American Catholics.