One benefit of having a large Catholic university like the University of Notre Dame is that it can allocate resources to support the Catholic community and Catholic education in a variety of ways. One such way is a program called ACE RISE, run by Fr. Ronald Nuzzi, PhD.

During my 14 years in the pro-life movement, I’ve been physically attacked, had rocks, condoms, ketchup thrown at me, had speeches picketed, been publicly mocked, and have had horrible things said about my family, most especially my mother who had me as a result of an unexpected teen pregnancy. I have also had the honour of knowing Mary Wagner for close to five years and have accompanied her numerous times as she has been arrested for disregarding a court order and handing out roses at abortion clinics.

“The family is a biggie for Catholics!” That was how a Buddhist student in my class, Introduction to Catholicism, responded when asked why he chose marriage in the Catholic Church as the topic for his final project.

An American survey from more than a year ago showed that 45 per cent of people usually make New Year’s resolutions and another 38 per cent never make them. But only eight per cent of people are successful in achieving their resolutions. Self-improvement and weight-related resolutions are the most popular, followed by money-related and relationship-related vows.

They came by the thousands. Young and old, men and women, Francophone and English, the able-bodied and the infirm, they came despite the driving, biting snow and blustery wind to a church in Montreal in mid-December to bid farewell to hockey legend Jean Beliveau.

Nov. 24 marked the 25th anniversary of a trail paved with good intentions but marred by broken promises.

The problem with earthly justice is that sometimes it seems to take its good old time and other times it just doesn’t seem to exist at all. 

The controversies surrounding the recent extraordinary Synod of Bishops on the family have often put me in mind of Cardinal John Henry Newman, the greatest Catholic churchman of the 19th century. Newman wrote eloquently on an extraordinary range of topics, but the arguments around the Synod compel us to look at Newman’s work regarding the evolution of doctrine. 

Early September found our family sitting in front of a university, again. 

When I started my work in church music in 1976 in small-town Alberta, it really was the Wild West. We photocopied music and made Duo-Tang hymnals with words-only versions of copyrighted materials. We didn’t ask anyone for permission.