If you’ve ever wondered: “Why do I need to confess my sins to a priest?”…we need to talk. I truly don’t mean to be insulting or condescending, but any Catholic who asks this question is in need of remedial catechesis. But, I get it. We haven’t been catechized properly, enough or at all — and we haven’t kept up studying our faith as adults.

Every year over a million children experience a tragic milestone: seeing their parents divorce. In fact, when combined with unmarried parents who split up, it’s now estimated that fewer than half of all children today will spend their childhood together with their parents in a unified home.

Every summer, I wait and hope for our plans to cooperate with the weather and give us a day or two on the lake with my parents’ beautiful boat. We need the sunshine to keep us warm enough and the wind to stay mild enough that we can pull the tube behind the boat. The driver and the wind work together to make waves, and the riders delight at the efforts to stay on or fall in. On these rare and perfect days, I might be the biggest kid of all.

Some World Youth Day pilgrims in Portugal were critical of Pope Francis for failing to condemn Russia’s brutal invasion of their homeland.

In “How the Church Failed Sinead O’Connor” (Aug. 13-20 issue) Katherine Bennett implies that the Church is responsible for the sad life and death of singer Sinead O’Connor.

In the deep mists of mid-20th century Quebec political mythology there glowered a tribe of hybrid juggernaut-Amazonian English-speaking women popularly known as “Speak White” Eaton’s counter clerks.

Part of the Canadian bishops’ contribution toward Health Canada’s consultation on palliative care.

One of the most oft-quoted passages of the New Testament is 1 Corinthians 13:1: “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.” The ensuing verses are probably the most popular option for the epistle in the Roman Catholic Nuptial Mass and why wouldn’t it be at an occasion when we are celebrating the love between the bride and groom?

A few years ago — let’s say 20 — I watched as the police handled a disturbance. An elderly gentleman was standing in the middle of the sidewalk talking animatedly to an invisible friend. It seemed to be a delightful conversation, and the man actually excused himself to his imaginary friend when the authorities intervened.

“The joys of parenthood: apparently the best kept secret.”