St. Michael's Choir School

VATICAN CITY -- Pope Francis prayed that people all over the world would end 2019 "in peace, peace in their hearts," and that families would mark New Year's by "communicating with one another."

WASHINGTON -- A host of voices from throughout the religious spectrum condemned the Dec. 28 knife attack at the suburban New York City home of a Hasidic rabbi that wounded five, one of them critically.

WASHINGTON -- Two Texas Catholic bishops offered words of condolence and prayers to the members and families of the victims of a church shooting in which two worshippers were killed.

WASHINGTON -- Two popes and multiple priests, cardinals and archbishops received part of $600,000 in financial gifts from former Washington Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, who controlled a discretionary fund, according to a report published Dec. 27 by The Washington Post.

Earlier this month, I was reading about the fathers of three modern Irish literary geniuses — Oscar Wilde, W.B. Yeats and James Joyce — when I came upon a fascinating fact about Wilde’s mother.

January 1 is right around the corner — to some, that means New Year’s Day. A time for clean slates, a fresh start and all the goal-setting. To the Catholic man or woman, it’s all that and the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God.

Fr. Pier Giorgio Di Cicco — Toronto’s former poet laureate, a writer and consultant on urban affairs, jazz trumpeter, ground-breaking literary critic and the author or editor of over 20 books — has died. He was 70.

Epiphany of the Lord, Jan. 5 (Year A) Isaiah 60:1-6; Psalm 72; Ephesians 32-3a, 5-6; Matthew 2:1-12

Without hope people cannot survive. When we lose the will to live or fail to find any kind of beauty, purpose or blessing in life or the world around us, decline and disintegration will surely follow.

I have been thinking a lot over the last couple of years about how God comes to us. In tragedy and grief, in deep joy and hope, in confusion and in waiting. In all these places, I am deeply convinced that He comes. Still, I often struggle to recognize Him.

For the nearly 6,000 children a year who find refuge and a new start with the Catholic Children’s Aid Society of Toronto, the fact the organization has a 125-year history probably doesn’t matter much.