Conclave

Four years ago, Aaron Semple was in a sober-living facility in Ontario, recovering from a decades-old addiction to drugs, and searching for the tools he needed to construct a new, sober life. His decision to sign up for a retreat inspired by the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises led Semple to a faith community, friendship and a move to Montreal to help bring that retreat-experience to others.

Remarkable. It’s a conclusion that comes to mind upon reading the biographies of the 2022-23 Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB) top Grade 12 scholars.

Just as harvest season was beginning, Saskatchewan’s pilgrimage season ended in mid-August with a pilgrimage to a Roman Catholic shrine at Kaposvar, an annual ritual for descendents of 19th-century Hungarian, Czecho-Slovak and Ukrainian sodbusters who settled the area around Esterhazy.

The deep-down goodness of the “average” person gives me awe. No wonder the psalmist, even after experiencing the worst human beings are capable of, exclaims: “you are gods, children of the most high, all of you” (Psalm 82:6). For, as Jesus reminded His hearers when quoting this verse (John 10:34), we’re capable of receiving the very word of God. When we lose everything else, we must hold on to this truth.

22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A) Sept. 3 (Jeremiah 20:7-9; Psalm 63; Romans 12:1-2; Matthew 16:21-27)

Jeremiah was a reluctant prophet and for a good reason. He knew that the message that he was missioned to proclaim to the people would be received badly. He knew that it would anger many people and that his life would be in grave danger.

Art program helps displaced northerners take their minds off wildfires.

It has been just over seven years since Canadian law has permitted euthanasia and assisted suicide on demand. In those seven years restriction after restriction on euthanasia provision has fallen and now we stand on the threshold of euthanizing the mentally ill and permitting the as-yet-undefined “mature minor” to end his or her life. Euthanasia is now presented to patients as a health care option.

For individuals of a certain age, the cataclysmic impact of AI has been an existential threat for more than half a century. Many of us grew up with the haunting voice of the predatory artificial intelligence, HAL, from Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, resonating ominously, and dispassionately, in our ears.

People jumping into a lake to escape being consumed by flames. Roadways jammed with vehicles on the move. Kilometre-long line-ups to airstrips offering evacuation flights.

We are last to push off from the shore into Oxbow Lake. I am in a canoe with Steph and Ava, two high school students from the Toronto Catholic District School Board. Ahead of us are 30 other TCDSB students ranging from Grades 10-12. For many of them it is their first time paddling a canoe. We are bringing up the rear to ensure no one goes astray. Leading the pack at the front is Greg Rogers, founder of this week-long Catholic Leadership program at Camp Olympia near Huntsville, Ont. He is taking us all to see Jesus.