I left home in my teens; travelled afar, far from family and friends. Life in the new country was different,exciting, challenging. And horribly lonely. 

DUBLIN – God wants every person to love and be loved, creating a family or community where love is nurtured and shared with all who are poor, lonely or in need, Pope Francis said.

In the dog days of August, at the height of vacation season, it is tempting to let a few things slide. But not too much. One hundred years ago, The Catholic Register did its summer duty by reminding parents of their own duty when it came to their children. From the July 18, 1918 issue, The Register offers advice that still may apply today.

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Pesto tastes like summertime to me.

A new report from the Angus Reid Institute showing poverty may be a bigger problem than official statistics indicate is ramping up pressure on Ottawa to unveil a federal poverty reduction strategy.

WASHINGTON – Priests continue to play diverse and integral roles in marriage preparation across Europe and Asia.

Canadian controversy over Humanae Vitae began long before Pope Paul VI issued his controversial encyclical.

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump signed an executive order June 20 that halts his administration's family separation policy for families who have crossed the U.S.-Mexico border illegally.

MANCHESTER, England – Nearly 500 British priests have signed a statement in support of the papal encyclical that forbade married couples from using contraception.

VANCOUVER – Katherine Babcock was in college studying toward an arts degree when she found out she was pregnant. The child's father, her best friend of 10 years, could not cope with the news.

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad – Interfaith leaders, including Catholics, have declared their belief that marriage can only be between a biological man and a biological woman.

Next month will mark the 50th anniversary of Humanae Vitae, the 1968 encyclical of Blessed Paul VI which  reaffirmed the immorality of contraception at a time when many in the Church and the world expected a change.

VATICAN – A new Vatican document cautions against the dangers of highly competitive children's sports, political and economic pressures on athletes to win '"at all costs" and the unsportsmanlike or violent behavior of fans.

Most of my childhood Sundays were spent below the stained glass windows of a beautiful church filled with incense. I was a “cradle Catholic,” baptized in a white gown and confirmed when I still had braces. However, some Sundays I spent in a modestly decorated Pentecostal church. 

The world’s most famous quintuplets, the five Dionne girls, were born May 28, 1934 to poor Catholic parents Oliva and Elzire Dionne on their farm near Corbeil, Ont. They were the first quints to survive infancy and were instant global sensations. Fearing they would be exploited, the Ontario government made the girls wards of the province with special legislation (the Croll Bill). It prompted a fierce debate over parental rights, which played out in the pages of The Register. Later, a fierce custody battle resulted in the girls returning to their parents in 1943 after an early childhood that saw them put on public display in a specially-built hospital and nursery called Quintland. In 1998, three surviving sisters won a $2.8 million settlement from Ontario as a result of their exploitation. In the April 11, 1935 Register, the parents made their case against the Croll Bill in a letter to the editor: