The Fragility of Bridges and Covenants
As I was leaving Rome, watching out the window of the da Vinci airport, after five days of hot, sunny weather, the rain began bucketing down. It must have been almost exactly that time that a bridge suddenly collapsed in Genoa, 300 miles to the north, killing at least 37 people and injuring untold more. They say the deluge may have had something to do with it. One knows neither the day nor the hour, and our own private ‘apocalypse’ can arrive at any time. Pray for the victims, their families and loved ones.
A sobering thought, as I just stepped off a plane, an aluminium tube traveling at 500 miles an hour at 40,000 feet, which hit more than one belt of turbulence.
And, on other tragic news, of a spiritual sort, it seems Trinity Western University has blinked, removing their ‘community covenant’ requirement, which requires, or that is, required, that students refrain from any sexual activity outside of marriage. This was seen as discriminatory (of course, primarily to the usual suspects, ‘gays’ and ‘lesbians’), and was cited as the primary stumbling block in the recent denial of their accreditation of a law degree.
Now, it seems the vaunted Christian college has joined the madding crowd, selling their covenant, as they now hope, for the coveted LLB. This plays into something quite personal for me, teaching at a Catholic college. The forces of darkness are closing in, but we must stand with the light.
I will have more to write on this later, in light of the role of the Church and her teaching in education, at all levels.
And the news from Pennsylvania is also not good, alas, revealing harrowing records of abuse (much of it, albeit, not fully substantiated) in six diocese stretching back 70 years. Corruptio optimi pessima, and the priesthood, which attracts the best (see Pope John Paul and countless others self-sacrificial men, who make up by far, far the majority), but also the worst (those who must have seen the ‘job’ as an easy access to victims of various sorts). As others have written, we cannot discount the role of homosexuality in all of this sordid mess, the vice that dare not speak its name, as Oscar Wilde might say; or, at least, once did not, and now, it is just not permitted to speak its name in certain contexts, like what underlay, and underlies, these, ahem, ‘problems’ in the priesthood.
Ah, well, a house cleaning is well past due, even if the light exposes much filth. And this applies to all of us.
So hope, dear reader, on this solemnity of the Assumption. For the light always, always overcomes the darkness.
Carney’s Amoral Majority
After five defections – euphemistically described as ‘crossing the floor’ – and three by-elections, Mark Carney and his Liberals how have their coveted majority. One wonders what bowls of pottage were offered in back-room deals. In the archaic monarchical system that is the Dominion of Canada, this majority allows the newly-minted Prime Minister to rule[…]Continue reading→
Saint Kateri , Canada’s Protectress
This was the title given to Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, by Pope Benedict XVI, when he canonized her on October 28th, 2012, along with six others, in Saint Peter’ Square (she had been beatified by Pope John Paul II back in 1980). With Saint Joseph as our protector, along with the Canadian martyrs, we seem to[…]Continue reading→
A Closed, Unsustainable, Descending Loop
As a follow-up to my thoughts on Payette’s payout, here be a stark image of where are here in Canada. As the graph shows in, well, graphic terms, since 2025, the public sector has contributed to 95.5% of economic growth. The private sector – which funds the public sector, or is supposed to – has[…]Continue reading→
Remembering Father Alphonse de Valk
(Today marks the sixth anniversary of the death of Father Alphonse de Valk, C.S.B., a faithful, courageous and indefatigable Basilian priest, pro-life-and-family apostle, and the founder of Catholic Insight magazine. Here is what we wrote those on his entering into eternity five years ago, as we continue to remember him in our prayers and thoughts)[…]Continue reading→
A Tale of Two Benedicts
A grace-filled Holy Week to all our readers! As we await and prepare for the Resurrection about to dawn upon us, we might keep in mind two Benedicts: Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, requiescat in pace, elected on this day in 2005; and today’s commemoration of the mystic pilgrim, Benedict Joseph Labre, who died on this[…]Continue reading→
My Name is Bernadette
April 16th is a propitious day, for besides the anniversary of Father de Valk’s death, who founded Catholic Insight in its print form decades ago, and the commemoration of the ‘two Benedicts’, mentioned in accompanying posts, today we also recall Saint Bernadette Soubirous, the young visionary to whom the Virgin Mary appeared numerous times at[…]Continue reading→
Presidential Pardon of Weronika Krawczyk
As a good news, follow-up to our story from Poland, of the persecution of Weronika Krawczyk for her pro-life views, we heard that she has been granted a presidential pardon. One might still wonder why one needs a presidential pardon for simply holding the long-held belief that the child within the womb is a child,[…]Continue reading→
Saint Lydwina of Schiedam and Suffering Joyfully
Saint Lydwina of Schiedam (1380 – 1433) was one of the countless and glorious ‘victim souls’ in the history of the Church, those whose lives are filled with suffering, often of an unimaginable intensity, but who suffer joyfully. She was a fifteen-year old Dutch girl, out skating one day, when she fell and broke one[…]Continue reading→
The Glorious Martyrdoms of Martin and Maximus
As we enter into Eastertide, we recall on this 13th of April Pope Saint Martin I (+655), one of the noblest, if most tragic, of the successors of Saint Peter. Born in Umbria, Italy, he was of noble lineage, with great intelligence combined with charity and love of the poor and the Church. While still[…]Continue reading→
Divine Mercy Sunday – An Echo of Every Mass
Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe’… ‘My Lord and my God!’ (Jn. 20:18)). Today is Divine Mercy Sunday, and as we celebrate the end of the Easter Octave, we contemplate the wounded side of our Saviour, the Church’s source of life. On Good Friday in the[…]Continue reading→