Lawlessness and Trumping Choice
Besides being the memorial – or, as I like to think of it, the feast – of Saint Thomas Aquinas, this is also the rather ambiguous anniversary, back on this day in 1988, of the striking down of Pierre Trudeau’s 1969 abortion law by the Supreme Court. The Court deemed the law ‘unconstitutional’, but not in a good way: Rather, as too restrictive for women seeking abortions – requiring a panel of physicians, and ‘proportionate’ reasons, like health. Hence, they ordered parliament to formulate a new law, which they have never done. Hence, Canada is one of the very few countries in the world – China, Vietnam and North Korea, all atheistic, communist dictatorships, which is what this nation has more or less become, or at least devolving into.
Saint Thomas provides the antidote, with his clear teaching, the harmony he draws between faith and reason, his mystical holiness. Without Thomas and the scholastic method which Popes have advocated since the time of his death, the Church would be in danger of falling into an emotionalist, milquetoast mush, offering ersatz compassion, ignoring the harm to the most vulnerable, like babies and children – also a proximate reality of the current situation. Only the truth will set us free.
And what of Trump and his remarkable, rhetorical speech at the March for Life, advocating in no uncertain terms protection for the unborn from conception? Rare is the bishop who speaks like this. Some claim he is an opportunist, seeking Evangelical and Catholic votes, and he’s just faking it. If so, he’s doing a remarkably realistic job, appointing pro-life justices, promulgating pro-life laws, restricting Planned Parenthood and overseas abortions. Yes, he may have changed his mind – see my comments on metanoia on Saturday’s feast of Saint Paul’s conversion – but such is eminently possible, and even likely. We should give credit where credit is due.
And what other choice is there, when one looks at the alternatives, the raft of pathetic Democrats, now down realistically to two septuagenarians, one a committed communist, the other an unhinged confabulator who may not know his right hand from his left.
Here in Canada, we are in even worse shape, not just due to the fact that we have no abortion law – we are Saint Paul’s ‘men of lawlessness’ – but our two main – and, for now, the only realistic, political parties are slightly less bizarre versions of each other. Erin O’Toole has entered the race with a commitment to ‘march in Gay Pride parades, without any albatrosses’, a reference to Peter McKay’s dismissive likening of social conservative issues – like, say, the life of the unborn – to large, ungainly birds tied around a politician’s neck.
These men are not conservatives, but ersatz versions thereof, lifelong politicians on the government payroll, who will do not much of anything except continue the course to this nation’s demise, perhaps with slightly less acceleration than Trudeau, but off the cliff, nonetheless. We need another choice, a radical one, back to the roots of what once made Canada great – MCGA. Our whole country needs a conversion, a metanoia, a turning around of the Titanic headed for some tragic iceberg.
Perhaps, who knows, that’s what the coronavirus is all about. As far as apocalyptica go, it’s at least more real than climate change.
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→