My darling baby: It is hard to believe that this month we have reached the half-way point, 20 weeks. I reach this milestone with an overwhelming sense of excitement and fear. I am so excited that you will soon be with us. That we can touch you, look at you, fall even more in love with you and learn who you are [...]
Being at Ground Zero on Sept. 12, 2001 was the last place on earth I expected to be. When a confrere and New York native, Franciscan priest Fr. David Engo, insisted we leave Franciscan University in Steubenville, where we were on sabbatical together, and drive to Manhattan, I instinctively knew it was the right thing to do. The memories of those five [...]
Climbing Parnassus: A New Apologia for Greek and Latin by Tracy Lee Simmons, Forward by William F. Buckley (ISI Books, $24.95 (US) 290 pgs) Amongst the growing numbers of parents seeking alternatives to mainstream public education, especially those of religious persuasions or simply concerned with instilling a heavy dose of humane learning, there would appear to be an increasing interest in a [...]
As I Lay Dying: Meditations Upon Returning by Fr Richard John Neuhaus (Perseus Books, 224 pages, $32.95) To stare certainly at death, across an uncertain number of years and, thereby, to live in ignorance and expectation of what Thomas Hardy called the "day which (lies) sly and unseen among all the other days of the year," the day of our death; this [...]
My darling baby: As I prepare my classroom for a new year, I have had time to reflect on your role in my room and the incredible impact you had last year. I am already so lucky to teach a kindergarten class with 10 children, one of them being your older brother Michael. Having you as part of our daily school life [...]
Her good advice made her credible; her bad advice made her destructive Esther Landers, much better known as Ann Landers, died in Chicago. But make no mistake about it: her spirit lives on. Make no mistake about this, either: the spirit of Ann Landers is in large measure what is so wrong with our society. If that seems to you like a [...]
A History of Canadian Catholicism by Terence J. Fay (McGill University Press, $27.95, 400 pages) Terence J. Fay is a Jesuit priest and author of A History of Canadian Catholicism. The latter fact you would know from looking at the cover of the book. The former is impossible to find anywhere in the book, so great are the efforts to hide Fay's [...]
Peter Kreeft, Three Approaches to Abortion San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2002 135 pages, $9.95 (U.S.) Peter Kreeft is a prolific and successful writer on philosophical and religious subjects; the back cover of this book informs us that he has published over 25 books and that a number of these are bestsellers. The preface reveals how well-organized and methodical he is. He has [...]
My Darling Baby: What a wonderful day. I got to see you for the first time. You are so small yet so perfect. I know it is very early for me to have had the joy of experiencing an ultrasound, however, the doctor offered your daddy and I some choices and our decision led us to today. Awhile back the doctor informed [...]
August 26 will mark 92 years since the birth of Mother Teresa. Her saintly life was wholly devoted to love of God and love of neighbour. Even in life, she was acclaimed a saint. But what made the world take notice of this diminutive lover of the poor? Perhaps it was the founding of her religious order, the Sisters of Charity, which [...]
One of the keynote speakers at this fall's Creating a Culture of Life international pro-life conference in Toronto will be one of the world's longest serving and distinguished pro-life leaders, Dr. Jack Willke. He is perhaps best known for authoring with his wife Barbara the vital resource book Handbook on Abortion, which has been renamed Love Them Both in its latest edition. [...]
My Darling Baby: It is with great excitement that I sit and write my first letter to you. It is amazing to me that you have been with us for such a short period of time and though you are only the size of a pea, you have already filled our lives with much excitement, joy and love. About four weeks ago [...]
Raising Hell: What Stops Parents from Handing on the Faith to their Children by St. Clair McEvenue (Interim Publishing, $15, 251 pages) Raising Hell. What a catchy title for a book that blames the latest generation for society's problems. St. Clair McEvenue is a graduate from St. Michael's College and worked as an accountant until 1987, at which time he became a [...]
Pop culture's quest for nihilism leads to desensitization and inability to recognize evil Shows About Nothing: Nihilism in popular Culture from The Exorcist to Seinfeld by Thomas S. Hibbs (Spence Publishing, $23.50 paperback, 202 pages) Nihilism has poisoned our culture and perhaps nowhere is that more apparent than in how we choose to entertain ourselves. The emptiness and nothingness of recent Hollywood [...]
"Feisty" and "dedicated" are the words being used to describe Lillian Maguire, a long-time pro-life supporter and activist from Richmond Hill, Ont., who died on Feb. 23 at the age of 81. Maguire was one of the first demonstrators when Henry Morgentaler opened his flagship abortuary on Harbord Street in Toronto in the early 1980s. In recent years, despite declining health and [...]