From the editor’s desk:

Happy anniversary to me! August 8 will mark the 20th anniversary since I became editor of this paper, meaning that I have been at the helm for more than half of The Interim’s life. It has been a remarkable privilege to serve the pro-life community as editor of this paper, and one that I am thankful to Jim Hughes and Dan Di Rocco, chair of the business board, for. I beg your indulgence in a bit of biography and personal reflection.

I grew up wanting to be a teacher, like my parents, Adrian, my dad, a high school teacher, and my mom Eileen, a Grade 1 teacher for most of her career. The pay was good and the holidays ample, and as someone bookish with a strong interest in history, it seemed a natural career choice. (As a young child who grew up in Woodstock, a small city that billed itself the Dairy Capital of Canada, I wanted to be a livestock farmer, which was always unlikely considering my fear of animals.) As long as I can remember I read the morning paper with breakfast, perusing the London Free Press sports and op-ed sections. Long before editing his work for this paper, I was a huge Rory Leishman fan, with his regular commentary in the Free Press being my primary exposure to conservative ideas. Near the end of my own high school career, my parents got me a National Review subscription — a gift they have continued to give to me annually for the past three decades. I began reading newspaper columns in other publications, most notably George F. Will in Newsweek and the Washington Post, and his collected columns in several books, I then decided I wanted to write for a living. (However, a colleague of mine would point out to me that as a writer for and then editor of The Interim I was still a teacher, educating the movement about life and family issues.)

I studied history at the University of Waterloo (where I foolishly decided to take courses with the libertarian Jan Narveson rather than Catholic Donald DeMarco) and briefly flirted with the idea of taking a job in politics before studying journalism at Conestoga College in Kitchener. I interned at a monthly newspaper, Our Toronto Free Press, ran by former Interim columnist Judi Macleod. I continued writing monthly book reviews for them on a freelance basis after my internship was over. I ventured out into the world of freelance writing. I wrote news for the Catholic Register and Christian Week, book reviews for the Halifax Herald and Toronto Star, and occasional pieces of commentary for some dozen daily newspapers. At the suggestion of my mother-in-law Rosemary I answered an advertisement in The Interim to join their editorial advisory board. I did so thinking that the position would help advance my freelance career by giving me a “qualification” to do more writing in the so-called mainstream press. I joined The Interim the same month David Curtin became editor and he decided to use my talents to write news and analysis for the paper. Shortly thereafter, Jim Hughes asked me to take over writing responsibilities for the CLC National News. Pro-life work made up the bulk of my freelance work.

I realized when working on an assignment for the Hamilton Spectator about one of Paul Martin’s budgets that my pro-life work was not subsidizing my occasional incursions into political commentary, but rather the then substantial freelance cheques from the larger newspapers were making my pro-life work possible. As one of my erstwhile colleagues likes to point out, sometimes God is subtle, sometimes He’s not. It took a while but I finally figured out that my calling was not mere journalism, but pro-life journalism. The rest, as they say, is history. In August 2001, the newspaper was about a month late getting out and I was brought in as interim co-editor for three months while the business board decided who it would go with as the full-time editor. By October, I was hired to run the paper.

The first few months were hectic, with on-the-job learning about the details of layout, editing, dealing with writers and readers, all while writing a large portion of the paper. We turned the first three issues out every three weeks to get back on schedule, and one of our deadlines was delayed by a day because just over a month after becoming editor, the world was gripped by the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11. It would be the only deadline we missed in my first decade. I recall people saying that 9/11 was a moment that would change history. I was dubious. Of course, in many ways it would change the course of American and world politics, geopolitics, and culture, just as any event does. But not in the big, important ways many expected. Just as there was only one Great Reset, there is only one hinge of history: the life, death and Resurrection of Christ.

Jim Hughes often says it is a privilege to share the splinters of Christ’s cross doing pro-life work. I agree, but I must confess there have not been that many. I consider myself blessed that I do not have to compromise my principles to work for The Interim. It is, in fact, other than as a husband, father, and son, the most important way I live out my faith. What a blessing that my vocation and avocation are the same thing.

Over the course of my two decades as editor and 23 years at The Interim, I have been fortunate to have supportive colleagues that work tirelessly for pro-life. For the first 19 years, I worked with David Bolton, the production manager responsible for layout. Over the past 12 months, we have switched production artists twice. I know that I am often a nuisance, requesting change after change to make the paper look just right. I go into every issue wanting to make it the best edition of The Interim we have ever put out; we often come up short, but shooting for always-better ensures that we challenge ourselves to produce the best possible newspaper for you, the reader. There have been numerous people responsible for selling advertising and subscriptions, and our current salesman Jaroslawa Kisyk is doing a great job, especially considering the economic climate we’ve found ourselves in over the past year.

I owe a special debt of gratitude to my family: my ever-patient wife, Christina, and six fantastic children, aged 6-30, as well as to my parents and in-laws for their material, emotional, and spiritual support. As rewarding as this job is, I could not have stayed for the long haul without them. I do pro-life work with no expectation to see the fruits of my labour – other than the crisp, new paper each month – in my lifetime. My hope is that we are laying down tracks for our children to take up the cause. For evil will always need to be confronted and the fight for moral sanity will never end. It is my hope that this paper informs and inspires our readers to action, and that our actions lead eventually to the conditions which will allow a Culture of Life to replace the Culture of Death, a society in which all life is celebrated and families flourish.

The late Rush Limbaugh, when called out for having strong opinions, used to say he was balance to the mainstream media. We consider ourselves balance to a media that walks lockstep with the fashionable causes that undermine human flourishing. It is no small task countering all the lies the Culture of Death spreads through the journalistic and entertainment medias, the education system from kindergarten to university, in the professions such as medicine and law, and in the public square from the legislatures to the courts. Thank you for allowing us into your homes to counter those lies.

**

In 1791, Edmund Burke, the former MP and the father of modern conservatism, wrote “A Letter to a Member of the National Assembly” in which he identified one of the causes of the French Revolution. The French were reading the wrong books: “Nothing ought to be more weighed than the nature of books recommended by public authority. So recommended, they soon form the character of the age.” Specifically, he blamed Jean-Jacques Rousseau and his “bold experiments in morality” which led the blood-thirsty revolutionaries to their “shameful evil.”

The world needs more of Edmund Burke’s perspicacity. It also needs more guidance on what to read and what to avoid reading. This paper has long reviewed books, but we have increased our writ on this file in recent years. In this the first time in the paper’s 38-year history, we have a dedicated books section. This has been something I have long wanted to do.

There are some longer reviews, some brief reviews; Rick McGinnis uses a book as a diving board to jump into the pool of classical music, and three contributors provide some counsel on what to read about select topics. We are not offering beach reads or lists of “summer reading” but insights into books that will help broaden horizons and add depth of understanding.

If the book section is a success, we plan to do it more regularly, perhaps for each December and July-August edition. Let us know what you think of it.

**

Rick McGinnis wrote about Ross Douthat’s The Decadent Society: How We Became Victims of Our Own Success in the April 2020 edition. I obtained the paperback edition which is updated and newly subtitled, “America Before and After the Pandemic” and Douthat does not merely tack a new preface or concluding chapter onto the book; he sprinkles examples of what he terms decadence but which are more easily recognized as stagnation, throughout the book. Douthat’s original thesis is that America’s leaders and institutions are failing the American people. COVID-19 has reinforced his thesis. 

**

This summer marks not only my 20th anniversary editing the paper, but my 25th wedding anniversary and my parents’ 50th wedding anniversary. My wife, Christina, is incredible. She is a patient, understanding and supportive wife; a doting, kind and compassionate mother to our six kids; and a ray of light to everyone she meets. I cannot imagine life without her and look forward to the next 25 years together. I also want to congratulate my parents (and in-laws, who celebrated their 50th anniversary earlier this year). Even if I come up short in practice, what I know about the selflessness of married love comes from their example. Congratulations mom and dad.

**

On June 6, Ambrose Atkins died at the age of 87. Originally from Prince Edward Island, he settled in Ottawa and became a familiar face to the local pro-life community. As Jim Hughes wrote in the November 2017 edition of The Interim about Ambrose and his wife Edna, “You will see them at every pro-life event” and “with Edna’s constant support, he facilitates CLC information meetings and if you are patient with him, he’ll tell you a story of Big Ambrose, Little Ambrose, and Ambrose under the bridge in PEI.” He was a long-time co-chair of the National March for Life, the country’s largest pro-life witness. Ambrose Atkins joined the Communication Research branch of the Royal Canadian Navy in 1952 and retired with the rank of Chief Warrant Officer in 1976. He then worked for two decades at the Communication Security Establishment. He is survived by Edna, his wife for 63 years, and sons Jim and Dave and daughters Lisa, Leigh, and Laura, and ten grandchildren. The Ottawa Citizen obituary said he was “always ready with a quick smile, corny joke, and kind words.” Indeed, his smile was infectious. I will miss it at pro-life functions.