I have two announcements about our roster of columnists, a new one and one who is leaving.

Over the Christmas holidays, Rev. Royal Hamel resigned as a columnist. He is focusing on other opportunities and projects. I am saddened to see him leave, but am glad that we part amicably. I consider Rev. Hamel a friend and it has been my pleasure that this paper has had the benefit of his writing for some six years. I will miss him and his writings urging Christians to boldly stand up for their beliefs.

Unrelated, we have a new columnist. Joe Campbell was invited to write for our paper before I received Rev. Hamel’s resignation. Campbell is a humour writer with two wonderful collections of his essays: Take Me Out of the Ball Game (Thistledown Press), which was shortlisted for the Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour in 2006, and The Great Canadian Comedy: From Laughter to Tears (Freedom Press). Both are laugh-out loud funny and I look forward to his light-hearted but serious take on life which will appear every other month in these pages under the banner Light is Right.

I hope you enjoy Campbell’s writing and we’ll see what we can do to get Rev. Hamel to write the occasional guest column for The Interim.