[dropcap]I[/dropcap]f you happen to be a “none” (no, not a “nun”), you’re one of a growing number of people (more than a billion worldwide actually, especially in America and Europe) who identify themselves as having no religious affiliation, even if they were brought up in homes where religion was practiced,Read More

It’s only just begun, yet the whole world seems to be feeling the weight of Donald Trump’s presidency. Many more affected and more knowledgeable than myself have commented (boy have they commented) on where he will take the United States during the next four years, but there’s no doubt whatsoeverRead More

In July 2011, Elaine Power wrote a scathing account of food banks in The Globe and Mail, declaring “they have become a serious obstacle in the fight against poverty” and “it was time to close them down.” Power, at the time an associate professor in the School of Kinesiology andRead More

Those who proclaim, as do Christians all over the world, that “Jesus is the reason for the season” have had to accept that Santa Claus comes very close to usurping the Christ Child’s place in this most wonderful season of the year. Despite the myths that surround both figures, itRead More

Those of you who have long wished to get an inside look at how the Catholic Church elects a leader (the short line is to the left, or is that the right?) need wait no longer now that Robert Harris has written Conclave: The Power of God, The Ambition ofRead More

Pope Francis has become the master of off-the-cuff answers to questions put to him by the reporters who travel with him, although the responses don’t necessarily reiterate certain dogmas or doctrines of the church he represents. There was no doubt, however, in his recent slam-dunk removal of any hope forRead More

I recall once meeting a retired teacher and asking her how she had spent her summer. Her answer: “Eating, drinking cheap wine and reading trashy novels.” Now that’s a summer! Unfortunately for me, I know someone with a subscription to The New Yorker who drops a dozen copies in frontRead More

It’s not surprising that the Archbishops of Alberta and the Northern Territories would take a stand against assisted death, as outlined in Bill C-14, passed by the Canadian House of Commons in June of this year. In so doing, they are upholding Catholic doctrine that life exists from conception toRead More

If Murray Lewis, editor of Good Times, the magazine for retirees which comes 10 times a year with your Cape Breton Post subscription, wanted to introduce a little shock and awe into the assisted death debate, he probably succeeded in his editorial in the July/August edition. He strongly criticizes theRead More

“Here they are George. This is just the kind I was telling you about. Aren’t they great?” “Look, Mary. I don’t know the first thing about campers. I’ve never even seen one this close before. In fact, I don’t think I’ve really seen one before at all. Why in theRead More