Originally Published in the National Post: Thursday, April 26, 2007
ROME – In Tuesday’s National Post, my colleague Jonathan Kay wrote something of an obituary for multiculturalism, arguing that if the values of multiple cultures are alien to the settled history of Canadian values, then the whole project endangers, not enriches, Canadian society. Continue reading
In Pavia, one great theologian-bishop is visiting another
Originally Published in the National Post: Thursday, April 19, 2007
This past week, Pope Benedict XVI celebrated both his 80th birthday and, today, his second anniversary as pope. A special Mass at St. Peter’s last Sunday marked the two occasions, and the gifted pianist attended a classical musical concert in his honour at the Vatican on Monday night. I suspect, though, that Benedict will consider his visit this weekend to the Italian town of Pavia a more special gift still, for that is where Saint Augustine – the fifth-century North African convert, bishop and doctor of the Church – is buried.
Originally Published in the National Post Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Killings on campus are doubly brutal, for something also dies in those who survive, alongside the dead they mourn. Something of the campus itself dies. Thirty-two beautiful lives have been cut short. And the campus, which ought to be a place of particular beauty, no doubt seems a very cruel place to be.
Originally Published in the National Post Thursday, April 12, 2007
Sixty years ago, the Brooklyn Dodgers’ new first baseman went 0-3, grounding out to third, flying out to left and hitting into a double play. He would play 150 rather more successful games that season, and be named National League Rookie of the Year for 1947. He went on to play 1,231 more games over the next nine seasons, concluding a Hall of Fame career in 1956, with over 1,500 hits and a career .311 batting average. But no game would be more important than his hitless debut on April 15, 1947.
Originally Published in the National Post Saturday, April 07, 2007
A few weeks back, the story of the “Jesus tomb” dominated the news cycle. Michael Coren dismantled the claims in these pages, and after several days of near-universal debunking by archaeologists and historians of religion, the story died as the publicity stunt it was. James Cameron did not find Jesus’s tomb, but there once was such a tomb. Not for long, but for long enough.