Homecoming Weekend starts tomorrow here at Queen’s University.  Homecoming — even the word is comforting.

Homecoming is not really a trip home — I am on campus nearly every day –but rather an occasion to be grateful for the special blessing granted to we who are part of the great university adventure. With the exception of a few months here and there, I have spent my entire adult life as a university student, instructor or chaplain. I have other duties too, of course, as a parish priest and journalist, but the campus calendar is what sets the rhythm of my life. Continue reading →

When I first met Hal McCarney, he was already 75 years old. He was already the larger-than-life, legendary figure who has been widely written about in the days since his recent death. Yet in the years I came to know him, it struck me that to call him larger than life was somehow to miss the point, to miss the significance of what his life taught us. Continue reading →

A timely intervention has prevented the cancer from metastasizing, but aggressive treatment is still needed.

The diagnosis is by now well known: From their privileged place within the body politic, Canada’s various human rights commissions have gone from legitimately fighting discrimination to attacking Canadian liberties. Continue reading →

The long, violent terror war in the Islamic world — which killed hundreds of thousands in Algeria alone in the 1990s — took on global dimensions on Sept. 11, 2001.  The attacks on New York — the unofficial capital of the world — and Washington, D. C., the American capital city, meant that the rise of Islamic extremism could no longer be considered a problem only for the Muslim world. The subsequent bombings in Bali, Madrid and London demonstrated that the whole world would be engaged in this battle, whether it wanted to be or not. Continue reading →

Last Friday, Sept. 5, was the anniversary of Mother Teresa’s death. Eleven years ago, Indians lined the streets to honour her state funeral procession.  This year, her Sisters, the Missionaries of Charity, encountered a rather different crowd on the anniversary. Continue reading →