Petit Brother André Bessette: The Miracle Worker of Montreal
On January 7th here in Canada we honour one of Canada’s most beloved saints, André Bessette (1845-1937), a humble lay-brother who went on to...
Lockdowns and the Proportion of Fear
Just after Christmas, - at least they waited until after, and we must count all our blessings - Mr. Doug Ford decreed another interminable...
Fairy tales
I deny that biology can destroy the sense of truth, which alone can even desire biology. - G. K. Chesterton, The Long Bow
"Papa, tell...
Puffballs
“What can go wrong?” I asked, “the book says it is safe, and it shows a picture of the thing. Listen! It says right...
All twelve days
“Therefore your end is on you,
Is on you and your kings,
Not for a fire in Ely fen,
Not that your gods are nine or ten,
But...
Cough Syrup
It was coming up to Christmas and I was sitting in the living room looking at the Christmas tree, deciding whether to light a...
God be with ye
I was speaking with a colleague, Fred, who is an atheist, and he told me that he preferred to use Xmas on his Christmas...
The Greeter
“Perhaps it was rather rude of me to turn my back, but upon my blessed word, I—I’d never heard such a thing in my...
To reject the soup
In Ireland, my ancestors were offered a devil’s bargain by the otherwise good people during the potato famine. At that time, well-intentioned but misguided...
The duty to defend
For it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ “Chuck him out, the brute!’’ But it’s “Saviour of ’is country,’’ when the guns begin to...