Sister Elizabeth Johnson maintains that we have forgotten the Holy Spirit, the Spirit whose presence "is consistently linked with the power to denounce social wrongdoing, announce comfort for those who are suffering and bring about justice for the poor."

BOB MCKEON

Last month, I had the challenging experience of making a presentation to an all-party committee of the Alberta Legislature. The presentation addressed changes to the Alberta government’s minimum wage policy.

My presentation spoke of the need for a living wage based on a respect for the dignity of human work as articulated in Catholic social teaching.

EDMONTON — Longtime volunteer and philanthropist Eugene (Ben) Hochhausen will be awarded the 2010 Kevin Carr Christian Leadership Award.

Hochhausen, 85, will receive the award at a luncheon at the Chateau Louis Conference Centre Oct. 7.

Named to commemorate Newman Theological College’s first lay president, the award recognizes an individual who has demonstrated outstanding leadership in the Christian community and beyond.

GLEN ARGAN

Sister Elizabeth Johnson maintains that we have forgotten the Holy Spirit, the Spirit whose presence “is consistently linked with the power to denounce social wrongdoing, announce comfort for those who are suffering and bring about justice for the poor.”

When Father Marc Ouellet left Edmonton’s St. Joseph Seminary a mere 13 years ago for a prestigious professorship in Rome, we saw this as a feather in his cap. Few, if any, could foresee that five years later he would be the primate of the Church in Canada and that in 2010 he would become the highly influential prefect of the Vatican Congregation for Bishops.

FR. RON ROLHEISER, omi

Never travel with anyone who expects you to be interesting all the time. On a long trip there are bound to be some boring stretches.

That’s an axiom offered by Daniel Berrigan in his Commandments for the Long Haul and it contains a wisdom that is often absent today in our marriages, our family lives, our friendships, our churches and our spiritual lives.

GORDON SELF

I am fascinated by how we make decisions. If you pay careful attention, your decisions reveal a lot about your character and what you hold to be important, or of fundamental value.

JOE GUNN

Most Canadians like something cool in the torrid heat of summer. But not the chill emanating from Ottawa, which has frozen the good efforts of civil society groups across the land.

Major shifts are taking place in the federal government’s treatment of groups that make up what is known as The Third Sector.

TORONTO — There were more than 900 arrests, four police cars torched and Toronto’s transit system shut down, leaving citizens fuming over what it all cost in dollars, frayed nerves and the reputation of Toronto the Good.

If it was so necessary for G-8 and G-20 leaders to have “face time” together, why were these summits not held on say, Baffin Island, rather than in downtown Toronto? One billion dollars down the drain on security and still the powers-that-be were unable to prevent violence. More than a thousand people arrested, most of them peaceful demonstrators, while many of the window smashers walked away untouched.