A Pakistani student who was 10 years old at the time of the 9/11 terrorist attacks said freedom and the ability to travel freely outside his country were among the victims of that day.

When public policies do not promote values such as justice, fairness and compassion, the resulting void has the potential of giving rise to frustration and despair that can explode, Pope Benedict told Great Britain's new ambassador to the Holy See.

A gardener works in the Vatican Gardens.

For the 19th century philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, Christianity was synonymous with weakness. Christian morality, in Nietzsche's view, was insipid, replacing the power of the human will with an obedient cowering before God. For the human person to reach his or her full stature, God had to be destroyed and man had to assert himself.

Were Nietzsche to consider the Beatitude, "Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth," he would have found it to be laughable sentimentality. The meek will never control anything; they are pathetic victims.

It is long past time for the National Hockey League to put an end to fighting and head shots, whether intentional or unintentional. The three former NHL "enforcers" whose lives ended this summer at their own hands underlines the fact that players are exploited in order to heighten a gladiatorial atmosphere in what is already a rough game.

As well, Sydney Crosby's slow recovery from a concussion resulting from a cheap head shot is only the latest in a long series of head injuries that seriously impair hockey players' ability to live full and productive lives.

FR. RON ROLHEISER, omi

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, in one of his dialogues with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in Rome, was asked: "What are you trying to do?" His answer was something to this effect: I'm trying to write a Christology that is large enough to include the full Christ because Christ isn't just a divine saviour sent to save people; Christ is also a structure within the physical universe, a path of salvation for the earth itself.

What is meant by this? How is Christ a structure within physical creation?

JOHN CONNELLY

26th Sunday in Ordinary Time
September 25, 2011

In this week's Gospel Jesus says to the chief priests and elders of the people, "Tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of heaven before you" (Matthew 21.31).

This was a shocking thing to say to the devout religious people of his day. Imagine Jesus telling these leaders that the people they considered the dregs of society were getting into the kingdom of heaven before them.

BOB MCKEON

Each year, the Catholic Church in Japan observes the days from Aug. 6 to 15 as an annual celebration of Ten Days for Peace marking the anniversaries of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the end of the Second World War.

Because of their experience of the horrors of nuclear warfare, the Japanese Church sees this time as a special time to call for prayers and actions for peace. The celebration this year was coloured by the overwhelming experience of the disastrous March 11 earthquake, tsunami and subsequent nuclear reactor meltdowns.

LASHA MORNINGSTAR

His hand ruffled Kimo's soft grey wavey hair.

"First time in years that I've touched anyone."

He raised his street-worn face, looked into my eyes and said, "I always had a dog at home. But that was a long time ago."

Archbishop Richard Smith is setting evangelization, faith formation and the development of a culture of vocations as the pastoral priorities of the Edmonton Archdiocese for the next several years.

In a pastoral letter released on the Sept. 14 feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, Smith said he wants to let the Catholic faithful know the future direction of pastoral planning in the archdiocese when the Nothing More Beautiful process concludes in the spring of 2013.