Columns

Our human desire is to project an aura of confidence, of success, of being in control. We want to know it all and to have others believe we know it all.

FR. RON ROLHEISER, omi

Recently an op-ed piece appeared in the New York Times by Frank Bruni, entitled, "The Wages of Celibacy." The column, while provocative, is fair. Mostly he asks a lot of hard, necessary questions.

KATHLEEN GIFFIN

Trinity Sunday
May 26, 2013

The traditional statement of "food, water and shelter" as the three essentials to human life probably needs a revision. I would say that there are four essentials to human life: food, water, shelter and love.

SR. LOUISE ZDUNICH, NDC

Pentecost seems to be a forgotten feast. Christmas and Easter are mega-feasts but Pentecost comes and goes, hardly being noticed.

BOB MCKEON

Last month I attended a special event at the Bissell Centre in the heart of Edmonton's inner city. This event was the occasion for the public release of the Year 4 Update report on progress in Edmonton's 10 Year Plan to End Homelessness.

It is fitting that the conclusion of our five-year archdiocesan Nothing More Beautiful program falls close to Pentecost. For the New Evangelization to flow from Nothing More Beautiful, it must be the work of the Holy Spirit.

FR. RON ROLHEISER, omi

Some years ago, a woman shared this story at a workshop. She had a six-year-old son whom she had conscientiously schooled in prayer. Among other things, she made him kneel beside his bed every night and say aloud a number of prayers, ending with an invocation to "bless mummy, daddy, grandma and grandpa."

MARIA KOZAKIEWICZ

Pentecost
May 19, 2013

We know him from religious art – he is always shown as a dove. We know him from the catechism and from the New Testament story of his descent upon the disciples. He came upon them as fire that did not burn, as wind that did not destroy.

I'm often asked about how we can make our society more inclusive and accessible for the disabled. There are obvious physical barriers for those who have physical disabilities. Those normally take some engineering or construction thought.

MARK PICKUP

A murder trial is playing out in Pennsylvania. In 2011, Philadelphia late-term abortionist Dr. Kermit Gosnell was charged with the murder of seven infants born alive after botched abortions. (Three of those charges were later dropped for lack of evidence.) Gosnell was also charged with the murder of Karnamaya Mongar, 41, who died of a medication overdose during an abortion at his clinic.