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Letter from a Toronto Jail

From First Thoughts

One of Canada’s prisoners of conscience, Mary Wagner, in a moving letter from her Vanier Centre cell, writes of her concern that many members of our Christian medical associations, “despite their earnest desire to resist doctor-abetted suicide, have succumbed to defeatism.”She points to . . . . Continue Reading »

The Terminators

From Web Exclusives

Canada’s pending legislation on euthanasia and assisted suicide raises a question: What shall we call people who are legally involved in the destruction of human life—particularly those who do the actual killing? Shall we call them medical executioners? They are indeed executioners, as none can . . . . Continue Reading »

Happy Canada Day, Bastards

From Web Exclusives

Happy Canada Day, America! One decade later, your judges have turned you, too, into a nation of bastards. I don’t mean that in quite the usual sense, of course—you’ve been doing a fine job yourselves, without any help from us, of turning out fatherless children. I mean rather that . . . . Continue Reading »

Ascensiontide

From First Thoughts

As we enter Ascensiontide I’d like to remind readers of the seasonal prayers included at pp. 159–161 of Ascension Theology. And of the hope expressed in the Preface that homilists will help their listeners ponder the relationship between Ascension and Pentecost. In the pages between I’d like to think there are things to ponder as well, respecting the eucharistic situation of the Church and the signs of our times. Continue Reading »

La Petite Mort et la Grande Mort

From First Thoughts

I admire the Archbishop of Montreal, Christian Lépine, for speaking out against the new euthanasia program that our politicians have sanctified by calling “medical aid in dying.” Rumour has it that he was forced to buy his own space to do so, inasmuch as Quebec papers proved . . . . Continue Reading »

Public Funerals for Mob Leaders?

From First Thoughts

Vito Rizzuto, who last year returned to Montreal from a U.S. prison and (by all appearances, several of them bloody) resumed his career as a major Mafia boss, is dead of natural causes. Will he be granted a Catholic funeral, as was his son three years ago?  Nicolo, who was doing his best to . . . . Continue Reading »