Bravest Thing (He Ever Did)

"Dad, can you please tell me a Danny story?" Such is the daily request from my four year old daughter every night before bed. "Danny" being me - when I was just a wee lad - and the stories are the real-life adventures young Danny encountered. And so I begin every night with a "Danny was a good little boy, and always very..."  They fill in the blank. "Curious!" "Hungry!" "Bad!" Then the story begins. Last night my daughter had a further request. "You should make a book of Danny stories." Hmmm... maybe I will. But how? Perhaps I can start writing them down on this my personal blog, and collect them later. Let's try one for size, shall we? * * * Danny was a good little boy, and always very... interesting. It was a rare day. The actual day on the calendar said Good Friday, which I suppose is not so rare, being a yearly occurrence and all. But it was a beautiful, warm, and sunny Good Friday, which was almost unheard ...

Pre-Covid, Canada was like a man person on a mission. The goal was to banish all plastic straws. I believe the logic was such: straws kill polar bears. And so, more of the unreal ensued. Schools, in particular, became the breeding ground for such environmental madness. Enter coronavirus. Suddenly masks have become the flavour of the day for Canadian "values". Wear masks or kill grandma. It sounds harsh. But wear masks or kill polar bears can't be used, because such a phrase would be dripping in glacial-melted irony. You see, masks are everywhere. I do not refer simply to human faces. I mean they are in every ditch, river, and piece of the world that would otherwise be occupied with straws. Masks are literally littered everywhere - they are the new straws.  So what a predicament. How can Canada attempt to ban straws to protect the environment when they also mandate masks everywhere...  Enter Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau with the solution: We will ban not only...

One year ago today I came home from Mass and adoration and was feeling pretty good. I turned on my computer and was presented with this: I felt sick. This was maybe the grossest moment I’ve ever experienced as a Catholic. Needless to say , if the past 12 months are any indication, I don’t think God has been too pleased either. 

 Today is the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows. I highly recommend this talk by Fr. Ripperger.

  I remember being in elementary school and one day being told that we ought not to say Czechoslovakia anymore -not that we ever could say that name properly. But they split up, like Brad Pitt and [Insert Name], and became the Czech Republic and Slovakia. What impact did this have on my life? Well, it weakened their hockey team(s) for international tournaments, so that was good. Otherwise, that's about it. But I don't speak for the people of the two nations. I came across a recent article (thanks John Paul Meenan for the referral ) on the subject of splitting up America, penned by someone you may know. Guess Who? Really, Guess Who. Or at least, the son of The Guess Who. The article is by Tal Bachman, over at Mark Steyn's website. Tal Bachman is the son of legendary The Guess Who (and BTO) guitarist Randy Bachman. Tal has a mega rock hit to his credit also.  It turns out that Mr. Tal Bachman can write as well. I mean write very well. Like, he's so high above me with wri...

Every month of the liturgical year is dedicated to a different Catholic devotion. Many of these devotions make far more sense when following the traditional calendar. For instance, with the traditional Latin Mass Corpus Christi is not The Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ . There is a separate first class feast for the Precious Blood... in July. Hence July is the month of the Precious Blood. Further, the feast of the Immaculate Heart is in August, the culmination of the octave of the Assumption. The Queenship of Mary is in May, hence May crownings (an "aha" moment if you're wondering why the feast and the crownings are separated in the Novus Ordo). Lost yet? Sigh. Blame Annibale Bugnini et al. Long story short, the liturgical year is not something that should've been re-created by a committee. September is dedicated to Our Lady of Sorrows. Fr. Ripperger, the famous exorcist priest, often says that we must pray to Our Lady of Sorrows to reveal our own hearts. What ...

I am reading Willa Cather's Shadows on the Rock . Though not a Catholic, Cather certainly captures the heart of Catholicism in 17th century Quebec. Her passages concerning St. Francois de Laval, the first bishop of Quebec, are especially moving. Behold, how the saintly man called his flock to Mass every morning: "The Bishop got up at four o'clock every morning, dressed without fire, went with his lantern into the church, and rang the bell for early mass for the working people. Many good people who did not want to go to mass at all, when they heard that hoarse, frosty bell clanging out under the black sky where there was not yet even a hint of daybreak, groaned and went to the church. Because they thought of the old Bishop at the end of the bell-rope, and because his will was stronger than theirs. He was a stubborn, high-handed, tyrannical, quarrelsome old man, but no one could deny that he shepherded his sheep." May God grant us many stubborn, high-handed, tyrannical,...

 The so-called second wave of the pandemic is set to come down on us this fall/winter. The first hit of Covid-19 was terrifying. I don't mean the actual virus was terrifying, but rather the meltdown of society. Work, church, recreation, logic... all were more or less thrown out the door. It did allow for more reading, however. And time to think and pray. With that in mind, here are a some books I highly recommend as we move past summer and into more craziness. Reclaiming Our Roman Catholic Birthright - Dr. Peter Kwasniewski Dr. K's latest book came at a perfect time. I've had so many questions about the Mass, particularly in regards to the worth of attending Masses that are gong shows. Add in the question of raising children in this environment, and it has been downright perplexing. Dr. K not only explains the worth of the traditional Latin Mass, but he delves into the very purpose of the Mass, and the guiding principles for how we are to approach each Mass. His work provid...

How quickly time passes, memories fade, and youth withers. A couple of evenings ago my wife was reading Defending Boyhood by Anthony Esolen when she stumbled upon the lyrics of a song Esolen was mentioning in passing. "Hey, do you know this song? The words sound familiar... It goes: 'Gaudeamus igitur, Iuvenes dum sumus…" "Hmm. I'd have to see." After staring blankly at the words for a couple of minutes, desperately trying to hum various Latin tunes, suddenly the scales fell from our eyes, and we were able to recognize a treasure from our youth. We began to piece the tune together. "We used to sing that in Latin class at OLSWA! Mr. Zakrzewski taught it to us." "That's right. I can still see and hear him. He'd be so into it. It was his dream to have the old academic hymn make a glorious comeback. We used to sing that song everywhere. On hikes, in class, anywhere." And so it is, the great academic song trumpeting all youth to seize ...

We head back to school in a few weeks. Oh you should hear the socialists crying out - "Death! Bloody Murder!" - about the fact that, at least for now in Saskatchewan, staff and students won't be required to wear masks. I'm not sure why socialists love masks so much. Science Incorporated? Trust in the Globalist Agenda ? Because surgeons in a sterile and controlled-air environment use masks so as not to spit on a vulnerable person's internal organs? Or, they're just flat out ugly people, and the covering does them good? The other day I saw a woman walking her dog in an open field. She was wearing a mask. My only thought was, "and these people vote?" May as well put a mask on Fido while you're at it. Except I'll bet Fido would have none of that. Either way, here is a solid article by a teacher across the pond. Check it out HERE . A snippet: It also feeds the terror propagated by clickbait media. My least favourite weasel word in all this is ‘unp...