Latest from the Pulpit and Politics Blog
The story behind Anabaptists in cages
I traveled in Germany recently searching for information on my Catholic ancestors. While there, I found that members of my wife’s Anabaptist antecedents had rebelled against religious and civic authorities in Münster, Germany in 1534-35. Leaders of the rebellion were apprehended, tortured to death, and had their bodies placed in cages suspended from a church…
Seeking Gruending ancestors in Germany
We traveled recently in Germany, where I sought out ancestral roots. Our guide, a family friend, has located us in church records going back to the fifteenth century. And he was able to document a murder that has long been family lore.
Pope Leo XIV’s Insights on AI and Human Dignity
Pope Leo XIV has published a document called Magnificent Humanity, which places the human person and the common good at the centre of the discussion about the increasingly pervasive technology of AI. The document will take its place in the canon of Catholic social teaching.
Frustrations with Access to Information in Canada
A CBC news team has published a story about the RCMP’s spying on Indigenous leaders in the 1970s and 80s. A sub plot to the story is the frustration that the CBC journalists encountered in their year’s-long effort to obtain information from the RCMP Security Service files. This is a frustration with which I am…
Must-Read Books of 2025: A Sequel
Recently I posted about good books that I read in 2025. My list was too long for one post, so here is my sequel. If you want to recommend books for the rest of us to read in 2026, please use the comments section at the end of this piece to do so. Happy reading.…
Best Reads of 2025: My Year in Books
Here are some of my favourite books from 2025. In a chaotic and troubled world, reading books, remains one of life’s great pleasures. It is also a way to stay more deeply informed that is possible by reading newspapers or following on air news, and infinitely preferable to doom scrolling on social media. Take a…
Controversial Moments at Politics and the Pen Fundraiser
A Politics and the Pen fundraiser at the Chateau Laurier Hotel in Ottawa went smoothly for most of the evening. But it turned nasty near its end when one of the MPs co-hosting the event implied in a quip that the NDP is antisemitic.
David Shulman describes Israeli settler violence
David Shulman is an Israeli author, professor emeritus, and peace activist. In a recent article in The New York Review of Books, he describes how extremist Israeli settlers in the occupied territories are attacking Palestinian homes and villages, crops and herds. Shulman calls it a second Nabka.
The Impact of Trump’s Military Demands on Canada
NATO leaders, including Canada, have agreed to spend 5.0% of Gross Domestic Product on the military. Prime Minister Mark Carney says Canada will more than double its military spending. That will fuel the arms race and crowd out spending on much-need social programs.
Analyzing reckless demands for Canadian military spending
NATO and the Trump regime in the US are demanding that Canada drastically increase military spending. We should, rather, apply a peace lens. It would include a greater emphasis upon diplomacy and peacebuilding in concert with military spending.
Pope Francis apologizes for residential schools
In July 2022 Pope Francis visited Canada at the invitation of Indigenous leaders and their communities. He apologized for the Catholic Church’s co-operation in what he called Canada’s “devastating” policy of Indigenous residential schools.
Omer Bartov decries genocide in Gaza
Omer Bartov is a professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. He says that Israel is conducting genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, and Western countries are complicit in their silence.
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