A Very Busy Month!

The month of March has always been busy in our family for as long as I can remember.
When we were teaching, of course, we would look forward — longingly, during many dreary winter weeks — to ‘March Break,’ the time for getting out of the classroom and doing some travel!
Easter or the preparation for it, usually took place during the month, and it was always a busy time.
This year, it has been busy for a host of other reasons:
— On the home front, our nephew, his wife and their 10-month-old daughter, Amelie (a.k.a., La niña), arrived at our home in Bedford, to begin a new life in a new country.

The family ‘Welcome to Canada’ program could've been a little bit .. ah, warmer, as we awoke the first morning to no heat (which was quickly fixed by a team of excellent service technicians), and then a day-long early spring blizzard! This weather feature was quite the adventure,

The ‘Francis Effect’

One year ago today, Jorge Mario Bergoglio became Pope Francis, and the Catholic Church has been swept along by his wave of popularity.
And, what a year it has been!

He has made a hit with Catholics, Jews, Protestants, atheists, and gays and lesbians, throughout the world.
He gathered more than three million people to an open-air Mass last summer at Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janiero; the crowds attending his audiences in St. Peter’s Square have tripled, and, last month … he made the cover of ‘Rolling Stone.’
Along with ‘Dr. Hook,’ of course!
He lives in a small apartment, wears simple robes at liturgies, and often declines the papal limo,