The 2008 Eucharistic Congress opened its doors to Catholic pilgrims from around the world on Sunday.

The Congress is offering special programs open to both teenagers 12 to 17 and families this coming weekend, from June 20 to 22.

Three high-profile UNICEF representatives were in Quebec City last week to address the global problem of child soldiers. At a press conference at the Hilton Hotel last Thursday, Harry Belafonte, Senator Romeo Dallaire, President and CEO of UNICEF Canada Nigel Fisher resolved to move beyond politics in order to defend children caught in conflict.

Every now and then one comes across a book that moves you to talk and even to write about it. I finally read The Kite Runner while on vacation last week: I loved it. Laced with pathos and irony this first work by physician-author Khaled Hosseini reminded me of an old favourite: Marcel Pagnol’s L’Eau des collines, once or twice put to screen as Jean de Fleurette and Manon des Sources.