Church Hurt; The PhD Popes; Beware the new MAiD Psyop

3 Things this week and a poem

May 25, 2025

Thanks for spending part of your weekend with Things I Wrote Down. The weather is always such a tease. Petra told me she read that it’s the coldest week in May since the 60s (not from memory, but from reading the Weather Network).

Our walks with the dog all week were rainy and cold. It felt like February, not May. Enough of that! But the world seems alive again and I just love that—the green linings on everything.

Here are three things that jumped out at me on the web, and a poem.

Church Hurt

Compassion released it's latest episode of Nuance, a new podcast series that pairs notable voices together to discuss hot topics. Part 3 of the 15-part podcast series, from the Unto Jesus campaign is available.

I had the pleasure of being present as best-selling author Julie Lyles Carr chatted with NBA Chaplain and pastor Kenneth Lock about church size, leadership challenges, and how to show up. Here’s a clip that will make you think!

It’s an honest conversation that covers a lot of ground with humour and grace and I’m so glad it’s here.

Watch now

The PhD Popes

This was a fascinating post about the education levels of the papacy.

The Church's duality; defending doctrinal tradition while pioneering intellectual frontiers, is its defining paradox. Consider the Vatican's astronomical observatory, which has operated since 1582, or the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, which has included members like Hawking and Einstein.
Let's break it down. Those monks and nuns you picture copying manuscripts in candlelit monasteries? They weren't just praying, they were preserving ancient Greek philosophy, advancing math, and basically saving Western civilisation during the Dark Ages. Fast-forward to today, and the Vatican still runs its own space telescope (yes, really, Jesuit brothers track asteroids). The Church condemned Galileo, sure, but now it funds ethical stem-cell research and partners with IBM on AI ethics. It's like the ultimate comeback story: "Oops, we messed up on heliocentrism; here's a think tank on quantum physics."
~ Read the full post

Well done, Catholics!

Beware: new MAiD psyop

If you need help right now because you are considering ending your life, you can call 1-833-456-4566

If you've followed me on Things I Wrote Down for a while, you may know that I became an unexpected and pretty vocal advocate against medical assistance and dying in Canada.

I've shared on my Substack and in Op-eds at the Christian Post. At Unveil, we produced the docu-series MAiD in Canada to highlight just how expansive the euthanasia regime has become. We were especially alarmed and got vocal when Members of Parliament were prepared to expand the procedure to include mental health which would have (and still could, starting in 2027) open a Pandora's Box.

Since we created the series, I have lost two family members to euthanasia. I’ve also heard stories of how members at my church and everyday Canadians have encountered the offer, given by healthcare professionals to end their lives or the lives or their loved ones. This has made them angry or afraid to go to their doctor, suddenly with thoughts of death planted in their mind.

All that to say, this issue strikes close to home. It's part of the medical landscape. It's becoming an entrenched part of Canadian life, and it’s not just an abstract concept.

So, it was with some alarm this week—but not surprise—that I saw this post by one of the major lobbyists for MAiD in the world as they push the concept of euthanasia. There’s a big push in Britain to normalize and champion MAiD as it’s about to become law. Here’s how the lobby group is now marketing euthanasia in Britain, where a bill heads to its third reading:

If you follow the link and read the article this post links to, you’ll notice that the jolting quote which also appears in the article’s headline, does not appear in the substance of the article itself. This big claim that aims to reframe euthanasia as beating or defying death itself isn’t actually documented or sourced.

It’s bad reporting at least. It’s clever marketing and reframing by a lobby that’s literally dead-set on ensuring doctors can end the lives of patients. Let’s not forget that criminal codes that have defended life for hundreds of years have had to change the definition of murder in order for euthanasia to be legal.

The substance of the quote and the new talking point from the MAiD lobby is a bold lie, loose with life and the facts. MAiD ends a life. It enacts a death.

Its not just semantics. God help us to remember that.

A poem

Here’s a short poem from my collection God/he. I hope you enjoy it.

~ AK

Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when published

the trinity on man

it was a
miracle 
a jest, 
the idea 
of man

he was 
more glorious
and more
terrible 
than we 
could ever have 
imagined

had a whole
will 
of his own

PS. That poetry contest I’ve talked a lot about in the last few months closes soon. Entries need to be in by May 31. Subscribers can submit and win cash prizes.

Submit Today!