[PHOTO] Two photos of St. Nicholas of Bari Catholic Church

St. Nicholas of Bari Catholic Church, at 1277 St. Clair Avenue West in the heart of Corso Italia, is a bit of an unusual church, built to fit into the streetscape of this traditionally Italian-Canadian neighbourhood. Still, the stained glass windows stand out, even from across the street at twilight.

[PHOTO] “The Pope and Doctor”

This sign advertises the parish pub of St. Vincent de Paul.

[PHOTO] Virgin Mary, St. Vincent de Paul

This statue of the Virgin Mary outside St. Vincent de Paul Roman Catholic Church on lower Roncesvalles was serene.

[PHOTO] “Walking in the Footsteps of Jesus”

This phrase painted on the playground pavement of Toronto St. Paul VI Catholic School on Laughton Avenue, in Carleton Village, caught my eye. (The fence enclosing the words also helped.)

[PHOTO] Gated garden, St. Cecilia’s Church (161 Annette Street)

I have never seen the gate to the garden at St. Cecilia’s Church (161 Annette Street unlocked.

[URBAN NOTE] Seven cities links: Montréal;, Québec City, Saint John, Moncton, D.C., Dallas, …

• CBC Montreal reports on how a downsizing Montréal-area convent recently put on a very large yard sale.
• Will the staged construction of a tramway in Québec City lead to the partial completion of that project? CBC examines the issue.
• The New Brunswick city of Saint John recently celebrated its Loyalist heritage. Global News reports.
• The new community garden in Moncton sounds lovely. Global News reports.
• CityLab notes the sad precedent of the privatization of an old Carnegie Library in Washington D.C. into an Apple Store.
• CityLab considers if cycling can make inroads in pro-car Dallas.
• Open Democracy examines the controversy surrounding the contested construction of an Orthodox church in Yekaterinburg.

[URBAN NOTE] Five city links: Mississauga, Montréal, Thunder Bay, Port-au-Prince, London

• The City of Mississauga is encouraging residents to take part in a postal campaign to push for independence from Peel Region. Global News reports.
• A Montréal city councillor wants the city to try to get a world’s fair in 2030. CTV reports.
• April Lindgren at The Conversation considersthe important role that local media in Thunder Bay can play in dealing, with, among other issues, Indigenous concerns.
• Amy Wilentz considers at The Atlantic whether France, after the devastation of Notre-Dame in Paris, should perhaps contribute to the reconstruction of the cathedral of Port-au-Prince, a decade after its destruction in the earthquake that devastated an already poor ex-French Haiti.
• Ben Rogers at Open Democracy makes the case for seeing London, despite its position as a global city, as also a metropolis inextricably at the heart of England, too.

[PHOTO] Virgin Mary on Lansdowne

I had last taken a photo of this particular blue-and-white statue of the Virgin Mary back in July 2017, while I was walking on Lansdowne Avenue, on the western edge of the heavily Portuguese-Canadian (and even more heavily Roman Catholic) west-end neighbourhood of Wallace Emerson, caught my eye when I was walking down the street on the Saturday before a flight out. Yesterday evening, I walked by the same address with the same statue, this time without a luxurious front garden full of greenery, standing simply and unadorned on the corner of Lansdowne and Paton Road in bright spring sunshine.

[URBAN NOTE] Seven city links: Paris, Montréal, Ottawa, Berthierville, Chicago, Berlin, Saint-Louis

• The terrible destruction of Notre-Dame-de-Paris makes me very sad. I hope restoration is possible. The Daily Beast reports.
• CBC Montreal celebrates the 50th anniversary of the first Expos game.
• Anti-poverty activists claim Ottawa claim Airbnb is hurting local housing markets. Global News reports.
• La Presse notes how people in the small Québec town of Berthierville are trying to keep their old monastery.
• CityLab reports on the artistic and architectural contributions of Theaster Gates to a divided Chicago.
• Guardian Cities notes the radicalism of rental activists in Berlin.
• CityLab notes how sea level rise is already hurting people in the Senegal coastal city of Saint-Louis.

[NEWS] Five LGBTQ links: queercore, lesbian pulp novels, drag, Church closeted, #MeToo

• Hornet Stories looks at the history of the queercore punk movement.
• Sarah Fonseca at them examines the subgenre of the lesbian pulp novel.
• CBC carries the argument of drag queen Halal Bae that, after RuPaul made drag mainstream, it’s up to new artists like her to broaden the scope of the genre.
• I am strongly inclined to agree with Andrew Sullivan that the closeted corruption documented by Frédéric Martel in the Roman Catholic Church is morally repugnant. His New York blog has it.
• Kai Cheng Thom writes at Daily Xtra about the #MeToo movement in the context of queer communities, and the extra burdens it–and we–face.