MAY 2025 NEWSLETTER

With the larger Christian world we join in celebrating the annual feast of Christ’s resurrection. When I was growing up, our family celebrated Easter twice—once with our Protestant church family and again with my father’s Greek Orthodox relatives. This year western and eastern celebrations fell on the same day. To observe this occasion, I posted three guitar performances of paschal hymns with German Lutheran origins on my YouTube channel. Here is one of them:

Our immediate family is also celebrating the recent marriage of our daughter Theresa to Paul Naphtali on Saturday, 10 May, at MacNab Street Presbyterian Church here in Hamilton. We wish God’s blessing on the young couple and are grateful to add a son-in-law to our family. Nancy’s and my 29th wedding anniversary, coming four days later, is one more reminder of the covenantal nature of an institution that God himself established for our benefit and for the perpetuation of the larger society.

On Maundy Thursday Carmen LaBerge aired her interview with me on an online article I had written for Cateclesia Forum, titled, By Schisms Rent Asunder: The Four Seasons of Church Splits. The interview can be found here. This is the second time she has interviewed me in recent months, the first occurring in January of this year.

 

At the beginning of this month, Brent Siddall of God's Story Podcast posted his earlier interview with me on the subject of my first book, Political Visions and Illusions. The interview can be found here.

 

Canadians went to the polls late last month and re-elected a Liberal government under the party's new leader, Mark Carney, familiar to Canadians and Britons alike as governor of their respective central banks. Here is my take on the election: Canada votes 2025. I address six issues raised by the vote: prime ministerial power, Carney's unusual ascent to power, the distortions of our electoral system, national unity, Donald Trump's influence, and Carney-mania (well, sort of).

The day after Easter, Pope Francis died suddenly, if not altogether unexpectedly. He was the first pope to come from the western hemisphere. Now the Roman Catholic Church has a new pope. Not only is he the second from the western hemisphere, but he was born only 12 miles from my own birthplace, selecting the name of Leo XIV. Given that I've written about his illustrious predecessor, Leo XIII, I immediately knew from this choice something about his priorities and agenda. Here are my thoughts: Pope Leo XIV.

 

Readers will recall that late last year I was invited to join the board of trustees of the Center for Public Justice, an organization with which I have been associated in some fashion since its beginning 48 years ago. The board met last month at CPJ's offices in Alexandria, Virginia, for the first time since I became a member. We met for two full days. Although I myself am new to the board, I was tasked with presenting to the other new members an orientation into the tradition out of which the Center's work grows.

 

On the evening of the second day, we attended a dinner to mark the retirement of Stanley Carlson-Thies, who has done stellar work for the organization and whose work on two issues in particular is highlighted in my recently published Citizenship Without Illusions. Alexandria is an upscale suburb of Wathington, DC, whose architecture manifests the combined influence of colonial Georgian style and Haussmann's Paris. King Street is an especially lively commercial and artistic district. We will next be meeting in October.

Thanks so much for your ongoing support for my work. If you have contributed financially on a one-time basis in the past, please consider a regular monthly contribution, as it makes it easier for Global Scholars to set an annual budget, including the modest salary I receive from the organization. GSC's page for giving can be found here. Once you are in the page, scroll down to the heading marked DONATION DETAILS, and then choose one of the options under FUND. Americans may donate through our sister organization in the US.

Or, if you prefer, Canadian donors can donate publicly traded securities (shares or mutual funds) directly to charities without having to pay the capital gains tax. This is a cost-effective and painless way to make a donation that comes with a substantial tax incentive. By donating securities, donors pay no tax on capital gains, receive a tax receipt for the fair market value of the securities, as well as reduce their taxes. Watch this video for more information about this option: Link Charity Canada: Donation of Securities. If interested, please visit the Link Charity Canada Inc. website, and call for details at 1-800-387-8146. Link Charity Canada is a partner organization of Global Scholars Canada, so Link Charity can easily direct funds for my work. Thank you!

Yours in God's service,

David Koyzis, Global Scholar