Mark Mallett, Canada's top Catholic singer, was passing through Northern Ontario this past Friday. So as part of my final break before the election campaign begins, I brought my wife and oldest daughter to his concert.

Mark is a great guy and a wonderfully talented musician, as you can see from his official website. He and his wife has seven children -- the seventh of which is still in the womb. Mark was kind and gentle, however, he doesn't mince words. We met up before the show so that I could interview him for the Wanderer and the Interim (excerpts of which I hope to blog later on this month) and talk a little shop. We both agree with our fellow Canuck Michael O'Brien that Canada is now undergoing a "velvet" persecution of the Christian faithful.

Mark gave a solid interview. He is obviously a man of deep prayer. Being half-slav he also does a wonderful impression of Pope John Paul II whenever he quotes the late Holy Father. As Mark notes in the interview, Pope John Paul II was a very powerful inspiration to his wife and him. In fact his CD "Song for Karol" is devoted to the late Holy Father and the audience really responded when Mark sang the title song from this CD.

Near the end of the concert, Mark had a couple of draws for his new CD. His wife invited my five-year old to come up and pull two winning ticket from the basket. She was quite good with my daughter and a fun time was had by all.