News/Canada
Assisted killing still part of Ontario's palliative care plan
By Michael Swan, The Catholic RegisterThe agency responsible for expanding Ontario’s network of hospice care wants hospice patients to have the option of assisted suicide, even if most hospices and the majority of doctors oppose it.
Pilgrims drawn to sacred shores of Alberta's Lac St. Anne
By Kristen Curtis, Catholic Register SpecialThe annual pilgrimage to the sacred shores of Lac St. Anne in Alberta has been going on for 162 years, but it never gets old.
Churches fight wage ‘fear-mongering’ of $15-an-hour minimum wage
By Michael Swan, The Catholic RegisterA $15-an-hour minimum wage, new rules to help unions organize, across-the-board increases in vacation and emergency-leave time and scheduling rules to prevent employers from suddenly cancelling shifts at the last minute are all getting strong support from churches and faith-based intervenors at cross-Ontario hearings into labour law reform.
Quebec's Cardinal Lacroix warns of feminism’s pitfalls
By Deborah Gyapong, Canadian Catholic NewsOTTAWA – It is a “big mistake” for women to embrace a feminism that says achieving equality with men comes “only when they erase, minimize, or reject their femininity and motherhood,” said Cardinal Gerald Lacroix of Quebec.
Amoris Laetitia controversy a good thing, says Archbishop Durocher
By Deborah Gyapong, Canadian Catholic NewsOTTAWA – Pope Francis has deliberately avoided precise language on the issue of Communion for the divorced and remarried and welcomes the ongoing debate, says the Archbishop of Gatineau, Que.
Famine relief campaign hits $3.8 million with matching funds
By Michael Swan, The Catholic RegisterAn interfaith donation blitz on behalf of 20 million people threatened with famine in Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen has resulted in $3.8 million headed overseas in the name of the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace.
MP launches e-petition to protect clergy and worship service
By Deborah Gyapong, Canadian Catholic NewsOTTAWA – Conservative MP Tom Kmiec has launched an e-petition to urge the Liberal government to keep legal sanctions against disrupting worship services or obstructing clergy.
Unlikely missionary credits God for her inspiration
By Agnieszka Krawczynski, Canadian Catholic NewsMAPLE RIDGE, B.C. – Lorraine Shelstad was a prairie girl on her first trip to the big city, starting what was supposed to be a year of Bible study in Toronto.
Canada’s ‘Dead Sea’ is alive with legend
By Mickey Conlon, Catholic Register SpecialThe natural healing waters of the Dead Sea have long been known to cure what ails. For thousands of years it has attracted visitors drawn to its mineral-laden therapeutic water and was one of the world’s first health resorts, frequented by none other than King Herod around the time of Jesus’ birth.
Residential school survivor awarded Vanier scholarship to further PhD research
By Evan Boudreau, The Catholic RegisterTerrance Pelletier has lived through the tragedy of residential schools and all its social and political fallout.
Poll reveals split, but advocates push for apology on residential schools
By Michael Swan, The Catholic RegisterCanadians are sitting firmly on the fence when asked whether a papal apology for the sins of the residential school era would do any good in reconciling Indigenous Canadians with the immigrant majority. But Aboriginal Catholics are certain an apology from the Pope on Canadian soil would mark a new beginning after a long, sad history of colonization, racism and neglect.