Michael Swan

Immigration fuels growth in Toronto's Catholic Church

May 11, 2013

TORONTO - Immigration hasn't just transformed the Catholic Church in Toronto, it's made the archdiocese of Toronto massively different from Catholic Canada outside the Greater Toronto Area.

Where the stranger is made welcome

May 10, 2013

On the edges of Mississauga and in the neglected corners of outer Scarborough, survivors of all the world’s tragedies of misrule, economic failure, mob violence and economic dysfunction are hunkered down — waiting to claim their part of the Canadian promise of decency and opportunity.

Catholic Charities’ fingers all over medicare

May 9, 2013

TORONTO - Once upon a time in Canada, medical bankruptcy was common. Going to the hospital was a financial death sentence for many.

Canada joins U.S. Romanian eparchy

May 5, 2013

TORONTO - At 19,811,345 square kilometres the Byzantine-rite Romanian Eparchy of St. George the Martyr based in Canton, Ohio, has likely become the largest Catholic diocese in the world.

Federal government abdicating leadership in health care, critics say

May 5, 2013

A federal government attempt to kill off the Health Council of Canada has Catholic health care advocates upset and disappointed.

Vision series explores religious persecution

May 4, 2013

TORONTO - Religious persecution, whether by mob violence, popular prejudice or state-imposed restrictions on religious practice, is significant in 163 countries, according to the Pew Research Centre’s Forum on Religion and Public Life, with Christianity being the number one target. The world’s 2.2 billion Christians face significant state or popular persecution in 130 countries, says the Pew Forum, while Aid to the Church in Need estimates 150,000 Christians are killed annually because of their faith.

Catholic hospitals footing the bill for refugee treatments

May 3, 2013

Updated 05/03/13 TORONTO - Toronto’s two large, acute-care Catholic hospitals have written off more than $174,000 in treatment costs for more than 800 refugee patients no longer covered by federal health insurance, The Catholic Register has learned.

Support of abortion, euthanasia arise out of the ‘illusions’ of compassion: Collins

April 29, 2013

TORONTO - The new evangelization isn't about condemning our culture but healing it, Cardinal Thomas Collins told an audience of doctors, nurses and health care ethicists at the annual Cardinal Ambrozic Lecture in Toronto.

Seeing the homeless among us

April 28, 2013

TORONTO - Ever since installing its Homeless Jesus sculpture outside its front door, Regis College has been getting second looks.

Middle class ‘going down the tubes’

April 28, 2013

TORONTO - For 25 years the Interfaith Social Assistance Reform Coalition has gathered religious leaders at Queen’s Park to discuss the poor in Ontario. In their 26th year, ISARC dedicated its spring meeting to the middle class.