Michael Swan

North Bay parishioners’ appeal to Vatican over church closures fails

February 14, 2012

There was nothing wrong with the sale and closure of two North Bay, Ont., churches in the judgment of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Clergy. Former parishioners of St. Rita’s and Corpus Christi in North Bay had appealed to the Vatican to keep their churches open for some kind of religious purpose. While they acknowledged their bishop’s right to suppress the parishes, they disputed whether he was within his rights to sell the buildings and — in the language of canon law — reduce them to profane use.

From humble beginnings Collins will rise to cardinal

February 12, 2012

Despite its grand Catholic church at the top of the hill, Guelph, Ont., is a modest place and home to modest people. A little bit of Guelph’s heroic modesty lurks in the tabernacle of Our Lady Immaculate Church up on the hill. Somehow in the 1970s the tabernacle door was damaged such that it no longer locked. It was replaced by a more modern tabernacle that some in the parish thought conflicted with their church’s neogothic architecture. “It was an ugly, monstrous looking thing,” declares John Valeriote, lawyer, amateur historian and stalwart of Guelph’s Catholic community.

Celebrating — proudly — Black History Month

February 7, 2012

TORONTO - Black History Month this year is an opportunity for Catholic parishes and schools in Canada to discover Our Lady of Kibeho's message of prayer, conversion and reconciliation, said Jesuit Father William Mbugua at a Black History Month Mass at downtown Toronto's Our Lady of Lourdes parish Feb. 5. "We have something good to share," said Mbugua. "We are not just victims of our history. We have to ask, what is it that God has given us, even in the midst of suffering?" In 1981 Our Lady of Kibeho began to appear to high school girls in Rwanda. In his homily, Mbugua urged about 300 gathered for the Sunday evening Mass to share the story of the Vatican-endorsed apparitions in rural Rwanda 30 years ago.

OECTA comes out in favour of GSAs

February 6, 2012

TORONTO - The union representing 45,000 Ontario Catholic teachers has no objection to gay-straight alliances operating in Catholic schools. The Ontario Catholic School Trustees Association says GSA format as developed in the United States is in conflict with Catholic teaching, and that anti-homophobia clubs in Catholic schools should be called Respecting Difference. Both sides say there is no conflict between these two positions. "There's really no difference between OECTA's stance and our stance on serving the needs of all of our students, including those with same-sex attraction or gender-identity issues," said OCSTA president Nancy Kirby.

100,000 welcomes from Ireland's All Hallows

February 5, 2012

A hundred-thousand welcomes is perhaps more students than little All Hallows College could actually accommodate, but that’s the welcome the Irish seminary extends to mature international students. One-hundred-thousand welcomes in the Irish tongue is céad mile fåilte. And the first person to extend that Irish greeting to international students in the Renewal for Life Sabbatical program is a Canadian, Sr. Mary Ann Maxwell.

UN to hear of 'shameful' conditions for native children

February 2, 2012

TORONTO - A half-dozen aboriginal youth headed for Geneva have shameful things to say about Canada and how it treats First Nations children. But their testimony before the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child will be given in the hope that Canada can do better, the young delegates told media in Toronto Feb. 2. "There's been talk for years and years and years. If there's just going to be more talk, I wouldn't consider that a success," said 24-year-old John-Paul Chalykoff from the Michipicoten First Nation on the north shore of Lake Superior.

St. Pat's principal among 11 Catholics honoured by Learning Partnership

January 28, 2012

The award is nice, but St. Patrick's Catholic Secondary School principal John Shanahan has a different measure of success. Shanahan is one of 40 educators who will be honoured as "Canada's Outstanding Principals of 2012" by The Learning Partnership at a Feb. 28 gala dinner in Toronto's Sheraton Centre. The Learning Partnership is a charity that advocates for and supports public education. It's best known for Take Your Kids to Work day. Shanahan is bashful, unwilling to talk about the award as a personal achievement. But he has lots to say about his school, his teachers and most of all his students.

Windsor-Essex school board, union at odds over absenteeism

January 27, 2012

Black Friday costs the Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board big money. On the day in November when U.S. shopping malls offer crazy bargains the board had 133 of its employees off work — 48 claimed a personal day; the rest called in sick. Teachers, janitors, secretaries call in sick in unusual numbers on Mondays, Fridays, before a long weekend, before March break and around American Thanksgiving, according to Jamie Bumbacco, the Windsor-Essex board’s executive superintendent of human resources.

More victims than expected make claims against Antigonish diocese

January 25, 2012

Money for sexual abuse victims in the diocese of Antigonish is being spread thinner than expected as the number of people seeking compensation has grown to about 140. At the same time, the diocese of Antigonish has had to borrow $2 million in bridge financing to make its second payment on a $15 million class-action settlement reached in 2009. The unexpected number of claimants, plus a number of victims who have opted out of the settlement to pursue individual lawsuits, could have triggered a collapse of the 2009 settlement. Victims had the option of withdrawing from the class action if it exceeded more than 70 claims. The diocese had the option to withdraw if anyone “opted out,” said John McKiggan, the lawyer for class action plaintiffs.

Loretto Sisters to host trafficking conference

January 24, 2012

TORONTO - For 400 years Loretto Sisters have been working to raise the dignity of women. It started with girls’ schools in 17th-century England, but now the Sisters want to take on criminals who sell girls into sexual slavery. “We have to read the signs of the times, so we have to say ‘What would (Loretto founder Mary Ward) think was needed now if she were here today?’ ” said Sr. Maria Lanthier, co-ordinator of a March 24 conference on human trafficking. “This is one of the biggest issues that keeps women down — trafficking. It’s the second biggest criminal industry in the world.”