Michael Swan

Postulator challenged with so many Brother André miracles

October 9, 2010

crutches and plaques [images/stories/features/br_andre/Crutch-Chapel.jpg]Thousands of people during Brother André’s lifetime and more since his death in 1937 have claimed the humble brother’s prayers healed them, cured them, made them whole. There are racks of abandoned crutches, canes and wheelchairs on display in St. Joseph’s Oratory. The problem for the postulator of Brother André’s cause was how to decide on just one miracle to present to medical and theological experts. When Andrea Ambrosi became postulator of Brother André’s cause in 2002, he had to find the right miracle to move the cause forward.

Brother André’s canonization has Quebec talking about the faith

October 9, 2010

St. Joseph’s Oratory [images/stories/features/br_andre/oratory.jpg]Brother André will be canonized in the province that has the lowest church attendance of any place in North America. While 85 per cent of Quebeckers identify themselves as Roman Catholic, only 20 per cent attend church once a month, according to a 2007 study by sociologist Reginald Bibby. Quebec society is distinct in its relationship with the Church, and the difference has a lot to do with Quebec’s unique history.

Brother André still speaks to ‘le petit monde’

October 9, 2010

Brother André museum [images/stories/features/br_andre/museum_BrAndre.jpg]For those of us whose 21st-century lives are defined more by the Internet, our genetic codes and dollars that ricochet around the world at the speed of light, it might be difficult to imagine how the life of a 19th-century farm boy who grew up to offer healing through St. Joseph, holy oil and prayer could possibly matter to us. In his new devotional book about Br. Andre, Fr. George Madore imaginatively meditates on the life of Canada’s first male native-born saint. Madore’s meditation brings him to a conclusion that he makes the title of the book — Brother André: A Saint for Today.

The Church takes its saint-making seriously

October 9, 2010

Brother André [images/stories/features/br_andre/BrAndreCover1.jpg]By some estimates, the Church has formally recognized and honoured more than 10,000 saints. There have been saints ever since the first century. In the long history of the Church, Catholics have even celebrated and prayed to saints who never existed (St. Christopher, St. Ursula). Pope John Paul II himself declared 482 saints over his 28-year papacy. The process of canonization normally stretches over a generation or more. Some causes for saints have been maintained over a century before finally making the grade. For Catholics, all this effort put into saint-making is not a sideshow, not a frill, not the arcane nonsense of the canon law hobbyist. Saints are essential to our communion. We are not who we profess to be without the communion of the saints.

Bishop, D&P step up pressure to pass responsible mining law

October 3, 2010

Bishop Alvaro Ramazzini [images/stories/international/international10/ramazzini_alvaro.jpg]TORONTO - Last year Goldcorp Inc. pulled 2.2 million tonnes of rock out of the ground at its Marlin Mine in San Miguel, Guatemala. Using a process that sucks up millions of litres of water and adds cyanide to the mix, the company separated 7,793 kilograms of gold and 117,835 kilograms of silver from the ore. The gold sold for an average of $982 per ounce and the silver for $15.07 per ounce. It costs Goldcorp $192 to free an ounce of gold from the rock in San Miguel, making it one of the world’s most profitable mines, ever. In Northern Ontario it costs Goldcorp $585 to mine and mill an ounce of gold at its Musselwhite mine, $447 per ounce at the Porcupine mine, and $288 per ounce in Red Lake.

Interim tag removed from Durham CFS director

September 30, 2010

CFS Durham [images/stories/logos/logos09/CFSDurham.jpg]Catholic Family Services of Durham found what it was looking for was already there. The family counselling agency dropped the word “acting” from Elizabeth Pierce’s title, making her the new executive director. Pierce takes over an agency with a $1.3-million annual budget, 19 regular employees and three contract counsellors. Catholic Family Services of Durham deals with families from the eastern edge of Toronto to the Bowmanville area, and as far north as Port Perry. She has been with the agency for more than 14 years, mostly working as senior counselling program manager.

Padre Pio relics entrusted to church named in saint’s honour

September 30, 2010

Padre Pio Woodbridge [images/stories/toronto/toronto10/padre_pio_keys.jpg]WOODBRIDGE, Ont. - A humble Franciscan from a little town in southern Italy had them singing and dancing in the aisles in Woodbridge Sept. 23. The overcapacity crowd that came out to greet three relics of St. Padre Pio and inaugurate a new church named after the 20th-century Italian saint broke out in frequent applause as Archbishop Thomas Collins baptized their new church.

Bringing names, faces to 1.5-million killed by Nazis

September 30, 2010

Father Patrick Desbois [images/stories/features/feature10/desbois1.jpg]TORONTO - On TV serious, scientific crime scene investigators appear within hours of a murder to gather minute, detailed evidence. Fr. Patrick Desbois of France and his team of micro-historians show up three generations after 1.5-million murders committed by Nazi Einsatzgruppen soldiers to piece together precisely who was killed, when, how and by whom. “Each time when we land in Belarus or Ukraine or Russia I tell my team, ‘They are waiting for us,’ ” Desbois said in an interview from Paris. “Very frequently people ask me, ‘Father, why do you come so late?’ ”

Court quashes access to information on D&P

September 29, 2010

D & P and Lifesite [images/stories/canada/canada10/LifeSite_DP.jpg]TORONTO - The Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace obtained a Federal Court injunction Sept. 12 to block an access to information request for the names and funding levels regarding its nearly 200 partner organizations in Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa and Asia. The request was made to the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) by LifeSiteNews, an online news organization that has published a series of articles over the past 18 months alleging links between Development and Peace-funded partners and pro-abortion lobbying in Mexico, Bolivia, South Africa and Nigeria. Development and Peace has denied those allegations and an investigation into five of its Mexican partners by the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops cleared the Catholic aid agency of wrongdoing while also warning it to be more prudent in selecting its partners. LifeSite called that investigation “deeply flawed.”

A new home for Padre Pio

September 27, 2010

New Padre Pio [images/stories/toronto/toronto10/Padre_Pio/new_padrepio.jpg]The mostly Italian parish of Padre Pio in Woodbridge welcomed relics of St. Padre Pio as they inaugurated their new church Sept. 23. It was no small affair, with an overflow crowd peering in the windows from the parking lot to see Archbishop Thomas Collins baptize and anoint the new church. Photos and commentary by Michael Swan