Michael Swan

The Passion of Christ in Toronto

April 7, 2009

Twice each year Catholics demand vivid, compelling images of Jesus. In Advent we set up creches in our churches and on our coffee tables to enact the drama of Christ’s incarnation. In Lent we turn our faces to the cross and endure with Jesus the tragic walk to the summit of Calvary. Station 1 [images/stories/religiousGeneric/WYDcross.jpg] 1. Jesus Condemned In 2002 the world watched as World Youth Day transformed downtown Toronto with the stations of the cross on a huge scale. But the rehearsal earlier that afternoon were also moving, winding its way through a busy workday in ordinary clothes. We do it every year. Every year we are happy when we see the little cows and donkeys, shepherds and angels, Mary the new mother and Joseph the worried father. Every year we grieve as Jesus falls the first time, the second time and the third. This is not an exercise in biblical scholarship. Our creches confuse the nativity stories in Luke and Matthew. The stations of the cross include details of legends not found in any Gospel and leaves out important elements of Gospel accounts of Jesus’ execution.

No easy answers with end-of-life care

April 3, 2009

TORONTO - There are no easy and pat answers on the difficult question of artificial nutrition and hydration for patients with little brain function and less hope of recovery, bioethicist Moira McQueen told a packed lecture hall at the University of St. Michael’s College March 25. “Moral theology is quite humble about its findings. It demands moral certainty but not absolute certainty,” McQueen said in delivering her half of the fifth annual Cardinal Ambrozic Lecture in Bioethics for the Canadian Catholic Bioethics Institute. McQueen is executive director of the institute.

Voluntary guidelines for Canadian oversees mine companies

April 3, 2009

The federal government has opted for a voluntary code of conduct for Canadian mining companies abroad, with no sanctions for those that fail to comply. The 200,000 Catholics who have sent postcards to Ottawa asking Parliament to set rules for Canadian mining companies operating in smaller and poorer nations around the world have been answered with a set of voluntary guidelines, an office that will investigate complaints only if the mining company agrees and an industry-run “centre of excellence” to encourage mining companies to be more open when it comes to the environment, labour rights and corporate governance. For ecumenical social justice organization KAIROS , the voluntary guidelines are a step backward.

Manresa retreats open prayer life to deeper faith

March 30, 2009

PICKERING, Ont. - You can’t keep your faith if you don’t deepen it. A paper-thin faith just gets thinner, until there’s nothing left to hold onto. So Alice Quigley has been diligently deepening her faith with annual retreats at Manresa Spiritual Renewal Centre in Pickering for the last 36 years. When the 75-year-old Quigley made her first retreat in 1973 she was a woman just beginning to catch her breath at the tail end of more than 20 years of full-bore motherhood — four girls and a boy. Her oldest was just about to get married. She still had three teenagers and one pre-teen at home, but she was beginning to feel a little freedom coming on.

St. Jerome's faculty sign union cards

March 30, 2009

Twenty of 31 full-time faculty at St. Jerome’s University have signed union cards and expect to form a legal bargaining unit with a secret ballot vote before the end of March. St. Jerome’s president Fr. David Perrin would not comment on whether the formation of a union would be good or bad for the university. “This is a labour relations issue. I can’t comment,” he said.

Vatican and Britain unite in call for new development bank

March 26, 2009

When G-20 leaders gather in London April 2 to try to fix a broken global economy they will have to deal with a challenge their host, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, laid out on the front page of L’Osservatore Romano Feb. 19. Brown’s manifesto in the Vatican newspaper followed a meeting with Pope Benedict XVI in which the son of a Presbyterian minister and the supreme pontiff discussed the role of morality in keeping capitalism on track.

Dr. Maria Fischer-Slysh of Toronto donates $1 million to Ukrainian Catholic University

March 22, 2009

TORONTO - You can’t buy miracles, but a $1-million gift to the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv is helping a miracle carry on in tough economic times. “UCU is a set of miracles and it’s an important work and presence for the church,” Jesuit Father David Nazar wrote to The Catholic Register from Lviv shortly after the university announced a gift of $1 million from Toronto resident Dr. Maria Fischer-Slysh.

Toronto archdiocese investigates claims against Development and Peace

March 22, 2009

TORONTO - The archdiocese of Toronto and ShareLife are leading an investigation into the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace’s policies based on a web site’s report that it is funding “pro-abortion groups.” In a March 17 statement, Toronto Archbishop Thomas Collins said, “ShareLife was established in 1976 as a direct result of our commitment to uphold the sanctity of life at all stages... Be assured I will not allow any money raised in the archdiocese of Toronto to be used for pro-abortion activities or organizations.”

St. Jerome's does e-mail fast

March 13, 2009

On the campus of the university that helps fuel the world's instant communication addiction - e-mail all the time and everywhere courtesy of Blackberry phones - it might be something like heresy. But for St. Jerome's University staffer Jim Robson, giving up internal e-mails for a day is actually a spiritual exercise. St. Jerome's had its first No E-mail Day Feb. 11 and held another March 11. The idea is that by fasting from internal e-mails, workers will be encouraged to actually talk to one another, said Robson.

Jesuit's fast shows care for creation

March 13, 2009

Eleven days into a 48-day fast, Jesuit Father John McCarthy was feeling pretty good. “I haven’t noticed anything yet, other than a bit of weight loss,” McCarthy told The Catholic Register from Corner Brook, Nfld. “But in terms of energy level and everything else — well, it’s only 11 days.” That is 11 days living on nothing but water and juice. McCarthy never liked V8 juice, but he’s acquiring a taste for the low-sodium variety. The most substantial thing he drinks is Sunkist strawberry and banana smoothies. He’s going through a fair amount of cranberry juice. He doesn’t have a blender.