Michael Swan

Government still balks at issuing apology for residential school abuses

May 13, 2007

Parliament has added its symbolic apology to that of four national churches, voting 257 to zero May 1 to say sorry for Canada’s official program to wipe out aboriginal culture through residential schools.

Zombie sequel reaps what it sows

May 13, 2007

When Hieronymus Bosch painted hell in the 15th century it was shocking, thrilling and repulsive. The same was true of the 2002 British horror movie 28 Days Later.

Taking creative steps to healing

May 4, 2007

TORONTO - Before he walked into 6 St. Joseph House a year-and-a-half ago, Dave Evans was no artist. “I was getting drunk on the side of the street,” is how he describes his typical day as an addicted and usually homeless man.

Growing Chinese population finds a place to fit within Toronto’s church

May 4, 2007

TORONTO - In the new year a young Chinese man approached Redemptorist Father Peter Chin and asked him whether he was a Catholic priest. When Chin said “Yes,” the young man was ready to unburden himself of a secret he had carried across an ocean and through 12 time zones.

Praying for Afghan peace

May 1, 2007

TORONTO - Prayers and peace have been linked for as long as soldiers have marched off to war. A couple hundred people gathered at St. James Anglican Cathedral April 22 to take Canada’s turn at praying for peace, for endangered Canadian soldiers and for the men trying to kill them.

Making a choice: to forgive or not

April 27, 2007

TORONTO - To discover the meaning of forgiveness, film maker Johanna Lunn had to consider the nature of evil. “In the course of making the film, I really had to ask myself, ‘What is evil?’ I’m forever, eternally an optimist and would maybe secretly like to believe that evil doesn’t exist,” Lunn told The Catholic Register before Forgiveness: Stories for Our Time was to premiere in Toronto’s annual Hot Docs Festival in late April. The film will be shown on CTV May 26.

Church sticks with the familiar in its art

April 25, 2007

TORONTO - Artist Elizabeth Adams has been making art for churches for 30 years. Her latest commission, titled Unbind Them, is on view at St. Philip the Apostle Anglican Church in Toronto. Despite her years spent studying in Italy, and her love of Romanesque architecture on display in the front hall of her home and studio, almost none of Adams’ work has seen the inside of a Catholic church.

Public boards seek amalgamation of Ontario’s Catholic system

April 24, 2007

TORONTO - Six Ontario public school boards have passed motions calling for abolition of publicly funded Catholic education and that has Rick Johnson a little upset and embarrassed.

Crowd comes out in support of Catholic education in Ontario

April 23, 2007

TORONTO - About 500 Catholic parents, pastors and teachers in Toronto staked a claim on the future of Catholic schools in the last of a province-wide series of consultations by the Institute for Catholic Education seeking community insight into future directions for Catholic education in Ontario.

Ireland Park will bring immigrant experience to life

April 20, 2007

TORONTO - When Ireland Park opens at the foot of Bathurst Street June 21, the 25-metre-long wall commemorating those who died on Toronto’s waterfront in 1847 will display 663 names. Blank spaces have been left for the 461 whose names have disappeared from the historical record.