Michael Swan

Gay issues make Anglican schism a real threat, says Canterbury

April 20, 2007

TORONTO - The Archbishop of Canterbury will meet with the American Episcopalian House of Bishops in September in an effort to prevent a schism between Anglicans in the rich, first world and the Anglican majority in the global south.

New MPP seeks meditation room for Queen’s Park

April 17, 2007

TORONTO - It’s unlikely that the Oct. 10 Ontario election will be fought over the issue of prayer and meditation at Queen’s Park. It’s equally unlikely members of the provincial legislature and their staffs will have a room set aside for contemplation and related inactivities before election day.

Social investing explodes

April 17, 2007

TORONTO - More than half a trillion dollars, almost a fifth of Canada’s investment capital, is now invested with one eye on the ethical bottom line.

Ordination season is upon us

April 17, 2007

TORONTO - Like the tulips defying the last gasps of winter, preparations for ordinations are another sure sign of spring in Toronto.

Trying to make sense of the Holocaust’s senseless

April 17, 2007

For Vanessa Harris her Grade 8 class trip to the Holocaust Museum in Toronto was all about trying to understand the incomprehensible.

Catalyst rewarded for environmental sensibility

April 17, 2007

TORONTO - The guys who control the mill jobs in several small towns on Vancouver Island, who cut down swaths of rainforest to make paper for phone books and catalogues and who deal in pulp for paper mills up and down the west coast of North America are now officially good guys of Canada’s forest products industry.

Teachers feeling pressures of Ontario’s work-driven society

April 17, 2007

TORONTO - The average full-time elementary school teacher in Ontario’s Catholic system is putting in a 55.7-hour work week, and what counts as a part-time teaching job averages 36.8 hours per week, according to a new study commissioned by the teachers’ union.

Social justice commitment marked Kennedy’s stay at OECTA

April 17, 2007

TORONTO - Special education, religion and history teacher Donna Marie Kennedy is leaving her current job as president of the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association with the conviction that social justice is the cornerstone of her union’s existence.

Canada not a fertile nation

April 13, 2007

TORONTO - Everybody who graduated from Grade 9 biology knows governments can’t make babies. But in the wake of 2006 census numbers which show Canadians failing to replace themselves, some people think the government should help the process along.

Hate crime charge follows attack

April 13, 2007

TORONTO - An attack on a Jewish community centre in midtown Toronto is part of a continuing pattern that needs to be addressed, said Fr. Damian MacPherson, the archdiocese of Toronto’s interfaith and ecumenical affairs officer.