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December 7, 2006
Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and Pope Bendedict XVI [images/stories/international/Turkey_Christians.jpg]ISTANBUL, Turkey - Closing out a four-day pilgrimage of dialogue in Turkey, Pope Benedict XVI celebrated Mass with the tiny Christian community in Istanbul and encouraged it to live in harmony with the Muslim majority. "Brothers and sisters, your communities walk the humble path of daily companionship with those who do not share our faith, yet profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and together with us adore the one, merciful God," the Pope said in a sermon.
December 8, 2006
Recently, my fiancé Ian and I spent a Saturday at the Toronto Zoo. Although the animals were amazing to see, I found myself most entertained by the children with their parents.
OTTAWA - Greg Lindor went on Challenge's 145th retreat mid-November at Holy Trinity Catholic High School in Ottawa. Away from his studies, he cleared his mind and renewed his faith. Since 1967, thousands of young people like Lindor have recharged their batteries through the Challenge movement.
TORONTO - One hundred curious alumni and parents of St. Michael's College School gathered for an information meeting Nov. 26 at the school to discuss plans to open an all girls' private Catholic school.
TORONTO - The 2007 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity was fired in the crucible of AIDS in Umlazi district, near Durban, South Africa.
December 17, 2006
A new archbishop has been appointed to the Archdiocese of Toronto. Pope Benedict XVI announced Dec. 16 that he has called on Archbishop Thomas Collins of Edmonton to take the place of the retiring Cardinal Aloysius Ambrozic. Collins, 59, told The Catholic Register in a telephone interview from Edmonton that he was "very, very honoured by the confidence the Holy Father had in me" to become the 12th bishop of Toronto, which was established in 1842.
Cardinal Aloysius Ambrozic [images/stories/canada_bishops/cardinal%20ambrozic2.jpg]Cardinal Aloysius Ambrozic presided over his last noon Mass at St. Michael’s Cathedral as archbishop of Toronto Dec. 17, using the occasion to thank all those who had worked with him and for him.
December 18, 2006
[images/stories/logos/Same Sex Marriage.jpg]OTTAWA - Canada's Catholic bishops say the marriage debate is not over, despite the "disappointing" loss of a House of Commons motion to restore the traditional definition.
Michael Fullan [images/stories/toronto_people/fullan_michael.jpg]TORONTO - Catholic Family Services — Peel-Dufferin delivers one of the best bargains the Ontario taxpayers ever got. The agency deals with family breakdown, the after-effects of child abuse, violence against women and more among 1.2 million people living west and northwest of Toronto. For the region's adult survivors of child abuse, the agency collects $53,000 of provincial government funding and magically transforms it into $250,000 in front-line counselling services to some of the most tragically damaged people in our midst.
TORONTO - Despite a provincial report which recommends ways for the Toronto Catholic District School Board to erase $34.9 million in red ink, trustees are hoping to dodge cuts by playing for time until the spring provincial budget.
TORONTO - Trustees from the five Catholic school boards within the Toronto archdiocese have elected their chairs and vice-chairs for the 2006-2007 school year.
The plight of the university student during the holidays is a strange one. The timing of the exam period seems almost like a conspiracy as far as important times in the Catholic Church. While others celebrate Advent, anticipating the coming of Christ's birth, students hunker down and crack their textbooks open, some, like myself, for the first time since September for a furious and grueling month of studying for the necessary evil of end-of-term exams.
SUDBURY, Ont. - Waxy, bumpy and discoloured fingers and toes were enough to spring the young people of St. Kevin's parish in the diocese of Sault Ste. Marie here into action. Frostbite becomes a serious issue in the Greater Sudbury area, especially for the homeless, where winters can see temperatures remain around -30C with wind chill.
YARMOUTH, N.S. - The St. Ambrose Cathedral parish youth group of Yarmouth is known to travel three hours by caravan for youth events in Halifax. Each member often spends his or her own money to get there. This tight-knit group rises to the challenge of keeping the faith in a small community where young people typically flee after high school.
[images/stories/movies/nativity.jpg]Hollywood movies often generate all sorts of movie paraphernalia, from McDonald's action figure trinkets to coffee mugs and posters, but knock off items for this year's Christmas release The Nativity Story are sparse.
HAMILTON, Ont. - For the past 14 years the Good Shepherd food bank in Hamilton transforms into a Christmas Store for the month of December.
James Loney [images/stories/canada_people/James%20Loney.jpg]A year after they were snatched from the streets of Baghdad and repeatedly threatened with death over 118 days, the surviving three members of a kidnapped Christian Peacemaker Teams have forgiven their kidnappers and asked the Iraqi court to show leniency to the men about to stand trial for the crime.
WINNIPEG - The first province to impose minimum labour standards for the clothes its government buys is Manitoba.
What health means will be thoroughly examined by the Canadian Catholic Bioethics Institute at its 2007 conference in Halifax this coming May.
TORONTO - Canada's twin goals of military success and humanitarian aid in Afghanistan are doomed to failure, the president of Caritas Internationalis told The Catholic Register as he visited the international aid network's Canadian partner.