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May 2007

May 1

In the end only kindness matters

May 1, 2007

TORONTO - It is halfway through second period and I’m lying on my classroom floor, away from all of the windows and doors, alongside other classmates. The room is silent. Luckily, this is just a practice lockdown drill that schools must go through in case of an emergency.

In loving memory of Dad

May 1, 2007

After his long battle against non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, my father, Robert Paul Murphy, passed from this world on Holy Saturday, April 7.

New life shows at inner-city parish

May 1, 2007

Toronto - St. Clare’s parish is seeing new faces these days, demonstrating how an aging inner-city parish community can find new life within its young, diverse parishioners.

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.

Pro-life group loses Calgary bishop’s support

May 1, 2007

Calgary Bishop Fred Henry has withdrawn his support from the Calgary-based Canadian Centre for Bioethical Reform.

New Saint Paul chair considers threat to Catholic education

May 1, 2007

OTTAWA - Will Catholic schools continue in Ontario? That is among the questions Saint Paul University’s first holder of The Mercy and Presentation Sisters of Newfoundland Chair in Religious Education and Catechetics said she faces as she assumes her new role.

Limbo teaching a ‘restrictive view of salvation’

May 1, 2007

VATICAN CITY - After several years of study, the Vatican’s International Theological Commission said there are good reasons to hope that babies who die without being baptized go to heaven.

May 4

Hiding behind kids

May 4, 2007

Children are the latest hot marketing tool, used not just to sell sugar-coated cereal to Mom, but also to pry open wallets by appeals to the heart from a wide assortment of public lobby groups.

Honouring Berkeley

May 4, 2007

I wasn’t there for Berkeley Brean’s funeral. In fact, I hadn’t seen him in decades. I heard he married but I never met his wife, or their sons. I did not know, until I got his obituary, that he endured cancer for three years before he died on Nov. 4, 2006.

Public Health Funding: Who are they trying to kid?

May 4, 2007

I started my career as an economist 20 years ago trying to improve reintegration and vocational training for workers who had been injured on the job. Our work was mostly shelved.

Love is the only path we can have to God

May 4, 2007

Sixth Sunday of Easter (Year C) May 13 (Acts 15:1-2, 22-29/Revelation 21:10-14, 22-23/John 14:23-29) They decided not to impose any burden greater than was absolutely necessary. It seems to be a case of obvious common sense, and yet so often common sense is not common at all — it’s in rather short supply.

Franciscan convent outdraws Mayan ruins

May 4, 2007

IZAMAL, Mexico - The Yucatan. To sun-starved Canadians the very name conjures up images of Caribbean beaches, a turquoise sea and ancient Mayan ruins. Lots of them. The Yucatan Peninsula is reputed to have one of the richest stores of archeological treasures in the world. It is populated by the Maya, the largest indigenous group in North America and the focus of Mel Gibson’s recent movie Apocalypto. Multitudes of Canadians visit every year.

May 30

Same job, new name

April 30, 2007

TORONTO - Pastoral care in Ontario’s Catholic high schools is now on the right side of canon law. School chaplains are now called Co-ordinators of School Chaplaincy Services. The Ontario Conference of Catholic Bishops came up with the new name after consulting with the Catholic School Chaplains of Ontario. Canon 564 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law defines a chaplain as a priest. Since almost no school chaplains in Ontario are ordained, the bishops wanted a new title for the job prior to issuing a statement concerning pastoral care in the schools later this year.

Halton board split along old/new divide

April 30, 2007

It’s not politics as usual at the Halton Catholic District School Board. A divided board in the region to Toronto’s west has voted non-confidence in the chair and vice chair voted in just four months ago.

Junior’s Great Adventure, or when Harry left home

April 30, 2007

My oldest son, Harry Jr., recently decided it was time to leave home. Last June he had graduated from high school and had chosen to take a year off before starting postsecondary education. The months since have been somewhat tumultuous, but nothing too extreme.

Many ways to help those who are ill

April 30, 2007

When someone you know has been diagnosed with a serious illness, you may want to reach out to him or her but feel unsure of what to say or do. This uncertainty can keep you away at the time when your help is needed most. The following are some ways to show you care.

Jantzi Index just behind S&P, TSX

April 30, 2007

TORONTO - Buoyed by a big bank but pulled down by its lack of oil stocks, the Jantzi Social Index fell off the pace set by mainstream stock indexes in March.

Cardinal sees eucharistic congress battling growing secularism

April 30, 2007

WINDSOR, Ont. - Next year’s 49th International Eucharistic Congress in Quebec City will allow a renewal of faith by connecting with the “source and summit” of Christian life, the Eucharist, said Cardinal Marc Ouellet.

M is for media month in May

April 30, 2007

TORONTO - What is the role of faith in the media? Do media sustain or stunt faith? Where is faith-related material located online? These are a few of the questions Vanessa Nicholas and Sr. Therese Meunier, CSJ, have fielded over the past year.

Thirty-three candles for 33 dead

April 30, 2007

TORONTO - Thirty-three candles with iconic images of Christ wrapped around them were spread throughout the University of Toronto’s Newman Centre chapel, commemorating the 33 students and professors who died April 16 at Virginia Tech.