FREE access to the digital edition and archives until September 2. Click here. →
Browse › 2007 › May
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.
BEIJING - He’s known as “the black pope of China” — a play on the “black pope” title given to the powerful head of the Jesuits — and whether or not people like his methods, they all agree that he is one of the most powerful laymen in China’s Catholic Church.
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.
Mother’s Day is upon us once again (May 13) and we husbands and fathers need to rev up the creative juices to identify that unique gift for our special ladies.
The Forgotten World of R.J. MacSween: A Life by Stewart Donovan (Cape Breton University Press, softcover, 280 pages, $23.95 list). Stewart Donovan’s biography of his former St. Francis Xavier University professor, priest-poet Roderick MacSween, is a sincere, elegant and thorough account of an unusual life. The Forgotten World of R.J. MacSween is written in a lucid, unassuming style that reflects something of its subject — MacSween’s poetry is characterized by a plainness that modestly conceals the erudition of the professor. Donovan’s book, transporting us to rural Nova Scotia in the last century, provides a soothing retreat from the hurly-burly of most contemporary lives.
OTTAWA - An all-party Senate report on children’s rights that recommends creating a children’s commissioner and abolishing spanking has raised concerns among some traditional family advocates.
TORONTO - This July 170 youth from 10 countries will convene at Saint Paul University in Ottawa for a week-long Youth Teams of Our Lady international meeting. This is a first for Canada.
As a six-year-old, I always had trouble understanding why I could not have my favourite Mexican candy before dinner. I thought it was unjust that I was not allowed to satisfy my hunger in a manner I saw fit. I felt my freedom was constantly restricted and that my parents did not want me to be a happy child. Back then I believed freedom was doing whatever you wanted, whenever you wanted; therefore I wanted to be free and have my candy.
TORONTO - For the past 21 years people from all walks of life in the Greater Toronto Area have enjoyed Sunday morning Mass from the comfort of their own home.
Toronto - Four historic residences on the campus of the University of St. Michael’s College will be getting much needed renovations, decades overdue, which will bring them into the 21st century.
TORONTO - The 2007 ShareLife campaign is only halfway through and already the archdiocese of Toronto’s fund-raising arm has reached 44 per cent of its goal.
May 6, 2007
QUEBEC CITY - A small religious movement that follows a woman who claims to be the reincarnation of the Blessed Virgin has been declared schismatic by Cardinal Marc Ouellet, archbishop of Quebec.
TORONTO - It was a year of firsts this year as the first woman and first person from eastern Canada received the St. Joseph’s Award for outstanding missionary service.
May 13, 2007
The recent visit to Canada of the archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, to meet with the Anglican bishops across the country was an effort to counsel the bishops on preserving the unity of the communion.
Seventh Sunday of Easter May 20 (Acts 7:55-60, Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20/John 17:20-26) It is all too easy to pass judgment on the people found in New Testament crowds. Why can they not believe? Why do they react so negatively and violently to the proclamation of the apostles?
Is the current challenge to Ontario’s publicly funded Catholic education system a tempest in a teapot? Perhaps, or perhaps not. Regardless, there is never a time when Catholics can be complacent about their cherished separate schools in Ontario, or anywhere in the country.
St. Paul’s splendid image of the church as the Body of Christ reminds us that all Christians suffer when even the smallest part of the Body is injured. It is this New Testament insight into the nature of the church that explains, at least in part, the pain and concern felt among Christians everywhere about our persecuted Christian brothers and sisters in Turkey.
It’s Not My Fault, by Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend (Integrity Publishers, 241 pages, softcover $19.13). TORONTO - It’s Not My Fault is a book for those who are seeking goals they cannot seem to reach, but goals they still would like to achieve. Authors Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend say the problem doesn’t stem from circumstances around a person, but from within themselves.
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.
Editor’s note: The following is a position paper produced by the Catholic Civil Rights League on “The question of Catholic school funding.” As Ontario prepares for an election in October, several groups are trying to raise the question of continued funding for the province’s Catholic elementary and secondary schools. Some claim that all publicly funded schools would be operated more efficiently if there was one, non-sectarian system, with school boards drawn geographically and, in most localities, in French or English streams. Several public school boards have already passed resolutions to this effect.