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October 2007

October 1

St. Thomas More as a model of Christian service

October 1, 2007

Editor's note: The following speech was presented by Archbishop Thomas Collins to the Thomas More Lawyers' Guild of Toronto at their annual Red Mass dinner on Sept. 13. It describes how St. Thomas More is a worthy model for today of a Christian responding to God's call.

October 2

Real leaders don't need a flow chart

October 2, 2007

The best leaders in today's organizations, whether in business, charity, or religion, are not the aggressive, take-charge dynamos who run over their opponents with fierce determination. Instead, they need to be people who take time to reflect and nurture others.

October 4

Speaking out against the HPV vaccine

October 4, 2007

HPV.jpg [images/stories/bioethics/HPV.jpg]When the news broke early in 2007 that a new vaccine (Gardasil) was available that would protect young girls from the effects of the human papillomavirus (HPV), the Canadian Catholic Bioethics Institute issued a press report outlining our objections to the way in which this vaccine was being promoted. In the United States, some states had urged mandatory vaccination for girls from Grade 6 onwards. The main reason given was that HPV has been shown to be one of the causes of cervical cancer in women.

October 5

 Refugee advocate arrested at border

October 5, 2007

TORONTO - Cardinal Avery Dulles is ready to testify on behalf of his niece, who has been charged at the Quebec-U.S. border with human trafficking.

Ground broken for St. Padre Pio Church

October 5, 2007

KLEINBURG, Ont. - As author, W.P. Kinsella, once wrote, “If you build it, they will come.” And these words so far have held true to the parishioners of St. Padre Pio Church.

Collins reaches out to Jewish community

October 5, 2007

TORONTO - Archbishop Thomas Collins reached out to Toronto’s Jewish community Sept. 29, addressing an audience at the Beth Tzedec synagogue in midtown Toronto.

Bureaucratic creativity

October 5, 2007

TORONTO — Civil servants are not just bureaucrats, and they’ve got a conference to prove it.

John XXIII lecture

October 5, 2007

TORONTO — Before he called the Second Vatican Council and opened the windows of the church on the world, Pope John XXIII spent the Second World War in Istanbul rescuing Jews from the Holocaust. The director of the John XXIII Foundation for Religious Studies in Bologna, Italy, is coming to Toronto to talk about the link between these two events in the late pope’s life.

Finding comfort in a foreign land

October 5, 2007

This summer I spent six weeks living as an exchange student in Japan. The experience was amazing and life-changing for me, but it wasn’t always easy.

Silent witness for silent wombs

October 5, 2007

TORONTO - Close to 50 people showed up at one of the busiest intersections in Toronto to silently protest against abortion on a sunny Sunday afternoon Sept. 30.

Cornerstone: fun faith formation

October 5, 2007

VANCOUVER - More than 50 youth spent their Friday evening on Sept. 28 in the basement of St. Mary’s Church in Vancouver for a casual night of fun, entertainment and faith formation. They were attending Cornerstone, a monthly event with praise and worship, skits, testimonies, speakers and fellowship organized by Catholic Christian Outreach, a Catholic university campus lay movement.

Catholic makes her mark on Canadian mining

October 5, 2007

TORONTO - The Young Liberals of Ontario are urging the Liberal Party to regulate Canadian mining companies operating abroad.

What's a surplus?

October 5, 2007

Prime Minister Stephen Harper was in a rather indecent rush recently to turn the $14-billion federal surplus from last year into a $725-million tax cut for all Canadians. Granted, we’d all love an extra $30 or so to go shopping at the mall, but before we accept this as a fait accompli, shouldn’t we at least talk about it.

God has compassion for all

October 5, 2007

Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C), Oct. 14, 2 Kings 5:14-17; Psalm 98; 2 Timothy 2:8-13; Luke 17:11-19 What if someone you hated and regarded as an enemy or undesirable were blessed and healed by God? Would you be pleased or appalled? The two healings in these readings teach us that God’s compassionate mercy is not narrow or limited and is intended for all humanity.

Musical abuse

October 5, 2007

The people in the pews are the Body of Christ, and never am I more aware of this than when I am in my parish in Cambridge, Mass. The priest censes the altar. The altar server censes the boys’ choir. He then stands before the People of God and bows his head. We bow our heads. He censes us for, like the altar and the boys’ choir, we are holy. He bows again. We bow again. There is a tremendous dignity in all this — unless, of course, you are allergic to incense and sneeze.

Payback time for Choir School alumni

October 5, 2007

TORONTO - Kevin Hearn of the Canadian pop band the Barenaked Ladies, jazz singer Matt Dusk, tenors John McDermott and Michael Burgess and concert pianist Stewart Goodyear are all St. Michael’s Choir School alumni who have gone on to become successful musicians both here and abroad. As a tribute to the school for its 70th anniversary, they will all perform at Roy Thomson Hall Oct. 15 at 7:30 p.m. along with the Canada Pops Orchestra and the boys of St. Michael’s Choir School.

October 6

Charismatics gifted by the Holy Spirit for 40 years

October 6, 2007

TORONTO - “Holy Spirit rain down, rain down. Let your power fall,” sang 25 members of Our Lady of Lourdes parish charismatic prayer group in downtown Toronto on a recent rainy Friday evening.

October 7

Claim that John Paul refused nutrition refuted

October 7, 2007

ROME - Pope John Paul II’s personal physician has vehemently denied an Italian doctor’s claim that the late pope refused nutritional support that would have prolonged his life.

October 11

God’s spirit will guide and instruct us

October 11, 2007

Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C) Oct. 21 (Exodus 17:8-13; Psalm 121; 2 Timothy 3:14-4:2; Luke 18:1-8) The power that Moses seems to wield in this account of the battle with the Amalekites would be the envy of any military general or hockey coach. In an ancient version of high-tech warfare, Moses is able to make his army prevail simply by keeping his arm raised and extended. All that was needed were two assistants to hold up his weary arms.

Nuclear justification is just plain wrong

October 11, 2007

The recent decision of North Korea to dismantle its facilities for producing nuclear weapons — if we can believe the leaders of that ruthless totalitarian state — is a faintly hopeful development in the otherwise grim recent history of nuclear proliferation.