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November 2007

November 1

7th annual Somerville Lecture: Christian voices in the urban jungle

November 1, 2007

Editor's note: John Bentley Mays, an award-winning journalist, art and architecture critic and author, presented the 7th annual Henry Somerville Lecture on Christianity and Communications on Oct. 18 at the Newman Centre in Toronto and Oct. 19 at St. Jerome's University in Waterloo. His title was “The Creative City: the Future of Christian Urbanism.” Below is the entire text of his speech. At the present time, the cities of the global West are enjoying a remarkable moment in the sun. In Toronto, the city I know best, architects, urban planners and social theorists who learned their lessons about liveable cities well from Jane Jacobs have come of age and occupy positions in city bureaucracies, the design professions and the universities.

Irish Catholic artist finds the ‘Undeniable Truth’

November 1, 2007

TORONTO - Yad Vashem is Israel’s official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust and to those non-Jews called the “Righteous Among the Nations” who helped save Jews at great personal risk. As a follow-up to this year’s Holocaust Education Week, the Canadian Society for Yad Vashem will be hosting an exhibition of 33 works by the Catholic Irish artist Thomas Delohery. The show is titled “Undeniable Truth.”

November 2

Overcrowded jail system courting crisis

November 2, 2007

Things are so bad at the provincial jail in Saskatoon that three bishops — Catholic, Anglican and Lutheran — have gone public with their concerns, describing how men are forced to urinate into bottles because there isn’t enough staff to accompany them from dormitory-style cell blocks to the washroom.

Spanish martyrs ‘heroic witnesses’ to faith

November 2, 2007

VATICAN CITY - Just minutes before Pope Benedict XVI prayed that the example of newly beatified Spanish martyrs would spur Catholics to work for reconciliation and peaceful co-existence, a small fight broke out across town in front of a church run by Opus Dei.

Catholics need to show visible faith

November 2, 2007

TORONTO - In his debut Cardinal’s Dinner speech, Toronto Archbishop Thomas Collins called on Catholics to “follow in the footsteps of St. Paul” to discover how to be witnesses of the Gospel in contemporary society.

City honours Providence legacy

November 2, 2007

TORONTO - Heritage Toronto presented the Sisters of St. Joseph of Toronto with a French and English plaque commemorating 150 years since founding the former House of Providence, now Providence Healthcare.

Students important for who they are: Vanier

November 2, 2007

MISSISSAUGA, Ont. - In a world driven to distraction by hyper-competition, the challenge of the Catholic teacher is to help children discover that they are important for who they are, not what they’ve done. That was the message of Jean Vanier to a group of more than 1,900 educators who gathered here Oct. 26.

St. Luke's celebrates 160 years

November 2, 2007

THORNHILL, Ont. - There hasn’t always been a St. Luke’s, but just about. The parish has been there in one form or another ever since Bishop Michael Power decided Upper Canada needed another Catholic church between Toronto and Newmarket in 1844. It cost $1,000 to buy land for the church, rectory and cemetery that began St. Luke’s long history in 1847.

Globalization more than economic progress

November 2, 2007

TORONTO - When Jesuit Father Peter Henriot arrived in Zambia 19 years ago life expectancy in the landlocked, southern African country was a rather dismal 52 years. Today Zambians can expect to be dead by 37.

God always keeps His promises

November 2, 2007

Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C) Nov. 11 (2 Maccabees 7:1-2, 9-14; Psalm 17; 2 Thessalonians 2:16-3:5; Luke 20:27-38) Sometimes suffering and negative experiences can lead us into a deeper understanding of ourselves and of God. Such was the case with the people of Israel during their persecution at the hands of the Greek king Antiochus IV Epiphanes in the second century BC.

The newly fallen

November 2, 2007

Since 2002, Remembrance Days have taken on a special poignancy. The memories of loved ones fallen in battle are no longer from the distant past. Today, they include those who have died in Afghanistan.

Nothing is as it seems with the Knights Templar

November 2, 2007

Knights_Templar_Shields.jpg [images/stories/logos/Knights_Templar_Shields.jpg]Last month’s unveiling of long secret Knights Templar documents by the Vatican Secret Archives has been the stuff of news and features stories as well as fodder for millions of kilobytes of commentary on blogs, in e-mails and, one suspects, telephone conversations and late night bar debates.

What's the fuss about getting a bite to eat?

November 2, 2007

bread.jpg [images/stories/misc/bread.jpg]It was a First Communion Mass at my church and the communicants were invited by name to “come to the table of the Lord.” Before that calling, they had set the table, just as one would at home for a special occasion. Two children brought up the white linen altar cloth and pulled and tugged until it was even. A third placed a smaller cloth in the centre, close to the edge, much like a placemat.

Million-dollar facelift at Toronto Chinese parish

November 2, 2007

TORONTO - Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church just got a $1-million facelift. In just under one year art restorer Carlos Nunes and his team has restored the downtown Toronto parish to look as it did in 1908, except for a few new additions reflecting the culture of its Chinese congregation.

November 5

The Dalai Lama's happy reality

November 5, 2007

TORONTO - The Dalai Lama, whose name is Tenzin Gyatso, has a hard enough time convincing people he is a simple, 72-year-old monk and a refugee. That the spiritual leader who embodies both Tibetan culture and Tibetan Buddhism could convince 16,000 who came to see him at the Rogers Centre Halloween evening that he is a man of science and a champion of the secular borders on miraculous.

November 6

Pakistani archbishop concerned by political crisis

November 6, 2007

NEW DELHI - The head of the Pakistani Catholic bishops' conference expressed concern over the imposition of emergency rule that has led to widespread protests and a crackdown by the military regime of Gen. Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's president.

November 7

Petition launched to bring Pope to Quebec

November 7, 2007

OTTAWA - A former Quebec justice minister has launched a petition aimed at bringing Pope Benedict XVI to Quebec City for the 2008 International Eucharistic Congress in June.

November 8

Quebec's spiritual void

November 8, 2007

The Reasonable Accommodation Commission hearings in Quebec have been described by some observers as a “horror show” or “circus” demonstrating some of the more xenophobic aspects of Quebecois culture. For that, however, they should be lauded rather than condemned. They have done all Canadians a favour.

Weakened religious identity is at the root of Quebec’s problems

November 8, 2007

Editor’s note: The following is an excerpt from a brief presented by Cardinal Marc Ouellet, archbishop of Quebec, to that province’s Commission on Reasonable Accommodation (Bouchard-Taylor Commission) on Oct. 30. Translated from the French by Catholic Register staff. ouellet-cns.jpg [images/stories/canada_bishops/ouellet-cns.jpg]The debate on reasonable accommodation and its emotional impact forced Quebec society into an exercise of listening, reflection and dialogue about the place of religion in the public sphere. It is fortunate that a broad forum chaired by two well-known personalities allows us to calmly lead this reflection and dialogue on the current malaise, its causes, issues and solutions. Quebec society is now faced with a choice which requires from individuals and institutional authorities of the state, churches and various religious groups a serious review of the situation and a true and sincere dialogue in order to wisely decide the way forward to live together harmoniously in the coming decades.

Pope, Saudi king hold historic meeting

November 8, 2007

VATICAN CITY - Interreligious dialogue, peace in the Middle East and the life of Christians living in Saudi Arabia were on the agenda of an historic meeting between Pope Benedict XVI and King Abdullah Aziz of Saudi Arabia.