Browse › 2008 › March

March 2008

March 5

Vision, not gender, on Caritas leader's side

March 5, 2008

OTTAWA - Caritas Internationalis Secretary General Lesley-Anne Knight sees her election last June as a “historical moment” for the worldwide confederation of Catholic development agencies.

Mixed reaction greets bishops Afghanistan statement

March 5, 2008

Wise and faithful or naive and badly informed — Canadians can’t agree on the most recent Catholic bishops’ statement on Canada’s role in Afghanistan.

Kosovo crisis calls for moderation: Pope

March 5, 2008

VATICAN CITY - In an address to Serbia’s new ambassador to the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI called on all parties to act with “prudence and moderation” in response to “the current crisis in Kosovo.”

Search still on for St. Mike's president

March 5, 2008

TORONTO - University of St. Michael’s College president Richard Alway is moving along, but his replacement at the head of English Canada’s biggest Catholic college isn’t quite settled.

ShareLife aims higher in 2008

March 5, 2008

TORONTO - Because you give, ShareLife is making a difference in the community.

March 6

Brampton churches will keep tax-exempt status

March 6, 2008

BRAMPTON, Ont. - Despite some co-ordinated panic and frenzied e-mails, the City of Brampton is not about to start taxing churches or restricting new church building, city officials have told The Catholic Register.

Dr. Simone feeds the poor

March 6, 2008

TORONTO - Last year Jesus sent Christmas letters to two African royals. Jesus wanted Princess Diana of Angola and Prince Yusuf of Tanzania to know that He loves them and that their problems would soon be a thing of the past.

Faith in God brings eternal life

March 6, 2008

Fifth Sunday of Lent (Year A) March 9 (Ezekiel 37:12-14; Psalm 130; Romans 8:8-11; John 11:1-45) The Spirit of God — the Divine Breath — first appears in the opening lines of Genesis. It is an instrument of creation as it blows across the chaotic primal waters. This same spirit (or breath, as the Hebrew word is the same for both) made humans into living beings. And as the psalms insist in several verses, if this breath were to be withdrawn for even an instant we would return to dust. So it seems that there has never been a time when we were without this spirit, and yet the readings seem to suggest that it is something new.

Don't be strangers

March 6, 2008

Have you ever told a friend or loved one to “stay in touch”? Cell phones, palm pilots, instant messaging, web cams — these gadgets are designed to bring us all a little closer to each other. Yet there are so many in our world who feel more alone with each passing day.

Opening to Cuba

March 6, 2008

The announcement in mid-February by Fidel Castro that, at long last, he was relinquishing all claim to power in Cuba represents a watershed moment for international relations.

Saying 'yes' to service

March 6, 2008

As the archdiocese of Quebec prepares to host the International Eucharistic Congress in June young adults are volunteering their time to help make it happen.

Lending hope where there is little

March 6, 2008

TORONTO - When Marilyn Ize-Dukuze was 12 she was inspired to help children in Africa. This led her to found Green Hope for Children, a Toronto-based group that raises funds to provide children and orphans in Rwanda and Sudan with an education. To date, the organization has helped 16 children in Rwanda and 10 in Sudan.

Monasticism still thrives after 1,700 years

March 6, 2008

Over 1,500 years ago, a young man named Benedict (480-547) abandoned his life of wealth and privilege in a morally decaying Rome and went in search of the kind of pious existence exemplified in the Gospels. For years he took refuge in a cave, living a life of discipline, prayer and contemplation. In time, Benedict, who would later be canonized, established a community of monks based on a set of rules of conduct that focused on devotion to God. What would be known as The Rule of St. Benedict became the foundation for monasticism and monastery life within the Catholic Church and played a crucial role in the expansion of Christianity throughout Europe.

Great minds don't always get it right

March 6, 2008

The Lost Massey Lectures: Recovered Classics from Five Great Thinkers, introduction by Bernie Lucht (Anansi, 399 pages, $24.95 softcover). In 1965 a single computer filled the space of a commodious living room. In 1966 we had not yet landed on the moon, let alone invented the Internet. In 1967 rock icons Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison were still alive, though not for much longer. In 1979 reality TV was the evening news. In 1983 there was such a thing as a Cold War and we were still fighting it.

No fudging words on moral teaching

March 6, 2008

There is a letter by Dr. Frances Cole in the Dec. 22/29 edition of The Tablet, in which the writer claims that the absolute nature of certain official Catholic moral teachings makes her work as a Catholic GP and cognitive therapist impossible.

Iraqi archbishop kidnapped, $1 million ransom demanded

March 6, 2008

VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI appealed for peace and security in Iraq after kidnappers abducted Chaldean Catholic Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho of Mosul, Iraq, and killed the three people who were travelling with him.

March 7

Native reconciliation journey begins

March 7, 2008

OTTAWA - Remembering the Children: the Aboriginal and Church Leaders’ Tour kicked off in Ottawa March 2 to raise awareness of the upcoming Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Indian residential schools.

Parish upset by St. Mike's condo development

March 7, 2008

TORONTO - Linda Cahill is just one of 1,400-plus outraged parishioners of St. Basil’s parish in Toronto, but she’s outraged on behalf of Captain John Elmsley, whose heart is buried in the wall of her church.

Environmental sins

March 7, 2008

It is hardly news that the environmental crisis has become accepted as one of the greatest challenges facing the Earth. As such, it is not just a political, scientific or even economic issue. It is a moral question of the first magnitude.

You must read 'I Don't Believe in Atheists'

March 7, 2008

I Don’t Believe in Atheists, by Chris Hedges (Anansi, 224 pages, $24.95 hardcover). It’s the emphasis on sin and the direct link with Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens that makes you sit up with a start while reading Chris Hedges' new book, I Don’t Believe in Atheists. The honest and exquisitely argued linkage creates that magical compulsion to seek out others so you can read them an excerpt. It is a pleasure too seldom found in a book, let alone one that wants to argue that scientists can be more fundamentalist than arch creationists.