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August 2008

August 5

Humanae Vitae receives new respect 40 years later

August 5, 2008

OTTAWA - Pope Paul VI’s encyclical Humanae Vitae shocked Catholics and non-Catholics alike with its ban against artificial birth control. But on its 40th anniversary, marked July 25, the encyclical is widely seen as prophetic and worth a second look for its teachings on human love.

August 6

Quebec City hosts 2,000 attendees and friends for annual gathering

August 6, 2008

QUEBEC CITY - On the heels of the 49th International Eucharistic Congress, Quebec City welcomed another Catholic gathering of about 2,000 attendees from the Knights of Columbus from all over the world. The Knights, their families and church leaders converged at the Quebec City Convention Centre, Aug. 5-7, for the 126th Supreme Convention.

Our schools are communities of faith

August 6, 2008

Dear Readers, Among Pope Benedict’s many thought-provoking speeches during his spring visit to the United States was a particularly important one on Catholic education. Though it received some coverage, the Pope’s insights into the role of Catholic schools were too often lost among the attention given to the most visual and spectacular aspects of his visit.

Catholic school partners to join in ‘national conversation’

August 6, 2008

TORONTO - It’s touted as the first “national conversation” on Catholic education in Canada. The Catholic Education: A National Conversation conference is expected to draw 400 parents, students, teachers, school administrators, clergy and trustees to Ottawa Sept. 26-27 for the inaugural conference.

New text relates Catholicism to the other world religions

August 6, 2008

TORONTO - A new world religions textbook being prepared for Ontario high schools will offer a distinctly Canadian and Roman Catholic perspective on different faiths, according to one of its authors. The textbook, with the working title World Religions: A Canadian Catholic Perspective, will be the first of its kind specifically geared towards Grade 11 world religion students in Catholic schools.

Specialized religious teaching program now offered

August 6, 2008

TORONTO - The first concurrent program to prepare religion teachers for Ontario Catholic high schools will be launched this fall. The program is in response to the lack of qualified high school religion teachers currently working in Catholic schools.

Community anger boils over downsized rec centre

August 6, 2008

TORONTO - Amid vocal community opposition, a controversial $2.7-million community centre at Etobicoke’s Father John Redmond Catholic High School is set to begin construction this fall. Toronto Catholic District School Board trustee Ann Andrachuk said the agreement between the City of Toronto and the board to complete the Ken Cox Community Centre is “moving forward.”

Understanding Confirmation

August 6, 2008

Cheers erupted from the Sydney, Australia field as each name was read. Twenty-four Catholics from across Australia and the world were announced one by one as they approached the stage to be Confirmed. Giant screens and loudspeakers broadcasted the venue to the crowd of 400,000 pilgrims at Randwick Racecourse.

Education integral to church

August 6, 2008

Editor’s note: The following is the complete text of Pope Benedict XVI’s speech to American Catholic educators in Washington, DC, on April 17. “How beautiful are the footsteps of those who bring good news” (Rom 10:15-17). With these words of Isaiah quoted by St. Paul, I warmly greet each of you — bearers of wisdom — and through you the staff, students and families of the many and varied institutions of learning that you represent. It is my great pleasure to meet you and to share with you some thoughts regarding the nature and identity of Catholic education today.

August 7

Director of Manresa retires — again

August 7, 2008

PICKERING, Ont. - The Jesuit priest who rescued the Manresa Jesuit Renewal Centre in Pickering from decay and decline, twice, is retiring.

Spreading the gospel of life through Facebook

August 7, 2008

TORONTO - When Toronto resident Charbel El-chaar, 40, saw there was no online discussion for the cause of the late Pope John Paul II's sainthood, he quickly fixed that by starting a Facebook group called “John Paul II the Great is a saint. 1 Million person will say he is.”

Top scholar nets 99.33-per-cent average

August 7, 2008

TORONTO - Peter Cmorej, just three years removed from his Slovakian homeland, achieved the highest marks of any student graduating from a Toronto Catholic high school this year.

Students dig deep for Wells of Hope

August 7, 2008

Ted van der Zalm of Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont., is someone who knows very well the definition of giving. In 2004, he started Wells of Hope, a not-for-profit charity dedicated to helping people in Guatemala by drilling wells for fresh water and providing the necessities of survival. “God doesn’t look at how much we’ve given, but how much we have left back,” van der Zalm said. “It’s a call not to give until it’s convenient, but until it hurts.”

Media too quick to move beyond Morgentaler

August 7, 2008

It's interesting how quickly the astounding news that Dr. Henry Morgentaler was to receive an Order of Canada has disappeared from the nation's media. After an initial flurry of articles, commentaries and broadcasts, the issue has quietly been replaced by the usual diet of stories on summer weather, terrorism and environmental degradation.

Human faces of poverty tell the story of Jesus

August 7, 2008

TORONTO - When Jesus told His disciples they would have the poor with them always the operative word was "with." Jesus knew He would leave, but the poor would take His place — always with His disciples. Most of us fail to live up to Jesus' vision. The poor are not with us at all. They live separate lives, apart from the mainstream — out of sight and out of mind. Because that's the way we like it. The poor make us uncomfortable.

Movie tackles doubt, hope, despair and faith without sentimentality

August 7, 2008

It's not often that an explicitly Christian movie, indeed an explicitly Catholic one, escapes the toxic treacle of sentimentality and nostalgia or the pompous pedantry of polemics. Henry Poole is Here tackles miracles, faith, hope, doubt, despair and the difference Christ makes in real lives with straightforward honesty, intelligence and heart. It's a good movie.

Fr. Joe offers a cautionary tale to would-be missionaries

August 7, 2008

The Gospel of Father Joe: Revolutions and Revelations in the Slums of Bangkok by Greg Barrett (Jossey-Bass, 336 pages, hardcover, $28.99 list) The missionary tradition in the Catholic Church is centuries old. Missionaries left their own homelands to do good works and spread Christianity in far away places — most notably Africa, Asia and Latin American countries. Not all missionaries went to the poorer countries of the Third World. They figure prominently in colonial history in the North as well. In our country, missionaries had quite an impact on aboriginal peoples, as we were recently reminded during Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s apology to residential school survivors.

Solzhenitsyn left enduring legacy of freedom

August 7, 2008

LONDON, Ont. - It will take years, even decades, to comprehend fully the impact of Alexander Solzhenitsyn, who died of heart failure Aug. 2 at the age of 89 in his home near Moscow. Born in 1918, the same year as his father’s death, Solzhenitsyn was brought up by his mother and graduated in mathematics and physics from Rostov University in 1941, then went directly into the army. After four years of front-line service in a Russian artillery unit, he was arrested in February 1945 because of disrespectful remarks made about Joseph Stalin and discovered by government censors in correspondence with a friend.

Jesuit novelist mines Africa's joy and anguish

August 7, 2008

A fine novelist can capture in fiction what objective documentary evidence is unable to realize. No matter how detailed, objective and scientific a study of a human calamity like the Holocaust can be — and there are many human-generated catastrophes to choose from in our carnage-loving time — the capacity to evoke true horror as well as the power of the human spirit to survive is only approximated by historical analyses. Art invariably succeeds where analysis fails. And it need not be in words. Think of the haunting works of the Polish composer Henryk Gorecki.

Do the red, say the black, take the time

August 7, 2008

I know a priest who celebrates Sunday Mass as though he were aiming for the Novus Ordo land speed record. Summer has given him an excuse to dispense with hymns completely, so he has managed to shave more minutes from his time. I think he’s got it to under half an hour now. Long-time parishioners discreetly check their watches after the dismissal. Father’s a bit of a control freak, so it’s their only form of protest.