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August 28, 2008
A Catholic high school in which every student has lost at least one parent to AIDS has turned the sod on a new permanent home on the edge of Africa’s second largest slum.
LONDON, Ont. - When Ontario high school kids get an art lesson from internationally collected, veteran professional artist Hendrikus Bervoets they don’t learn about form, colour, composition and balance. “We deal with all kinds of social justice issues,” Boervoets told The Catholic Register as he was setting up a new gallery for student work in downtown London, Ont.
African Saints, African Stories: 40 Holy Men and Women by Camille Lewis Brown (St. Anthony Messenger Press, 145 pages, softcover, $14.95). With good reason, the continent of Africa is often at the centre of Catholic debates pertaining to world affairs and global politics. The haunting shadows of the Rwanda genocide and present realities in places like Darfur and Congo are a constant challenge to the Christian conscience and test the boundaries of our own charity.
Living Water College brands itself as the only school of its kind in North America, offering an education combining faith, reason and the arts. While it plans to officially open its doors next summer, Jeff Gardner, the college’s director of development, said the college is being bombarded with calls from interested students around the world.
There was a crib set up at my church. It wasn’t someone’s version of a crying room and it wasn’t going to replace the manger. This crib was meant to encourage donations for an organization that assists unwed mothers and their babies. People were encouraged to bring baby clothes, diapers and baby food. I was excited about shopping for baby items. I had seen an ad for the cutest little sleeper sets and chattered away about my shopping plans to my husband as we drove away after Mass. “Why wouldn’t you just give money?” asked my husband the accountant, “and then you could get a tax receipt.”
My two daughters spent a week at camp this summer — in the mountains of northeast Georgia. That’s a long way to travel, I know, 990 kilometres to be exact. But it’s an experience they couldn’t get around here, at least not to my knowledge. The camp, Covecrest, is operated by Life Teen, a non-profit, Eucharist-centred Catholic ministry focused on leading teens into a closer relationship with Christ. Originally a single-parish program in Arizona, Life Teen can now be found in more than a dozen countries.
OTTAWA - Canada’s bishops have launched an awareness campaign in advance of the annual collection to support the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops. The collection, taken during the weekend of Sept. 27-28, will go towards each diocese’s per capita calculation the bishops approve in the bishops’ annual budget. The calculation is based on the number of Catholics living in a diocese.
OTTAWA - Fourteen years have passed since James Mikulasik took his training with NET Ministries in the United States and founded NET Canada. Since then, NET (National Evangelization Team) Ministries of Canada has grown into several full-time travelling teams — of which one is now bilingual — several parish teams, an offshoot ministry in Ireland and a music and youth ministry training program.
A few weeks ago, I hopped on a Greyhound bus, heading to a friend’s wedding, and as luck had it, landed a seat beside a Jamaican reggae and gospel artist. As he learned that my knowledge of both his music and culture were limited, but that we shared a common Christian faith, he excitedly began to sing excerpts from songs on his latest CD, snapping his fingers and even clapping to keep the beat — I’m sure to the discomfort of some passengers, to the amusement of others.
TORONTO - The Rogers Centre (still SkyDome to many in Toronto) is not heaven, but on Nov. 1 thousands will gather there to rehearse for the heaven that lives in the hopes and dreams of Christians. Though it’s a project of the Evangelical television company Crossroads Ministries, producers of 100 Huntley Street, Heaven’s Rehearsal promises to be an inclusive, ecumenical gathering of Christians — Evangelical, Pentecostal, Protestant and Catholic — representing every nation on Earth. Last year the first ever Heaven’s Rehearsal was at the Air Canada Centre with 16,000 attending, representing 127 nations. With 48,000 tickets on sale at $15 each, organizers of this year’s event hope for representation from more than 200 nations.
OTTAWA - An apparent attempt by the Conservative government to keep abortion out of the next federal election has shocked and disappointed pro-life Canadians. Amid rumours of an October federal election, Justice Minister Rob Nicholson distanced the government from Conservative MP Ken Epp’s Unborn Victims of Crime Bill.
I was chatting with one of my favourite flirts when he gave me the most horrible shock. “I’m joining the Franciscans next week,” he said. I answered as any pious unmarried Catholic woman my age would answer.
August 29, 2008
ACTON, Ont. - Lee Anne Berry calls herself a “lamb seeker.” Berry, a retired special needs educational assistant, is a member of the contemplative prayer group the Intercessors of the Lamb and leads the group in Acton, west of Toronto. Berry said she named her group the “lamb seekers” because she and her group members want to bring those who are lost back to God through intercessory prayer.
TORONTO - Forty years after the release of the encyclical Humanae Vitae, Canada’s bishops are working on a new document on marriage and family that will try to bring together the Catholic Church’s teaching in this area.
Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A) Sept. 7 (Ezekiel 33:7-9; Psalm 95; Romans 13:8-10; Matthew 18:15-20) Ezekiel has a new job along with excellent incentive to do well. It is nothing less than an offer he can’t refuse: do your job as instructed or die. His assignment is stand as an intermediary between God and Israel. Additionally, he is to warn people when they have strayed from the path and call them back to the ways of God.
Labour Day came early this year, along with those September-school-starting feelings. Even for those of us who’ve been out of school many years, they can be startling. If you’re a parent of school-age children, perhaps you’ve been “getting them ready,” assisted as always by advertisers who prod weeks early. If you’re not, you may remember the years when you prepared for term-time, possibly with competing feelings.
NEW DELHI - Catholic education institutions across India were to close Aug. 29 to protest the continuing violence against Christians that has left at least 10 people dead in India’s eastern Orissa state. The church also will observe Sept. 7 as a day of prayer and fasting for Christians in Orissa, said the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India at a press conference in New Delhi Aug. 26. The Asian church news agency UCA News reported on the press conference.
Our family spent 25 days in France this summer kayaking down the Rhone, climbing the Eiffel Tower, lying on the beach and feasting on French food and drink. As fun as all this sounds, some of the most satisfying moments of our trip were watching our two girls (ages 12 and 10) form a deeper appreciation of their Catholic heritage.
A pro-life doctor friend recently told me that if things get really bad here in terms of religious freedom, he’ll move to the United States. Not so fast: his dream escape is dissipating before his eyes.