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September 2008

September 3

Catholic schools top public counterparts

September 3, 2008

TORONTO - In separate research, two economists with ties to the C.D. Howe Institute have found Catholic schools are outperforming public schools in Ontario on standardized tests. The economists believe competition between the two publicly funded systems may, in part, explain higher success rates for Grade 3 and 6 pupils in Catholic schools when compared with their public school counterparts.

September 4

McCain chooses pro-life running mate

September 4, 2008

WASHINGTON - Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, selected by John McCain Aug. 28 as his vice-presidential running mate, won the praise of Catholic leaders earlier this year for embracing the arrival of her fifth child, born with Down syndrome in April. The Republican governor, who says she was baptized Catholic but has always attended nondenominational Christian churches, knew from early testing that her son Trig “would face special challenges,” according to a family statement, but she and her husband Todd felt “privileged that God would entrust us with this gift and allow us unspeakable joy as he entered our lives.”

We all lose

September 4, 2008

By the time you read this, it is likely that Canada has been plunged once again into a federal election campaign. While Catholics can find arguments to support either of the two main federal parties, they might also agree that neither the Liberals nor Conservatives have covered themselves with glory in recent weeks.

September 5

Unborn would benefit from Bill C-484

September 5, 2008

In the past year there have been a number of high-profile cases where pregnant women have been attacked and killed. And in each of those cases the perpetrators were charged with only one murder, that of the mother. Bill C-484, a private member’s bill, was introduced in Parliament in the fall of 2007. The proposed legislation — An Act to Amend the Criminal Code (injuring or causing the death of an unborn child while committing an offence) — is also known as the Unborn Victims of Crime Act. The bill has now passed second reading and has been sent for study to the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights, where it now sits.

It's always something

September 5, 2008

I have a disease. It started in a finger on my left hand and within a couple days moved to a finger on my right hand. I first noticed the unusual pains a few months after my 40th birthday. By that summer, I was practically bedridden. A misdiagnosis didn’t help. In fairness to the doctor, he didn’t have much to go on. In fact, even a couple of years later a specialist was still saying maybe you do have arthritis and maybe you don’t.

God is the antidote

September 5, 2008

Triumph of the Cross (Year A) Sept. 14 (Numbers 21:4-9; Psalm 78; Philippians 2:6-11; John 3:13-17) As anyone who has ever been on a long journey knows well, there is nothing like heat, thirst and hunger to bring out the worst in people. The Israelites provide a good example of human fickleness and fear during their journey through the wilderness.

Salt+Light documents cardinal's struggle

September 5, 2008

The compelling story of a charismatic Vietnamese church leader imprisoned for 13 years has evolved into documentary form. In Road of Hope: The Spiritual Journey of Cardinal Nguyen Van Thuan, Salt + Light Television writer/director David Naglieri unfolds the gripping events that surrounded the cardinal’s life using vivid photos, rare archival footage and interviews with friends and family.

Creation through Franciscan eyes

September 5, 2008

Care for Creation: A Franciscan Spirituality of the Earth by Ilia Delio, O.S.F, Keith Douglas Warner, O.F.M., and Pamela Wood (St. Anthony Messenger Press, 226 pages, softcover, $18.95). This book made me nervous, but also had me excited. My Franciscan community has studied and reflected on cosmic theology and eco-spirituality this past year in preparation for our general chapter this month. Through it all, there was for me a need to maintain a sound doctrinal understanding of our faith as Roman Catholic religious.

Children's Aid helps finance college dreams

September 5, 2008

TORONTO - The Catholic Children’s Aid Society awarded its latest 84 scholarships totalling more than $180,000 to students who were enrolled in a postsecondary program Aug. 27. Over the past four years, the society has more than doubled the number of scholarships that it has given out to students formerly in its care. But for many students, like Allison Kretschmer, 24, the opportunity to merely attend school, let alone receive a scholarship for it, once seemed like an unattainable dream.

Killing a cellphone addiction

September 5, 2008

Addiction comes in all forms: addiction to drugs and alcohol, to chocolate, and yes, even cellphones. I wanted to think that I’m not addicted to my cellphone, so I took a quick look at my trusty Oxford dictionary hoping that my frequent use somehow fell short of the qualifications. No such luck.

Killing a cellphone addiction

September 5, 2008

'Iron Friar' evangelizes on the run

September 5, 2008

TORONTO - Fr. Daniel Callahan is best known as the “Iron Friar” — running, swimming and cycling in the Ford Ironman USA triathlon, while evangelizing and raising money for a good cause. For him, triathlons provide a great analogy for life itself: in a race “you’re going in for a medal,” he said, but in life “you’re going in for eternal life.”

Building hope at Jane and Finch

September 5, 2008

TORONTO - It’s a neighbourhood known to outsiders for its gang and gun violence, prostitution and poverty. Yet the ethnically diverse community surrounding the infamous Jane and Finch intersection in northwest Toronto has a ray of hope in the form of St. Augustine of Canterbury parish. After 10 years of developing outreach programs for youth, adults, seniors and family — and not just limited to Catholics — the church, which sits a few blocks north of Finch Ave, is preparing to build a family centre to provide even more.

Jesuits open new novitiate in Montreal

September 5, 2008

The Jesuits’ new home for novices is exactly where it needs to be, according to novice master Fr. Eric Oland. “Something that has been a hallmark of the Jesuits from the very beginning is that we go to places where there is the greatest need. Yes, the church is very challenged in Quebec at the moment. But I can say from personal experience there are glimmers of hope and glimmers of change,” Oland told The Catholic Register during the opening week of a new combined novitiate for English and French Canada in Montreal’s Cote-des-Neiges district.

Election can't shake abortion debate

September 5, 2008

OTTAWA - Abortion remains a heated subject, despite the attempts of Justice Minister Rob Nicholson to keep it out of the federal election. “The Canadian public does not have any viable political option to advance its grave and serious concern to promote and protect human life in the womb,” said St. Catharine’s Bishop James Wingle.

September 6

Rebel priest to resign as MP

September 6, 2008

OTTAWA - Dissident Catholic priest Fr. Raymond Gravel is stepping down as a Bloc Quebecois MP after receiving an ultimatum from the Vatican. “My bishop had received instructions from Rome that I must make a choice between the priesthood and the calling of an MP,” Gravel told the Sept. 3 French-language newspaper La Presse. “There was the threat of laicization and they could defrock me.”

September 8

Medjugorje priest sanctioned by the Vatican

September 8, 2008

LONDON - The Vatican has authorized "severe cautionary and disciplinary measures" against a priest who served as spiritual director to the visionaries in Medjugorje, Bosnia-Herzegovina. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has written to Bishop Ratko Peric of Mostar-Duvno, whose diocese covers Medjugorje, to inform him that they are investigating the case of Franciscan Father Tomislav Vlasic.

September 9

The hidden meaning of political language

September 9, 2008

So the battle is on and one thing for sure, between now and Oct. 14 the federal election campaign will be marked again by suggestions, allegations and threats that the governing Conservative Party can’t be given a majority because they have a “secret agenda” that a majority will allow them to impose. And of course by “secret agenda” the opposition parties really mean a scary “right-wing Christian agenda.”

Poverty needs to be election issue

September 9, 2008

TORONTO - "The politics of poverty must be part of this election," said Mike Creek, spokesman for Voices from the Street, a Toronto advocacy organization that puts poor people in front of media cameras and microphones. The 25 in 5 Network of more than 100 churches, unions and social agencies delivered a report Sept. 8 at Queen's Park outlining minimum demands for a provincial poverty reduction plan, but much of what they had to say was aimed at federal politicians as they headed out for the first full day on the campaign trail.

There is a Catholic way to vote

September 9, 2008

The Catholic Church may no longer tell the flock whom to vote for, but there certainly is a Catholic way to vote. In numerous statements and documents over the years, Catholic bishops around the world have offered principles to guide voters on how to align their decision on the ballot with their faith.