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March 2009

March 9

Parish hosts Bible reading marathon

March 9, 2009

TORONTO - It’s going to be a marathon of biblical proportions. This Lent, 365 parishioners of Toronto’s Epiphany of Our Lord Church are planning a three-day, cover-to-cover reading of the Bible, starting March 20. The event, titled “From Genesis to Revelation: Bible Proclamation,” will start with an English reading of Genesis by pastor Fr. George Parayil, C.F.I.C. It is scheduled to close with a reading of the Book of Revelation in Italian on March 23 at 9 p.m. by Fr. Domenico Rettura, C.F.I.C.

ShareLife aims high

March 9, 2009

TORONTO - Despite a reeling economy, ShareLife has raised its fund-raising goals for 2009 and is optimistic that parishioners will meet the challenge. ShareLife, the charitable fund-raising arm of the archdiocese of Toronto, has set an overall goal of $14.3 million for this year’s campaign. This includes a parish goal of $12 million and a corporate goal of $1.625 million. Last year the organization raised a total of $14.03 million to help support its sponsored charities. It is through these agencies that ShareLife tries to maintain a commitment to providing care and outreach to members of the community who are in need.

Working wonders, underground

March 9, 2009

TORONTO - Dozens of Catholic high school students from across the GTA will be lending a hand this month, trying to raise money for the 2009 ShareLife campaign. On March 25, more than 50 students from four Toronto-area schools will head underground with a simple message for rush-hour commuters on Toronto’s subway system — You can work wonders. The message conveys a simple truth: every donation makes a difference.

Taizé spirituality brings calm in chaotic world

March 9, 2009

TORONTO - Finding peace amid the stress of a big city is not always easy. Cars honk and screech in rush-hour traffic, subways rumble beneath concrete sidewalks, cellphones ring with increasing regularity and the to-do list never ends. “It’s a crazy and chaotic world,” said Lindsay Moore. Moore, a youth minister at Toronto’s Holy Rosary parish, is the lead organizer of an event, however, which she believes will help people escape the chaos of urban life, if only for a few hours.

Sisters' outreach takes them to south Etobicoke

March 9, 2009

TORONTO - Thanks to the Sisters of St. Joseph, the elderly have a new venue for making social connections in southern Etobicoke. The Sisters’ newest Fontbonne Ministry outreach program, Village Mosaic will welcome seniors in the community for a variety of social activities in the newly renovated 3,500-square-foot venue at 2794 Lakeshore Blvd. “We want the seniors to help us develop programs for them rather than say ‘here we are and we’re going to do this,’ ” said Sr. Anne Marie Marrin, the director of Village Mosaic.

Children will better, not hinder, our world

March 9, 2009

This just in folks, children are bad for the environment — because humans are bad for the environment. But of course! I guess that makes some sense if the environment is the universal ultimate good of the world. And is that so? Do we value the world more than we value human life? Even if the environment is the ultimate good, how does this argument work? Jonathan Pitt, the UK government’s Sustainable Development Commission chair, states that “Couples who have more than two children are being ‘irresponsible’ by creating an unbearable burden on the environment.” He, of course, leads by example, and has only two children. The assumption is that every couple with reproductive capacity will have only two children and thus this reaches, apparently, the level of replacement for the world population.

No need to fear our church's past

March 9, 2009

I was reading the documents of Vatican II — as one does when one wants to cite Vatican II without sounding dumb — and it occurred to me that the Council Fathers’ suggestions for the renewal of the Latin rite bore little resemblance to actual liturgical practices after the new missal was promulgated in 1970. Right smack in article 36 of the Constitution of the Sacred Liturgy (Sacrosanctum Concilium) are the words, “Particular law remaining in force, the use of the Latin language is to be preserved in the Latin rites.” The article permits the use of vernacular languages to be extended in the Mass, but nowhere does it say that Latin is to be expelled, scrubbed out, shown the door.

We all have a role

March 9, 2009

The latest economic report from Statistics Canada reinforces the need for swift and decisive action. Governments at all levels must implement policies that are prudent, just and comprehensive, but this is not their problem to solve alone. All of society has an important role to play. Led by dramatic losses in the automotive and housing sectors, Canada’s gross domestic product shrank in the fourth quarter by an annual rate of 3.4 per cent. The national unemployment rate topped 7.2 per cent in January and will continue to rise, according to Finance Minister Jim Flaherty.

Ministry aims at maturing adults

March 9, 2009

“Ministry with Maturing Adults; 55+” has lifted the spirits of many parishioners at St. Mary’s parish in Barrie, Ont. For the past year, Sr. Mary Rose Marrin of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Toronto has led a variety of programs in this unique ministry addressing the spiritual, physical and emotional needs of retirees and seniors. It is based on the Spiritual Gerontology and Lifelong Faith Formation course offered in St. Louis by Richard Johnson, author of Parish Ministry for Maturing Adults. Marrin has completed the course. “I’m very committed to it and I think it’s a need in our church,” Marrin said.

New stem-cell policy favours politics over ethics

March 9, 2009

WASHINGTON - U.S. President Barack Obama's executive order reversing the ban on federal funding of embryonic stem-cell research represents "a sad victory of politics over science and ethics," Cardinal Justin Rigali said shortly after the March 9 signing of the order at the White House. The chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Pro-Life Activities was among Catholic, pro-life and other leaders who criticized the reversal, which Obama had promised during his campaign.

Tamils seek intervention in civil war

March 9, 2009

TORONTO - Mass rape, forced abortions, hospital bombings and war crimes have been constant themes for the Tamil community as it has protested and prayed for international intervention in the civil war in Sri Lanka. The most serious allegation against the Sri Lankan government found on signs at every Tamil rally is genocide. Tamil protesters have compared government attacks on Tamil civilians with the genocides in Darfur and Rwanda.

The temple shall be raised in three days

March 9, 2009

Third Sunday of Lent (Year B) March 15 (Exodus 20:1-17; Psalm 19; 1 Corinthians 1:18, 22-25; John 2:13-25) A few years ago a conservative politician in the United States was pushing energetically for the display of the Ten Commandments in public buildings in his state. He was challenged during a TV interview to name the commandments but a blank and stricken look was his only reply. The interviewer lowered the bar and asked him to name even one commandment but the hapless politician remained mute and embarrassed before the unblinking eye of the camera.

Lent — the season of giving

March 9, 2009

Secular society generally views the Christmas season as the season of giving but what we often forget is that giving is a big part of the Lenten season as well. Giving is practised through alms giving, particularly during Lent because we are honouring the fact that Christ gave so much for us. As Catholics, we are all called to give in Christ’s name.

Retreat teaches about faith and sex

March 9, 2009

Summerside, P.E.I. - Twenty young men and women from across Prince Edward Island gathered at the Marguerite Bourgeoys Centre in Summerside for a youth retreat focusing on the messages of Pope John Paul II’s Theology of the Body. The Feb. 6-8 retreat was organized by Greg Herbert, Debbie Bulger and Monique Perry, all members of Right to Life, who used video sessions from a widespread program called “Theology of the Body for Teens.” The program discusses and simplifies the concepts from John Paul II’s original teachings to help participants understand that God created humans out of love and for love, for example, and that their bodies make this call to love visible just as sacraments make spiritual truths visible.

The story behind the Irish invasion of 1847

March 9, 2009

It was either death or a long voyage to Canada for the Willis family and more than 38,000 Irish immigrants who landed in Toronto in the summer of 1847. But the story of how that impacted the city of 20,000 and its wave of new citizens who fled from a deadly typhus outbreak and the potato famine of 1845 to 1851 in their Irish homeland has gone untold for more than a century, now to be uncovered in a docudrama called Death or Canada: Fleeing the Famine . It will air on History Television March 16.

Tempting morsels can't convince this skeptic

March 9, 2009

Tomorrow’s Table: Organic Farming, Genetics and the Future of Food by Raoul W. Adamchak and Pamela C. Ronald (Oxford University Press, hardcover, 208 pages, $31.95). Is your future food going to be organic, genetically engineered or both? Organic farming and genetic engineering are ultimately a conflict of two world views. Organic agriculture uses the cycles of nature to its advantage and avoids problems by using farm practices such as a more complex rotation system of crops and a low number of animals in a confined space. Biotechnology is locked in the old paradigm of “controlling nature” and is designed to fix problems which often occur because of industrial farming practices. Organic farming is based on biodiversity. Biotechnology, by its very nature, reduces the number of varieties of crops grown and threatens genetic diversity.

March 12

Political grandstanding

March 12, 2009

U.S. President Barack Obama surrounded himself with political friends, the sick, the handicapped, churchmen and scientists on March 9 to trumpet his intention to separate politics from science. To enthusiastic applause he announced an executive order that will rescind a ban on government funding for embryonic stem cell research (ESCR). What utter hypocrisy.

Helping our community for more than three decades

March 12, 2009

For more than 30 years, the Lenten season has been marked in a special way in the archdiocese of Toronto, with thousands of Catholics demonstrating their faith through a massive act of charity known as ShareLife. In March 1976, then Archbishop Philip Pocock attracted the attention of the country with a major announcement about the Catholic Church in the archdiocese. Based on principles of faith, the archbishop removed Catholic Charities from the mainstream appeal. In making this announcement, he said, “I am prepared to take the responsibility of sustaining the services of Catholic Charities to the community.” Thus, ShareLife, the annual charitable appeal of the archdiocese of Toronto, was established.

Religious belief keeps anxiety at bay

March 12, 2009

TORONTO - Maybe the bus ads should read, “There probably is a God, so stop worrying and get on with your life.” A team of Toronto scientists has found that believers perform better in certain mental tasks because religious people are less likely to experience anxiety when they make a mistake. People who believe in God worry less. “We suggest that religious conviction buffers against anxiety by providing relief from the experience of uncertainty and error, and in so doing, strengthening convictions and narrowing attention away from inconsistencies,” wrote psychology professor Michael Inzlicht and his team of researchers from the University of Toronto and York University in an article called “Neural Markers of Religious Conviction” published in Psychological Science on March 4.

Pope regrets Lefebvrite misunderstanding

March 12, 2009

VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI has written a letter to the world’s bishops defending his decision to lift the excommunications of four traditionalist bishops and expressing regret that it gave rise to misunderstandings and polemics, according to Italian newspapers. The Pope said the controversy over Bishop Richard Williamson’s statements denying the extent of the Holocaust was “a misadventure that was for me unforeseeable” and acknowledged that the Vatican should have paid more attention to information easily available on the Internet, the reports said.