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April 2009

April 6

Holy Land pilgrims find desire for peace

April 6, 2009

With the radio blaring Arabic music, we sit in the minibus, praying for a safe journey. It’s 7:30 a.m. and we are travelling from Jerusalem to Bethlehem as part of our Holy Week “backpacking pilgrimage.” No tour buses. Just us with a map and our rosaries. We must go through the checkpoint to enter the separation barrier into the West Bank, and a part of us wonders if we will make it. Surprisingly, the two guards let us through, no questions asked. Not even a glance at our Canadian passports. It’s a relief we aren’t interrogated like our experience at Tel Aviv airport. The separation wall, built to prevent terrorists from entering Israel, emerges into view with the graffiti of a lion devouring a bird wearing a black and white kaffiyeh (Arab headdress). This reflects what the Palestinians’ say is their life behind the wall: divided families, economic hardships and a sense of alienation.

April 7

The Passion of Christ in Toronto

April 7, 2009

Twice each year Catholics demand vivid, compelling images of Jesus. In Advent we set up creches in our churches and on our coffee tables to enact the drama of Christ’s incarnation. In Lent we turn our faces to the cross and endure with Jesus the tragic walk to the summit of Calvary. Station 1 [images/stories/religiousGeneric/WYDcross.jpg] 1. Jesus Condemned In 2002 the world watched as World Youth Day transformed downtown Toronto with the stations of the cross on a huge scale. But the rehearsal earlier that afternoon were also moving, winding its way through a busy workday in ordinary clothes. We do it every year. Every year we are happy when we see the little cows and donkeys, shepherds and angels, Mary the new mother and Joseph the worried father. Every year we grieve as Jesus falls the first time, the second time and the third. This is not an exercise in biblical scholarship. Our creches confuse the nativity stories in Luke and Matthew. The stations of the cross include details of legends not found in any Gospel and leaves out important elements of Gospel accounts of Jesus’ execution.

Archdiocese of Toronto reaches out to lapsed Catholics

April 7, 2009

TORONTO - The archdiocese of Toronto is launching a new, multi-media outreach campaign for lapsed Catholics. The public awareness campaign, launched this month, includes radio ads, a web site and an online video message from Toronto Archbishop Thomas Collins. On the web site www.wearecatholic.ca , Collins talks about the work of Catholics in the city, including teaching at 500 schools and caring for the sick.

April 9

Romance in the pews

April 9, 2009

TORONTO - Spring and a young man’s fancy turns exactly where you think it does, and so does a young woman’s. Anything wrong with that?

April 14

Bishops join team investigating Development and Peace

April 14, 2009

OTTAWA - Two bishops from eastern Canada will lead an inquiry into allegations that funds from the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace have gone to Mexican groups that have ties to abortion advocacy. Archbishop Martin W. Currie of St. John’s, Nfld., and Bishop François Lapierre, P.M.É., of Saint-Hyacinthe, Que., were to go to Mexico April 15-18 to meet with local bishops, announced the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops.

John Paul II beatification expected soon

April 14, 2009

VATICAN CITY - They brought flowers and messages to his grave. They sang songs evoking his memory. And they prayed for his beatification. The fourth anniversary of the death of Pope John Paul II April 2 was marked by a sense of anticipation following reports that the late pontiff would be beatified on the fifth anniversary next year.

Only resurrected Christ can fill emptiness in peoples hearts

April 14, 2009

VATICAN CITY - Christ's resurrection is not a myth or fairy tale; it is the one and only event that has destroyed the root of evil and can fill the emptiness in people's hearts, Pope Benedict XVI said in his Easter message. But Christ still wants humanity to help affirm his victory by using His weapons of justice, truth, mercy and love to end the suffering in Africa, build peace in the Holy Land and combat hunger and poverty worldwide, he said April 12 in his message "urbi et orbi" (to the city and the world).

Liberal MP John McKay tries to woo Catholics

April 14, 2009

OTTAWA - Liberal MP John McKay is reaching out to Catholic and Christian voters on behalf of the federal party. He hopes to “redress” the relationship with faith communities — a relationship that has been hurt by Liberal tactics that have at times demonized Christian voters as “scary” or “anti-charter.” “I am hoping that this initiative will free up some political space for faith leaders to speak into the marketplace of ideas and not feel that they will end up battered and bruised and run out of town on a rail,” said McKay.

The St. Andrew School of Evangelization from Mexico to expand into English Canada

April 14, 2009

The cross of St. Andrew, the Saltire, has been a symbol of the apostle’s martyrdom, a symbol of Roman imperial power, the flag of Scotland, the flag of Jamaica and the ensign of the Russian navy. Now the ancient Christian standard is on its way to Canada from Mexico, where a group of Mexican lay evangelists have pointed out that it looks a lot like a multiplication sign. The St. Andrew School of Evangelization based in Guadalajara, Mexico, wants to multiply the experience of Christ by forming new evangelists for the 21st century. The 25-year-old group has established national offices in Mexico, Colombia, Italy, Portugal, Brazil, Hungary, Argentina, the United States and Quebec. It is setting the stage for a push into English Canada with courses offered at Belleville’s St. Michael’s parish.

Toronto Catholic District School Board budget cuts for special ed programs

April 14, 2009

TORONTO - Close to 6,000 students enrolled in the Toronto Catholic District School Board’s special education programs will suffer from the upcoming reassignment of 67 teachers, says the head of the teachers’ union. “How can you remove 67 teachers and not expect it to have a detrimental impact on the neediest students?” said Anthony Bellissimo, president of the Toronto Elementary Catholic Teachers , adding there is a waiting list to get needy students into special education classes.

Toronto Knights of Columbus aid seminarians

April 14, 2009

TORONTO - The Knights of Columbus Toronto Council 1388 will celebrate 100 years of service by making a gift of $100,000. At a gala dinner April 25 to mark its 100th anniversary, the Toronto Council will donate $100,000 to create an endowment to support Toronto’s seminarians. It is the largest gift in the history of Council 1388.

Whitehorse benefits from Catholic Missions In Canada's Tastes of Heaven

April 14, 2009

TORONTO - Catholic Missions In Canada is holding its annual fundraising dinner, Tastes of Heaven, on April 22 with the goal of raising $100,000. The dinner will help support 12 parishes and 21 missions throughout the diocese of Whitehorse. Whitehorse Bishop Gary Gordon will be the guest speaker. “This is a very unique event. People can meet the heroes of our dioceses and recognize the work they do,” said Kathleen Ancker, the National Director of Development for Catholic Missions In Canada.

Mississauga Slovak parish 75 years young

April 14, 2009

MISSISSAUGA, Ont. - Seventy-five years is a long time, but at Sts. Cyril and Methodius Slovak Roman Catholic parish all those years mask the truth about the parish. The truth is the parish is young. Third-year University of St. Michael’s College student Stefan Slovak is a member of the parish council and an active organizer of the parish’s 75th anniversary celebrations. He was born in Canada to a Slovak father and an Irish-Canadian mother, grew up in the suburbs and has absorbed Slovak language and culture entirely from the expatriate community of 40,000 Slovaks in and around Toronto.

Mary Ann Robillard chosen as Toronto Catholic School Board's newest trustee

April 14, 2009

TORONTO - The Toronto Catholic District School Board has a new trustee but the same old problem, says a Toronto Catholic parents group. Murielle Boudreau, chair of the Greater Toronto Catholic Parent Network, says appointing Mary Ann Robillard, a former trustee and one-time assistant to Oliver Carroll, to the seat vacated by Carroll is like appointing her old boss.

Dufferin-Peel film warns of dangers of gang life

April 14, 2009

MISSISSAUGA, Ont. - When gunfire interrupted a funeral and killed Darren Watts’ friend, it was a wake-up call about gangs for the 19-year-old high school student. “Beware of the company you keep. They can lead to your downfall,” he said during an interview at Ascension of Our Lord Catholic High School in Mississauga. Watts is describing the message of Mouse, a short film on the dangers of gang lifestyle. He plays Clutch, a fictional gang leader who preys upon a 10-year-old whom he nicknames “Mouse” and convinces to steal and sell drugs for him and the gang.

What a friend we have in Jesus

April 14, 2009

It is said in a proverb: “show me your friends, and I’ll tell you who you are.” If that is the case, then I should be a music loving, fashion minded, game playing, theatre-loving person. While some of that’s true, I don’t see all of it. However, I am forgetting one important friend on that list: Jesus. It’s interesting, because I forget to include Him on my best friends’ list, but he is one of the people I speak to most in the day. “What a friend we have in Jesus.” This famous hymn, a beautiful reminder of our friendship with Christ, was actually written as a poem in 1855 by Joseph Scriven. In 1845, he was engaged to be married, but his fiancée drowned the night before they were to be wed. He moved from Ireland to Canada to put it behind him. While in Canada, he met another woman, who he also was betrothed to, but she died of pneumonia, also before their marriage. The poem was originally titled “Pray Without Ceasing,” and was written to comfort his mother, who was still residing in Ireland. The poem was later re-titled “What a Friend We Have in Jesus” and music was written by Charles Converse.

Loran award recognizes Ellie Jin's character

April 14, 2009

THORNHILL, Ont. - Ellie Jin’s future prospects have become a little brighter now that she’s been honoured with the Loran Award. Each year the Loran Award, the premier scholarship of The Canadian Merit Scholarship Foundation , is offered to 30 students throughout Canada based not only on grades but on their character, service and leadership, academic and extra-curricular activities and a strongly developed sense of inner direction and self-government. Jin was among those chosen. “I found it humbling and staggering at the same time,” said Jin, a Grade 12 student at St. Elizabeth Catholic High School in Thornhill. “I was so moved. I will always walk forward knowing that someone had believed in me and wanted to invest in me.”

Open investigation into Development and Peace

April 14, 2009

When allegations surfaced that some funds from the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace were going to a group that had ties to abortion advocates, a storm of protest was met by promises from church leaders for a swift and thorough review. Subsequent to that came additional allegations of funds going directly or indirectly to other abortion-sympathetic agencies. In response, Development and Peace suspended funding to five Mexican groups and the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops announced an investigation that will see two bishops join senior staff from Development and Peace on a mission to Mexico.

Fatherhood and Christian faith

April 14, 2009

I sometimes have people tell me I am a good father. I usually smile and think to myself: “If only they knew.” I’m sure people say such things because they know I have six children and they can’t figure out how I do it. One morning Jennifer, my wife, announced we should do a bit of a cleanup and I should plan a trip to the dump. I wasn’t happy about the cleaning part, but I welcomed a Saturday afternoon drive. I saw myself driving up the country roads with the windows down and the radio up.

Archdiocese of Toronto launches online campaign for Catholic awareness

April 14, 2009

What can you do in 30 seconds? A quick phone call, send an e-mail, have a brief conversation with a colleague or friend? Our staff at the archdiocese of Toronto ’s Office of Public Relations and Communications decided we’d try to reach one million people. On the Monday of Holy Week, we launched “We Are Catholic ”, a campaign that attempts something a little different: using secular radio to speak to a diverse audience — active Catholics, lapsed Catholics and people of other faiths, or no faith at all.