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April 2009

April 16

Future looks brighter for these Afghan refugees

April 16, 2009

TORONTO - Toronto’s Catholics have nearly tripled the number of refugees they’re bringing to Canada, but more parishes need to volunteer if the archdiocese is going to sustain the new level of refugee sponsorships. In 2008 parishes and religious orders in and around Toronto sponsored 147 families who can’t return to their homelands for fear of war, persecution and chaos. That’s up from 51 in 2007. The number of parishes involved in sponsorship grew to 28 in 2008, up from 22 the year before. There are 32 parishes, out of 224 in the archdiocese, so far on board for sponsorships in 2009.

Canadian border opens to Rwandan genocide survivor

April 16, 2009

TORONTO - Fifteen years after the genocide in Rwanda, 24-year-old survivor Patricie Mukundiyukuri has come to Canada to bring a message of hope and forgiveness. “What happened to Rwanda can be an example to people who are going through problems,” she said through an interpreter from Cornwall, Ont. “Things which have happened in the past are over. We need to sit down, talk, forgive one another and be able to talk about peace.”

Toronto Catholic parent group seeks school supervisor’s removal

April 16, 2009

TORONTO - The chair of a Toronto Catholic parent group says she plans to file a complaint with Ontario’s ombudsman over the potential conflict-of-interest position of the provincially appointed supervisor for the Toronto Catholic District School Board. In a letter to Education Minister Kathleen Wynne, Murielle Boudreau of the Greater Toronto Parent Network wrote that Norbert Hartmann “is usually in a conflict-of-interest situation whenever he presides over many aspects of the administration of the board” as his wife and daughter are Toronto Catholic school teachers.

Jesus’ Divine gift

April 16, 2009

Third Sunday of Easter (Year B) April 26 (Acts 3:13-15, 17-19; Psalm 4; 1 John 2:1-5; Luke 24:35-48) Peter might be forgiven a little smugness as he narrates the story of the passion and death of Jesus to some of those responsible. To be accused of rejecting the Holy and Righteous One and killing the Author of life is no small thing and the words must have hit home with a number of his audience.

Catholic Women’s League of Canada day of action aims to spread hope

April 16, 2009

The Catholic Women’s League of Canada, along with 1,300 parishes nationwide, will be celebrating its first Day of Peace and Hope on April 26. The day of reflection and action is expected to draw about 98,000 participants. “We are a longstanding organization, and we want to show people that we are contemporary in our work for peace,” said Betty Anne Brown, CWL chair of communications.

Easter brings out the hope that is in me

April 16, 2009

When I was a student, I spoke like a student, I thought like a student, I wrote like a student. When I became a columnist for The Catholic Register, I discovered I had a lot more readers. And this was very good. From a student point of view, it is unfair. A student slaves for hours, days, even weeks over a paper and hands it in to be graded by a professor or, worse, a teaching assistant. The student has an audience of one, and that audience responds with a few red scribbles and an A, B or “See me.” I, on the other hand, sit down at my computer for four hours maximum, write out 800 words and e-mail them to the editor, secure in the knowledge that thousands of people will have the opportunity to appreciate or condemn my work. They might or might not comment. Unlike the student, I get paid.

Barack Obama was the wrong choice at Notre Dame

April 16, 2009

Barack Obama has become a rock star of global politics, among the hottest tickets on the planet right now, but his support for abortion and stem-cell research made him an inappropriate choice to headline graduation ceremonies at a renowned Catholic institution. The University of Notre Dame was dead wrong to invite Obama to speak at its commencement and to award him an honorary degree.

Mistakes made, lessons learned at the Vatican

April 16, 2009

In an address to the students at the Collegio Romano in mid-February Pope Benedict XVI spoke of St. Paul’s warning in the Letter to the Galatians that Christians should not “go on biting and devouring one another.” That was not the last time the Pope invoked this Pauline admonition. He did so again in his letter to the universal episcopate (released March 12) following the imbroglio occasioned by what is now sadly dubbed the Williamson Affair. It was a vibrating jolt emitted by my BlackBerry that stirred me back into consciousness. I had been lulled into a semi-comatose state following four hours of unremitting speechifying by various representatives of the Italian Foreign Ministry and Department of Economic Development at a specially convened summit in Rome. The intrusive e-mail was from a distinguished Rome-based journalist who forwarded a pirated and unpolished translation of a letter written by Benedict to his fellow bishops, a letter formally released the next day.

April 17

Fasting gives Jesuit spiritual strength

April 17, 2009

Toward the end of 44 days of fasting (see Jesuit's fast shows care for creation ) — living on nothing but juice and water throughout Lent — Jesuit Father John McCarthy found he didn't have the energy to exercise any more. He also found the cross-country flight he had to take from Deer Lake, Nfld., to Vancouver during the last week of Lent a bit trying. For the first few days following the end of Lent on Holy Thursday, McCarthy's stomach was feeling a touch delicate. And he did lose some weight. He estimates he's down about 15 kilos or 35 lbs.

MBA programs need ethics reform

April 17, 2009

TORONTO - Some call it the “monster” model. For years, critics have charged that MBA schools have been teaching business students the mantra of maximizing shareholder profits with little regard for anything else. But according to CEO and business ethics researcher John Dalla Costa, it's critical to have a reform of this business mentality now, given the depth of the economic crisis the world is facing.

April 20

Pope Benedict will see a changed Holy Land

April 20, 2009

JERUSALEM - Pope Benedict XVI will encounter a Holy Land that has changed greatly since Pope John Paul II visited in 2000. Pope John Paul arrived in Israel and the Palestinian territories when, despite stumbling blocks in the peace process, the jubilee year celebrations seemed to buoy the Holy Land with a booming tourism industry. But Pope Benedict will visit amid continued Israeli-Palestinian tensions — months after a controversial Israeli invasion of Gaza and during continuing Palestinian rocket attacks against southern Israeli towns.

April 21

Vatican officials object to Iranian president's remarks on Israel

April 21, 2009

ROME - Although members of a Vatican delegation objected to the Iranian president's remarks about Israel at a UN conference on racism, members did not think walking out was the right response, said a Vatican official. Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the chief Vatican representative to UN agencies in Geneva, told Catholic News Service by telephone April 20 it was important for people not to be distracted by the remarks of the Iranian president, whose comments attacking Israel prompted a walkout by dozens of diplomats.

April 22

Development and Peace confident of no wrongdoing in Mexico

April 22, 2009

MEXICO CITY - The executive director of the Canadian Catholic bishops' aid organization has expressed confidence in the groups that receive agency funds in Mexico, even though five of those partners have been accused of promoting policies that violate church teaching. Michael Casey, executive director of the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace, said he was "not dismayed" after an initial April 16 meeting in Mexico City with the five groups that allegedly have supported the liberalization of abortion laws. But Casey also stressed that the investigation by a committee of inquiry from the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops was far from being completed and that committee members were taking the allegations against their partner agencies seriously.

April 23

St. John’s Bible a masterpiece for the 21st century

April 23, 2009

TORONTO - Five-hundred years ago it seemed the Gutenberg revolution had shut down the scriptoriums for good. Since the advent of printing presses there was no more need for Benedictine monks to labour over parchment with quills and inks. Today there are 500-million copies of the Bible sold every year. In English alone there are dozens of translations. The Bible is available for free on the Internet, but there are also high-priced, leather-bound editions with copious notes, maps and timelines. What would be the point of producing a hand-written Bible on parchment in seven volumes — at a cost of nearly $6 million?

800 years of the Franciscan way

April 23, 2009

ASSISI, Italy - Brown-, gray- and black-hooded robes rustled, knotted white cords swung rhythmically and sandaled feet crunched gravel. The soft sounds of laboured breathing could also be heard as several hundred Franciscan friars from all over the world wound their way up steep hills, passing wheat fields and olive groves while on a two-hour penitential procession to the tomb of their founder, St. Francis of Assisi. The processing friars were just some of the 1,800 Friars Minor, Conventual Franciscans, Capuchins and Third Order Regular Franciscans attending an April 15-18 gathering celebrating the 800th anniversary of papal approval of the Franciscan rule. It was the first time that many representatives of the four main Franciscan branches had come together in Assisi.

Code of conduct not necessary, say Ontario trustees

April 23, 2009

TORONTO - The conduct of school trustees is an issue that has dogged Ontario’s largest Catholic school board for the past year. But as a provincial governance review committee considers a mandatory code of ethics and conduct, the Ontario Catholic School Trustees’ Association says these types of codes should be voluntary.

April 24

Drought could reverse years of Tanzanian progress

April 24, 2009

TORONTO - Fr. Winfried Ngoyani would rather not be in Toronto. He should be home in the diocese of Mahenge in rural central Tanzania where he runs the Catholic school system. In the two secondary schools for girls his diocese has established, Regina Mundi and St. Agnes, Ngoyani believes he can build a future for the region, prevent HIV and AIDS and preserve African and Christian values.

Canadian Foodgrains Bank sets record

April 24, 2009

A Canadian ecumenical agency working with subsistence farmers who face drought and starvation in rural Tanzania is enjoying record-breaking support, despite the recession. The Canadian Foodgrains Bank raised $12.4 million in cash and crops in 2008-2009, $4 million more than its previous record. “It was quite a remarkable year,” said Foodgrains executive director Jim Cornelius.

Get whole family involved in finances

April 24, 2009

TORONTO - When it comes to family finances, parents should include their children in discussions on how to cut costs, says Cynthia Kiy. Negative talk about finances can put children in a very dangerous mindset where hopelessness and desperation can even drive them from the home, said Kiy, a social worker with Covenant House in Toronto.

St. Francis' example

April 24, 2009

Franciscans from around the world have been converging on the Italian city of Assisi to celebrate the founding of the Order of St. Francis 800 years ago. But you don’t have to be a Franciscan to pay tribute to St. Francis of Assisi. This devout, serene man devoted his life to battling poverty and social injustice and is honoured today as the patron saint of the environment and peace. Eight centuries later, his relevance is undiminished. The causes he championed still fill headlines. The compassion he demonstrated still inspires followers.