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June 2, 2009
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Pro-life advocates universally condemned the May 31 murder of a Kansas abortion doctor, with officials from several U.S. right-to-life groups saying such extreme acts only hurt the pro-life cause. "We condemn this lawless act of violence," said Charmaine Yoest, president of the Americans United for Life . "The foundational right to life that our work is dedicated to extends to everyone. Whoever is responsible for this reprehensible violence must be brought to justice under the law."
June 3, 2009
TORONTO - The Toronto Catholic District School Board will remain under provincial supervision for another year but interim steps could be taken to allow trustees to sit at the board table, said board supervisor Norbert Hartman. The Catholic trustees will not regain decision-making authority until after the next municipal elections in November 2010, Hartmann told The Register. He said provincial laws specify that publicly funded boards can only escape supervision when their budgets are balanced.
June 4, 2009
DETROIT - As Michigan braces to add to the nation’s highest unemployment rate, Detroit Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron has asked all Catholics to join him in praying for those affected by the bankruptcy of General Motors Corp. “The news concerning General Motors adds to the disruption and uncertainty already faced by many of our fellow citizens,” Archbishop Vigneron said in a June 1 statement. “All of those impacted by these latest developments are in my prayers.”
SAO PAULO, Brazil - Pope Benedict XVI sent his condolences and apostolic blessing to the families of all those affected when Air France Flight 447 disappeared above the Atlantic Ocean. The June 2 telegram, signed by the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, said Pope Benedict begged God to welcome those killed “into his peace and light.”
Sr. Josephine Eke is quite impressed with the prisons in Canada and Anglican priest Rev. John Ngabo is surprised by the access and support various non-governmental agencies have in Canadian prisons. But the two African prison chaplains, in Canada to learn about Canadian restorative justice efforts, may have as much to teach as they have to learn. From the city of Jos, deep in the interior of Nigeria, Eke is used to working in overcrowded and underserviced jails where the food is poor and some prisoners are forced to sleep on the floor. But she’s also used to prisons where prisoners are in constant contact with their prison guards and wardens.
History may record it as throwing good money after bad, but the governments of Canada and Ontario had little choice but to go blue-collar and join the Barack Obama assembly line to keep General Motors going. As announced on June 1, the government of Canada contributed $7.1 billion and Ontario another $3.8 billion to an American plan to try to save General Motors. Taxpayers in Canada now own 11.7 per cent of the once-giant automaker.
June 5, 2009
EDMONTON - Canadian Church leaders are preparing to bring the voice of Christian faith to bear on controversies surrounding the Alberta tar sands. Following meetings May 21-27 with people who work and live in northern Alberta, church leaders intend to lobby the federal government for tighter environmental regulation of the huge and controversial source of energy.
Asking the federal government to develop a poverty reduction plan is just asking them to do their job, according to Citizens for Public Justice executive director Joe Gunn. Gunn’s ecumenical social justice organization, along with a dozen other church, union and social action organizations have launched Dignity For All: The Campaign for a Poverty-Free Canada . The campaign aims to get the public and all federal political parties talking about a realistic plan for reducing Canada’s 10.8 per cent poverty rate.
Filipino Catholics have a great responsibility for evangelization and they should embrace their culture in the faith context, Bishop Mylo Vergara told a group of 540 youth and young adults. The 46-year-old bishop, from the Philippines diocese of San Jose, Nueva Ecija, reminded the large group that they are children of the only Catholic country in Asia Pacific and represent the third largest Asian-Canadian group. He was in Toronto as the guest speaker at the Office of Catholic Youth’s Filipino-themed Banquet on May 28.
Christ’s command to forgive seventy times seven may lose some of its poignancy if the worst thing you’ve had to forgive this week was a co-worker hurting your feelings. Imagine, however, if the killer of your wife and children lives across the street, you both shop at the same stores, you see him every day. Now imagine that scene being replayed across the countryside 100,000 times.
POOR CHOICE The recent decision of the Catholic Principals’ Council of Ontario to have abortion supporter Stephen Lewis address its 2010 annual conference can be likened to the recent event that took place in South Bend, Indiana (I refuse to call the South Bend institution of education by its name, for it no longer has anything to do with Our Lady). Lewis’ position and work regarding human life, especially in Africa, is well known. I do respect his compassion. However, it is incomprehensible to have the leaders of publicly funded Catholic schools listen to his misguided ethics at the risk of dividing the Catholic educational community. I wonder if the Principals’ Council approached trustees and especially the bishops of Ontario with their desire to have Lewis speak to them. I feel that publicly funded Catholic education in Ontario is being hijacked by a new, self-appointed and self-important intelligentsia who have no regard for church teaching and tradition, forgetting that its mission is intimately connected to the mission of the universal church — the salvation of souls. Steve Catlin Hamilton Ont.
I entered the Catholic Church, ten years ago, with my eyes wide open. Or so I believed at the time. Like everyone else who doesn’t live on a desert island, I knew about the clergy abuse and cover-up scandals that had begun to rock the church a decade before. In defending my decision to become a Catholic against non-Catholic friends and family, who were appalled that I had joined a church in which such abuse had taken place, I adopted a hardly unusual line of argument. The Catholic Church, I told them, is constructed of crooked, diseased wood, liable at any time to produce bad fruit. The stink of this fruit had brought its existence to the attention of church authorities, who, after some initial foot-dragging, began to clean out the orchard and compensate those who had been poisoned. The system had worked, at least to my satisfaction. This argument belonged, of course, to the “few bad apples” variety.
Everybody goes through phases where they think nobody understands them, myself included. But over the last few years, and recently especially, I have begun to feel that many people just don’t seem to understand my religion. Why? I’m not a member of some obscure cult; I’m a Catholic. Catholicism is a major world religion and definitely a good slice of the religious pie here in Canada. But somehow many people still have no idea what it’s all about. In school I often get asked why we Catholics “worship the Pope or the saints,” why we “force baptism on babies” instead of letting them choose later and why we “call that piece of bread God.”
TORONTO - At Neil McNeil High School the popular phrase of “youth empowering youth” is taken seriously. Not only are senior students at the all-boys school motivated to lead by example as big brothers helping the junior students socially and emotionally, but they have also helped their peers shine academically through their peer support program which recently won their school’s leadership team a Premiers’ Award for Teaching Excellence. The program was developed several years ago after the school partnered with the Search Institute, a non-profit action research organization in the United States. Search provides leadership, knowledge, resources and a framework of developmental assets as a way to assess the health and well-being of young people.
Students across 36 elementary schools sang, rapped and rhymed their way on May 27 to certification in the Ontario Ecoschool environmental education program. The Toronto Catholic District School Board officially certified these schools as EcoSchools as part of its third annual recognition event at Downsview Park. Each school was presented with an Ontario EcoSchool plaque for its efforts throughout the year.
OTTAWA - Internationally-renowned Christian apologist Ravi Zacharias brought a bold, Christ-centered message to the Canadian National Prayer Breakfast May 28. To a hotel ballroom filled with Members of Parliament, clergy, and ambassadors, Zacharias said that all our yearnings can be found in Jesus Christ alone. He recounted a trip to the Middle East with Christian leaders, including former Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey, where he met with Sheikh Talal Sider, a founder of Hamas.
Death or Canada: The Irish Famine Migration to Toronto, 1847 by Mark G. McGowan (Novalis, hardcover, 170 pages, $24.95) Few experiences can be more painful than having to tell your hungry child there is no food. Today mothers and fathers in Sudan, North Korea and other troubled countries have to do just that. In the mid-1800s, it was Irish parents who witnessed their children starve, as they did so themselves. The crushing nature of famine is captured most poignantly in J.P.L. Walton’s lament, first published in The Limerick Reporter in 1846 and reprinted in this beautifully produced book. As he and his neighbours suffered, Walton’s “Irish Labourers’ Pater Noster” reads, in part:
June 8, 2009
As the World Youth Alliance (WYA) celebrates the tenth anniversary of its founding in New York City, it also prepares to add another committee to its ranks — the first and only Canadian committee. “This national committee will allow WYA to better respond to the issues the Canadians uniquely face as barriers to further development and allow WYA to be able to communicate more effectively with its members,” said Seanna Magee, a Catholic resident of Toronto who interned with WYA’s headquarters in 2005 and will be spearheading the new committee with the help of WYA’s North American director.
Body and Blood of Christ (Year B) June 14 (Exodus 24:3-8; Psalm 116; Hebrews 9:11-15; Mark 14:12-16, 22-26) In the ancient world, ratifying covenants and treaties was a rather bloody and messy affair. The rights and responsibilities of each party were clearly articulated, as were dire consequences for non-compliance.
May 31, 2009
TORONTO - Help for parishes is on its way as the archdiocese of Toronto reorganizes how it delivers faith formation programs. Over the summer the archdiocesan curia will meld its Catholic Office of Religious Education and its Office of Lay Ministry, Chaplaincy, Parish Social Ministry and Stewardship into a single office to support parishes, Archbishop Thomas Collins announced May 25. [data:image/png;base64,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]