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June 2009

June 15

Pope urges world leaders to tackle hunger at UN summit

June 15, 2009

VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI urged international leaders to turn their attention to the growing problem of world hunger as they deal with the global economic crisis. Looking ahead to a UN financial summit in New York June 24-25, the Pope said the meeting should be carried out "in a spirit of wisdom and solidarity, so that the current crisis can be transformed into an opportunity."

June 18

Truth and Reconciliation Commission set to look at Indian residential school abuses

June 18, 2009

OTTAWA - Justice Murray Sinclair has been appointed chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission looking into abuses at Indian residential schools. “It’s a very daunting task,” Manitoba’s first aboriginal judge said. “We have a long road to walk and we don’t have as much time as we could probably use to get there.” But Sinclair said he is committed to an accurate commission process that will treat all parties fairly, including those who have a positive story to tell.

June 19

Netanyahu speech reflects 'delicate' status of Palestine statehood

June 19, 2009

JERUSALEM - Although most Arabs did not accept Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s terms for accepting Palestinian statehood, in reality he could not have said anything different, said an official of the Jerusalem Interchurch Centre. “Personally I look at it as everyone trying to take a step forward,” said Yusef Daher, the centre’s executive secretary, reacting to Netanyahu’s June 14 speech. “First (U.S. President Barack) Obama took a step. Netanyahu couldn’t say more than he did. He is in a very delicate condition with the (right-wing) coalition he chose, and he needs to change the coalition or we can’t move.”

Moral challenges confront food production

June 19, 2009

When G8 leaders meet in Italy July 8-10 they will have two crises to talk about — the financial market seize-up of last September and the food crisis that sparked riots around the world last year. While the G-8 has already spent more than $1 trillion to bail out the financial system, what will be done to help millions of people suddenly rendered hungry by a 43-per-cent rise in food commodity prices is still up in the air.

Development agencies wonder how effective Canadian aid is

June 19, 2009

Plans to narrow Canada's foreign aid spending so larger amounts can go to fewer projects has left the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace wondering where Canada is going on overseas development aid. In a second speech this year addressing "aid effectiveness," Minister of International Co-operation Bev Oda announced May 20 that Canada would henceforth concentrate its aid dollars on three "themes." The Canadian International Development Agency will limit its non-emergency spending to increasing food security, promoting sustainable economic growth and programs for youth and children.

Deacon gives nun the gift of life

June 19, 2009

TORONTO - You never know what you’ll spot in the parish bulletin. One Sunday last summer Deacon Michael Hayes read a plea from a woman seeking a liver donor to save her critically ill sister. He put down the bulletin, booted up his computer and sent an e-mail to his pastor.

Archdiocese of Toronto clergy appointments

June 19, 2009

The following clergy appointments have been made for the archdiocese of Toronto. They take place July 1-2 unless otherwise noted.

Give the gift of life

June 19, 2009

There are currently 1,662 people in Ontario on waiting lists for organ transplants. At year’s end, in rough numbers, just 450 will have received a new organ, 1,150 will still be suffering and 62 will have died waiting for a donor. The numbers are startling but, sadly, are nothing new. There has always been a huge gap between demand and supply when it comes to human organs.

Coming to grips with Irish abuse scandal

June 19, 2009

When I was at a meeting for the International Council of Universities in Limerick, Ireland, last April, it was in the air. Menacingly on the horizon. Over a year ago when my own university honoured Diarmuid Martin, archbishop of Dublin, for his record of service in the cause of global human rights, the topic came up, and the dread was palpable. And now, at last, it has happened, and the church in Ireland is convulsed. Again.

Pray for the artistic commitment to truth

June 19, 2009

Catholics who pray the Liturgy of the Hours know that the intercessions frequently guide us to petition God for the arts. Not that artists nowadays care whether we pray for them or not. (They are more likely to be grateful that Christians no longer have the power to censor or suppress them.) It has been a long time, after all, since churches commissioned artworks that were important in the history of art, and since artists had anything better than contempt for Christianity, its teachings and institutions.

Bioethics institute targets assisted suicide

June 19, 2009

TORONTO - The Canadian Catholic Bioethics Institute has fired an opening volley in what it sees as a summer-long battle for palliative care and against physician-assisted suicide. The CCBI has printed 1,600 postcards addressed to Parliament and distributed them to its friends and supporters. The postcards call for the defeat of Bill C-384, a private member’s bill that would remove physician-assisted suicide from the Criminal Code. The bill was introduced to Parliament May 13 by Bloc Quebecois MP Francine Lalonde. It’s expected to come up for second reading when Parliament resumes sitting in the fall.

Jantzi index on the rebound

June 19, 2009

The Jantzi Social Index continued to keep pace with standard market indices through the May climb back to a shaky respectability. The Jantzi — which picks its 60 Canadian stocks based on environmental sustainability, labour and human rights performance and transparent governance — was up 10.68 per cent in May and 32.2 per cent over the previous three months.

ShareLife optimistic about hitting target

June 19, 2009

TORONTO - While many Catholics continue to struggle with the uncertainty of job security and financial stability, ShareLife continues to see parishioners in the archdiocese generously giving to its campaign this year. Arthur Peters, executive director for ShareLife, is hopeful of reaching his team’s parish fundraising campaign goal of $12 million, although donations were short of the goal at The Catholic Register’s publication deadline. Peters reported a total of $9.7 million raised after the final campaign weekend June 6-7.

Toronto's St. Anthony's parish celebrates its immigrant past

June 19, 2009

TORONTO - They sang multilingual songs, carried religious statues representing their former homelands and stopped traffic with a round-the-neighbourhood-block procession marking the 100th anniversary of St. Anthony’s parish. Pastor Fr. Tiziano Paolazzi, c.s., joined with more than 800 of his parishioners June 14 to celebrate a three-fold anniversary: Corpus Christi Sunday, St. Anthony’s feast day and the parish’s centennial birthday.

Pope thanks God for gift of priesthood, but recognizes failures

June 19, 2009

VATICAN CITY - The Catholic Church must acknowledge that some priests have done great harm to others, but it also must thank God for the gifts the majority of priests have given to the church and the world, Pope Benedict XVI said. In the face of scandal, "what is most helpful to the church ... is not only a frank and complete acknowledgment of the weaknesses of her ministers, but also a joyful and renewed realization of the greatness of God's gift" of the priesthood, the Pope said in his letter for the Year for Priests.

June 20

U.S. bishops, college presidents seek dialogue after Notre Dame controversy

June 20, 2009

WASHINGTON - In the wake of the University of Notre Dame controversy involving U.S. President Barack Obama delivering its 2009 commencement address, some U.S. bishops and Catholic university presidents are preparing for dialogue aimed at reaching a consensus about speakers on their campuses. During the early June conference of the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities ' board of directors in San Diego, the governing body of the group said they would like to see the bishops revisit their 2004 statement "Catholics in Political Life," which says it's inappropriate for Catholic institutions to honour or provide a platform to someone who holds positions contrary to the teachings of the church.

Thank you, Father

June 20, 2009

Father’s Day. Bring out the greeting cards, new ties and socks. My dad is an inspiring guy, a role model, someone who’s shown me the kind of person I’d like to be in life. So dad, never forget you’re #1 (along with mom) in my books. But this Father’s Day, I’d like to thank some other “fathers” out there. They probably won’t be taken out for brunch this weekend and are unlikely to receive any great classroom art from the kids at school, but I’d like to say thanks just the same.

June 22

Praying for a Tamil community in need

June 22, 2009

TORONTO - There have been protests with thousands of Tamils out on the streets, but on June 11 the young Tamil activists organized a different sort of gathering in a basement classroom on the campus of the University of Toronto. A student-organized Tamil multi-faith prayer service featured prayers from Sikhs, Christians, Hindus and Muslims and testimonials from young Tamils whose families have been devastated by the war in Sri Lanka.

Change studied for east end Toronto schools

June 22, 2009

TORONTO - Neil McNeil High School could be getting a new building, paid for by new condos or townhouses on the current school site, according to the Toronto Catholic District School Board. Neil McNeil is part of a cluster of high schools undergoing a school accommodation review by the Toronto Catholic board. The cluster includes Notre Dame, Cardinal Newman, Jean Vanier and St. Patrick High Schools, all in east Toronto and south Scarborough.

Finding a funeral's beauty

June 22, 2009

Recently, I was able to interview a family that was donating a large amount of money to a school in memory of their teenage son who died in a terrible car wreck in February. Tears came to the eyes of his father as soon as he stepped into the room to talk to me, and later, after they’d made their presentation, this couple held each other and cried in front of me and two teachers.