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June 2009

June 29

Finding faith, meaning in the workplace

June 29, 2009

Faith plays a central role in a lot of the decisions we make, including our career choices. Common questions we ask might include, “What brings meaning to my life?” or “What is God’s purpose for me on this Earth?” Many youth want a job that enables them to live out their faith on a daily basis. But the challenge is not in finding a job that lets you live your faith but rather in enabling yourself to live your faith in any job. Ever since I graduated from high school, I have worked in a number of different jobs that have provided me with many experiences and growing pains. What I discovered along the way is that I like to help people and in doing so, I developed myself as a servant leader.

2010 Ottawa Youth Summit planning underway

June 29, 2009

OTTAWA - Planning has begun in the Ottawa archdiocese to host the 2010 Youth Summit/Montée Jeunesse next May 21-24. Ottawa Archbishop Terrence Prendergast, S.J., said he has great confidence in the direction the youth leaders will provide after a preliminary brainstorming session June 20. He noted the conference will takes place over Victoria Day weekend and coincides with Pentecost next year. It is expected to draw hundreds of youth up to age 35 to the nation’s capital.

A greener shade of Pope

June 29, 2009

Ten Commandments for the Environment: Pope Benedict XVI Speaks out for Creation and Justice by Woodeene Koenig-Bricker (Ave Maria Press, softcover, 160 pages, $15.95). Anything that helps Catholics live their lives and construct their churches today in an ecologically friendly manner ought to be a good thing. The problem with Ten Commandments for the Environment: Pope Benedict XVI Speaks out for Creation and Justice is that it won’t do these things. In fact, I fear it just might make things worse.

Lessons learned along the career path

June 29, 2009

The end of the academic year is particularly significant in our family this time around. Our eldest child just graduated from high school and our youngest completed elementary school. My daughter is fortunate to have a career plan mapped out. It’s too early to guess my son’s future path.

The silent scream is not about right of left, it's life

June 29, 2009

When the editor was exploring my interest in contributing articles to The Catholic Register, he sought my views on the relationship between column writing and controversy. My response was that if I wasn’t controversial I would not be doing my job as a journalist and not fulfilling my vocation as a Roman Catholic. Because being the former demands that I hold up a mirror to reflect the absurdities and hypocrisies of the modern world and the latter calls and cries for me to be counter cultural in a society that confuses right with wrong and has largely abandoned its notion of what is important and essential. So here as a greeting in my debut column is a rough guide to a rough person.

Church social teaching confronts world problems with Gospel power

June 29, 2009

VATICAN CITY - For more than 100 years, Catholic social teaching has tried to help people face the world's social, political and economic challenges with the power of the Gospel. Pope Benedict XVI announced June 29 that he had signed his first formal contribution to the list of papal encyclical letters on social themes and that it was titled Caritas in Veritate (Love in Truth). Although dated June 29, the letter was not expected be released for another week.

June 30

LifeSite at odds with Canadian bishops' Development and Peace report

June 30, 2009

Allegations against the Canadian bishops' development agency are a "counter-witness to that Gospel spirit that should guide all Christians," say Bishops Martin Currie and Francois Lapierre. Currie and Lapierre's inquiry into LifeSiteNews.com stories that accused the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace of giving money to groups which advocate for legal abortion in Mexico clears the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace of involvement in pushing for legal abortion in Mexico. Having consulted with Mexico's bishops and interviewed five Development and Peace partners whom LifeSiteNews.com said were promoting legal access to abortion, the bishops "did not find any evidence that they have been implicated in promoting abortion," said the report released publicly June 29 (see http://tinyurl.com/mcrpk4 ).