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July 2009

July 14

Communion controversy not raised in Harper's papal meeting

July 14, 2009

VATICAN CITY - The Communion controversy that upstaged Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s trip to the G8 summit in Italy was not brought up in his July 11 private audience with Pope Benedict XVI. Harper, in an exclusive interview with CCN, said the controversy was driven by “people who want to cause embarrassment in religion and drive a wedge between Protestants and Catholics.”

July 16

U.S. Episcopal Church leaders vote to lift ban on ordaining gay bishops

July 16, 2009

ANAHEIM, Calif. - Episcopal bishops, priests and lay delegates at their church's triennial convention in Anaheim voted July 14 to lift a moratorium on the ordination of gay and lesbian bishops that had been in place for three years. As reported by Ecumenical News International/Religion News Service , more than 70 per cent of lay and clergy delegates in the church's House of Deputies approved the action. A day earlier the House of Bishops passed the statement by a 2-to-1 margin.

Cardinal Newman to be beatified next May, report says

July 16, 2009

TORONTO - For University of Toronto theology student Peter Baltutis, Cardinal John Henry Newman is a role model for young Catholics. Newman's message resonates with students who are searching and discerning their future because the influential 19th-century theologian taught that coming to a secular university doesn't mean you have to abandon your Catholicism, Baltutis said.

July 17

Harry Potter's continuing struggle against darkness

July 17, 2009

NEW YORK - Played out on a vast — sometimes overcrowded — canvas, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Warner Bros.) is a richly textured adventure narrative in which good and evil are clearly delineated, but characters present a range of moral shading. As they did in the franchise's earlier films, magical elements in this sixth adaptation of J.K. Rowling's hugely popular fantasy novel series serve merely as props in a study of loyalty, friendship and the varied human responses to temptation. Unlike the moral lessons on display, these spells and potions are not intended to have any more application to real life than the flying monkeys in The Wizard of Oz.

July 20

Vacationing pope undergoes procedure to set wrist fractured in fall

July 20, 2009

VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI, who is vacationing in the northern Italian Alps, underwent a procedure under local anesthesia to repair his right wrist, which he had fractured during the night of July 16-17, his personal physician said. "The Holy Father, accidentally falling in his residence, suffered a dislocated fracture of his right wrist," Dr. Patrizio Polisca, the Pope's doctor, said in a statement released July 17 by the Vatican press office.

July 21

Oshawa summer camp honours its fallen hero

July 21, 2009

OSHAWA, Ont. - For nine-year-old Noelle Irani, the joys of summer camp with Our Lady of Lebanon Church have been about friends, swimming and roasting marshmallows near the campfire. But this year, amid the games, laughter in the pool and soccer balls in the air, the usual sounds and sights of summer have also been accompanied by moments of silence and tears of remembrance for fallen trooper Marc Diab. Diab had been the camp leader for the last five years. He was scheduled to return home after a six-month tour of duty with the Canadian army in Afghanistan. But three weeks before his arrival, the 22-year-old was killed by a roadside bomb in Kandahar on March 8.

July 23

Toronto church's loss is PEI's gain

July 23, 2009

TORONTO - Leaving behind the largest city in Canada, Toronto Auxiliary Bishop Richard Grecco will soon join Catholics on the east coast as the new leader for the Charlottetown diocese. Grecco made his very first visit to the island in mid-July, with much anticipation for his Sept. 21 inauguration.

Pro-lifers fear U.S. health care reform

July 23, 2009

WASHINGTON - U.S. President Barack Obama’s push for health care reform could be the worst thing for the pro-life cause since Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision legalizing abortion nationwide, said individuals and groups that oppose abortion. The three health care reform bills currently in Congress do not specifically mention abortion. But legal precedent proves abortions could be covered by federal tax money unless excluded in legislation, pro-life members of Congress said. Legislation also could mandate abortion coverage for most insurance plans.

G8 promises must be kept

July 23, 2009

G8 summits may fade from the headlines faster than invisible ink, but the July 8-10 meeting in Italy is still on the minds of development agencies. The G8 leaders pledged $19.4 billion over three years to boost agriculture and increase food aid. Canada Foodgrains Bank executive director Jim Cornelius gives the commitment a thumbs up.

ShareLife expects to reach $12-million goal

July 23, 2009

TORONTO - The Canadian economy has tumbled this year but it hasn’t taken ShareLife down with it. Heading into the final week of the annual campaign to raise essential funding for a host of charitable agencies, ShareLife organizers are heartened that parish donations are on par with last year. There were fears the recession might cut into donations.

Archdiocese of Toronto puts leash on Development and Peace funding

July 23, 2009

TORONTO - In response to controversy over the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace partners in Mexico, the archdiocese of Toronto is putting D&P on a funding leash and calling for a comprehensive review of the Catholic aid organization. Archbishop Thomas Collins announced in a July 23 statement that the archdiocese will “set aside” $1.125 million this year from ShareLife to be available to D&P on a case-by-case basis solely for projects run by organizations that are endorsed by local bishops. That is the same amount as 2008, but last year’s funds were allocated directly to D&P’s general revenues to be dispersed as they saw fit.

July 27

CCN correspondent meets Pope

July 27, 2009

VATICAN CITY - A long-awaited papal encyclical, a G8 summit and Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s first audience with a Pope converged on the decision to send me to Rome July 7-11, aboard the prime minister’s Airbus. Once I arrived, I discovered the Holy Father would greet each one of the media individually after Harper’s audience. What a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! To meet not only Christ’s vicar here on Earth but my favourite theologian. But what would I wear? Someone told me I should wear a head covering and closed-toed shoes. Do not have them.

New visa rules affect Mexican Canadian parishes

July 27, 2009

TORONTO - It was supposed to be a summer reunion for Rosa Flores and five of her friends from Mexico. But the St. Anthony’s Church parishioner says Canada’s new visa rules mean her friends won’t be coming to visit her in Toronto this August. On July 14, the Canadian government imposed new visa requirements for Mexican and Czech citizens to deal with a heavy caseload of refugee claims by visitors from the two countries. Immigration Minister Jason Kenney said imposing these new rules is necessary to guard against fraudulent immigration claims.

Kimberly Process failing diamond mining oversight

July 27, 2009

TORONTO - About 15 per cent of the world’s diamonds are mined by 1.3 million artisanal diamond diggers, many of them living on less than a dollar a day. In addition, diamond fields in sub-Saharan African countries are often controlled by whichever militia has the most guns, and diamonds have generated the cash to fuel some of the most horrific and enduring wars of our time. A single gold ring creates as much as 20 tons of waste, while about half the gold mines currently in production are on the traditional lands of indigenous people — often against their will.

Bishops encourage Catholics to engage in battle against euthanasia

July 27, 2009

OTTAWA - Canada’s bishops are urging Catholics to prepare for the upcoming battle against euthanasia and assisted suicide. “Euthanasia and assisted suicide are the antithesis to what should be at the heart of human civilization — trust, respect, concern and solidarity, based on reverence for all human life,” Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops president Archbishop James Weisgerber wrote in a July 17 letter to fellow bishops across Canada.

Encyclical a boost for Development and Peace

July 27, 2009

Caritas in Veritate represents something old and something new for Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace members, but it also represents a papal vote of confidence in their work and spirituality, volunteers with the social justice organization told The Catholic Register. “Reading the encyclical made me more enthusiastic again about Development and Peace,” said Gwen Stang of Macklin, Sask., a member for 20 years.

Providence Healthcare newsletter helps seniors connect

July 27, 2009

TORONTO - At 82, Bernard Scanlan has a new job. Known as “roving editor” of Around the Houses, the Providence Healthcare resident newsletter, Scanlan can be seen roaming the hallways of the Cardinal Ambrozic Houses of Providence, on the lookout for a good story. On this day Scanlan is all smiles, with black notebook and gold pen in hand, looking eager to get started on the next article. “I love doing it,” said Scanlan. “I never turn down a good story.”

Prayer walk connects faith with daily life

July 27, 2009

TORONTO - Qiuhua Chen had never seen a homelessness memorial before. The 27-year-old came to Canada last October, having converted to Catholicism more than a year ago. She said there aren’t similar memorials in her hometown of Fujin City, northeast of Beijing, China.

Fix Canada's refugee system

July 27, 2009

New federal regulations that require travellers from Mexico and the Czech Republic to obtain visas to enter Canada will not fix the nation’s troubled refugee system. Yet this recently announced initiative of the Conservative government has the overwhelming support of voters, recording 69-per-cent approval in an Angus Reid poll. Some might interpret that as a general rebuke of Canada’s open-door policy of providing safe haven for those forced to flee their homes due to persecution, war and violence, often ethnic or tribal in nature. But we suspect the opposite is the case.

Let's spread the real story of Pius XII

July 27, 2009

I will never forget Pope John Paul II’s visit to Britain, my home country. Not because of the crowds and the cacophony but because of my father. I walked into the sitting room of our small house and there was dad, a proud, strong working-class man, crying as he saw the Holy Father on television. The layers or relevance and emotion are almost overwhelming. My father was from a Polish Jewish family and had lost most of his relatives during the war. His personal history obliged him to pursue truth rather than sordid hyperbole and in particular to understand the role of Pius XII during the Holocaust. The lies about the man made him extremely angry. It makes his son angry as well.