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November 2009

November 3

Some Ontario Catholic boards already run full-day kindergarten

November 3, 2009

TORONTO - Full-day kindergarten is an investment in the future and a “courageous” decision during a time of economic downturn, says the head of the Catholic teachers' union. But it's also not unfamiliar to Catholic schools, James Ryan told The Catholic Register, given that eight Catholic boards have some form of full-day kindergarten.

German cardinal stresses Catholic role in toppling Berlin Wall

November 3, 2009

COLOGNE, Germany - As Europe marks the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, a German cardinal said ceremonies are ignoring the role played by the Catholic Church in re-uniting Germany. Germans are commemorating the 1989 fall of the wall, which divided West Germany from the communist-ruled East Germany for 28 years. The Nov. 9 anniversary was to include a "Festival of Freedom" in Berlin, during which 1,000 giant foam dominos will be toppled along the route of the wall.

November 6

Africa refugee processing inadequate

November 6, 2009

Canadian visa officials in Accra, Ghana, have informed the Office of Refugees of the Archdiocese of Toronto it will probably take more than two years to unite a 14-year-old boy with his family in Toronto. The extreme delay is typical of a Canadian refugee system that simply isn’t doing its job in sub-Saharan Africa, said ORAT executive director Martin Mark. “It’s a shame,” Mark said. “Basically, it’s a lack of accountability.”

Lahey back in court in December

November 6, 2009

OTTAWA - The child-pornography case against Bishop Raymond Lahey has been put off until Dec. 16 following a request by Lahey’s lawyer. Lahey was to appear in court on Nov. 4 but his lawyer asked for additional disclosure of evidence related to charges laid Sept. 25 of possessing and importing child pornography. The former Antigonish bishop could still face additional charges in Nova Scotia, where RCMP executed a search warrant Oct. 13, seizing computers and electronic equipment from Lahey’s residences. RCMP spokesperson Sgt. Brigdit Leger said the forensic analysis could take several weeks.

Euthanasia OK in certain circumstances, Quebec doctors say

November 6, 2009

A position paper by the Quebec College of Physicians has raised significant ethical questions about the obligations of doctors by calling for amendments to the Criminal Code to permit doctors to kill some terminally ill patients. In becoming Canada’s first regulatory body to openly support legalized euthanasia, the Quebec college has taken the controversial stand that in some situations ending a life should be regarded as a legitimate treatment option for doctors. “We are saying death can be an appropriate type of care in certain circumstances,” Dr. Yves Robert said at a Nov. 3 press conference. Such circumstances would include cases in which death is imminent and inevitable. Dr. Tim Lau, president of the Canadian Federation of Catholic Physicians’ Societies, said he was anticipating the Quebec report but was shocked by the final wording.

Catholic Register Books launches Fr. Raby book

November 6, 2009

TORONTO - When Carmel Joyce heard that a collection of columns from “The Little World of Fr. Raby” were to be revived in book form, she immediately remembered the rectory washing machine. Joyce, now 84, was a devoted reader and faithful housekeeper to Msgr. Tom Raby for many decades. Among the many humourous Raby columns she enjoyed over the years, she recalls one in which she confronted a man selling her a new washing machine. He told Joyce that he used to attend Mass, but stopped, prompting the devout housekeeper to launch into a “real sermon” that ended when he promised to return to church. To Joyce’s surprise, the scene was replayed with typical Raby humour in a column that told how a shopping trip became a missionary expedition.

Church must be diligent in selecting priests, bishops, Collins says

November 6, 2009

TORONTO - Archbishop Thomas Collins, in his first public comment on the scandal following the arrest of Nova Scotia Bishop Raymond Lahey on child pornography charges, challenged church leaders to be diligent in selecting suitable priests and bishops and to uphold their “solemn obligation” to act immediately when an offence occurs. Speaking to 1,700 people at the 30th annual Cardinal’s Dinner Oct. 29, he called pornography “a scourge upon our society” and said he is enraged by the proliferation of this multi-billion-dollar industry. And society’s outrage is more intense when a priest or bishop uses pornography, and “rightly so,” he said, because they are entrusted by God so “any abuse of that trust is a betrayal of our vows to God.” “To me, as a bishop, the pain of any priestly scandal is a sharp personal reminder that I need to do all that I can to be sure that those who are ordained, for all their inescapable human frailty, are living their vocation with integrity.”

Faith helped Lithuanian bishop survive gulag

November 6, 2009

TORONTO - A persecuted priest in the then Soviet-occupied Lithuania, Archbishop Sigitas Tamkevicius says it was his daily, secret celebration of the Eucharist in his prison cell, as well as his love for God and compassion for others, that helped him survive and grow stronger in his faith. Tamkevicius was keynote speaker at a Nov. 2 multi-faith reflection on being persecuted for your faith at the University of Toronto’s Multi-Faith Centre. He spoke of his struggles as one of the leading figures in the underground Lithuanian Catholic Church and how he was able to forgive his persecutors through prayer and God’s love. Tamkevicius said he harbours no anger or hatred towards his tormentors, because “most guilty” was the inhumane system of Soviet communism.

Living the WWJD motto

November 6, 2009

Student. Parent. Optimist. Cynic. Romantic. Nihilist. It seems in today’s world that how you label yourself presupposes how you ought to carry out your daily routines. So, when asked how I brand myself, the answer for years now has been simple — I am a Christian Existentialist. The seemingly juxtaposed natures of the two schools of thought often leave people confused, with nothing more than a question mark. Here, I will reconcile my thoughts and provide some clarity to those who have heard them before. Existentialism — for those needing a quick refresher of past philosophy classes — is a 20th-century school of thought that assumes people are entirely free and thus responsible for what they make of themselves. As my high school history teacher often put it, “it’s about taking a leap of choice.” This branch of philosophy does not specifically dictate what ought to cause you ultimately to choose that “leap”; therefore, it is up to you.

Students exposed to Holocaust horror

November 6, 2009

TORONTO - By the time she was sweet 16 Miriam Frankel had worn a yellow star, been expelled with her family from Italy by the fascists, lived as a refugee, ridden a cattle car to Auschwitz, worked as a slave on less than 1,000 calories a day, stared Dr. Josef Mengele in the eye and lost her entire family to a planned system of industrialized murder. “I don’t know why I survived. Maybe it was to tell the story,” Frankel told about 100 people Oct. 28 at one of the first sessions of Toronto’s Holocaust Education Week. Holocaust Education Week has featured hundreds of speakers throughout the years, with 170 programs offered this year alone. But following in the footsteps of this year’s first presentation, Catholic schools in particular were quick to claim Holocaust survivors as their main speakers, said organizer Mary Siklos, as most Holocaust survivors like Frankel, who is 80, won’t be telling their story much longer.

El Salvador martyrs' struggle lives on

November 6, 2009

A generation ago the martyrs of El Salvador galvanized Catholics and today Canadian Catholics claim those martyrs as part of their spiritual heritage. On Nov. 16 the church marks the 20th anniversary of the murder of six Jesuits who lived and taught at the University of Central America in San Salvador. They were killed along with their housekeeper and her daughter because they argued that the vast gulf between rich and poor in El Salvador, a country just slightly larger than the Greater Toronto Area, was feeding the civil war that had by then killed more than 70,000. Next year will be the 30th anniversary for martyrs who first brought world attention on El Salvador’s ugly war. March 24 is the anniversary of Archbishop Oscar Romero’s 1980 assassination. Romero was killed by an army death squad a day after he broadcast a sermon calling on police and soldiers not to carry out orders that amounted to repression and violations of human rights. Dec. 2 it will be 30 years since four American church women — three Catholic nuns and a laywoman who worked in poor villages in the Salvadoran countryside — were raped and murdered near the San Salvador airport. El Salvador’s war officially ended in 1992, and the Cold War logic that justified U.S. military aid propping up a corrupt, anticommunist government is fast-fading history. But the memory of those martyrs still matters, said Mary Jo Leddy, one of the founders of Romero House for refugees in Toronto.

An untold tale on the path to Polish freedom

November 6, 2009

TORONTO - The latest Polish film sensation has made its appearance in Canada, telling the gripping tale of a hero priest and martyr who risked his life to oppose Poland’s oppressive government. Popieluszko: Freedom Is Within Us made its North American premiere with a pair of screenings Oct. 31 at the Imax Theatre at Ontario Place, with the story of Fr. Jerzy Popieluszko, a young and charismatic priest who spoke out against social injustice in communist Poland in the early 1980s and was later murdered by the Polish secret service. The film is in Polish with English subtitles. It is playing at Empire Theatres in Mississauga’s Square One Shopping Centre from Nov. 6-12.

Economic downturn hits Shepherd's Trust hard

November 6, 2009

TORONTO - With no children to turn to, retired priests in Toronto can approach Marisa Rogucki, the co-ordinator of retired diocesan priests in the archdiocese. She is their go-to person for everything from dental appointments to funerary arrangements. But over the past dozen years, she has also been instrumental in rallying funds for the Shepherd’s Trust, a trust fund supported by an annual collection to raise money to provide for retired priests in years to come. “We have 84 retired priests now and although we have this collection every year you can imagine this collection isn’t enough to take care of all of them,” she said. Although priests do receive CPP and old age security, that means practically nothing for many retired priests today.

Sanctification, perfection come through Christ

November 6, 2009

33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B) Nov. 15 (Daniel 12:1-3; Psalm 16; Hebrews 10:11-14, 18; Mark 13:24-32) Cosmic battles and rescuing heroes are usually the stuff of action movies and video games. But in the ancient world it was also the fervent hope and expectation of a brutally oppressed people. The Jews of the second century BC were struggling with an oppressor bent on destroying the Jewish religion and culture. Antiochus Epiphanes was willing to use any method — however bloody and cruel — to achieve his goal.

How many Anglicans will take the dip in the Tiber?

November 6, 2009

The shock-waves set in motion by Pope Benedict’s invitation to Anglicans to convert en masse, bringing their legacy of spiritual thought and worship with them, continues to ricochet throughout the world. Some Anglican prelates, most notably in the large churches of Africa, have dismissed the call out of hand. At least one sizable group of dissident Anglicans — the Australia-based Traditional Anglican Communion, which claims some 400,000 adherents worldwide — has announced its eagerness to “swim the Tiber,” as Anglicans say, as soon as possible. But at the time of this writing, no observer or Anglican leader is in a position to make any move, since the Vatican has yet to announce the terms and time frame of its surprising offer. Only this much is really clear at the present time: Married Anglican male clergy who convert will be eligible for ordination and ministry as Catholic priests in the new ecclesiastical structures, which will take the form of non-territorial dioceses. It is not clear, however, whether these married priests will be allowed to serve outside that structure, in “ordinary” Catholic parishes, or whether Catholic laypeople who did not come over from Anglicanism will be welcomed in the new Anglican rite parishes. (I think it likely that both things will eventually happen: the first, because of the shortage of priests in Latin rite parishes; the second, because of the fluidity of parish affiliation that already exists in Catholicism.)

Media focus on divisiveness in Pope's invite to Anglicans

November 6, 2009

Pope Benedict’s recent announcement of provisions to permit some Anglicans to convert to Catholicism while keeping some of their liturgical forms and customs caused varied reactions in the Canadian press. Most news coverage was based on international wire services, but many headlines were rather curious, and the commentary ranged from genuinely knowledgeable to downright prejudiced. Based on what we know at this point, the Vatican’s plan includes the preparation of an Apostolic Constitution that would allow groups of Anglicans to enter full communion with the Catholic Church while preserving elements of Anglican liturgy and custom. Under the terms of the Apostolic Constitution, the Vatican’s press release said, “pastoral oversight and guidance will be provided for groups of former Anglicans through a Personal Ordinariate, whose Ordinary will usually be appointed from among former Anglican clergy.” Many details have not been announced, but the constitutional changes would make provisions for married Anglican clergy to be ordained as Catholic priests, which has already occurred in a small number of individual cases. Perhaps the most curious reaction is the assertion that the Pope is attempting to bump up Catholic membership at Anglican expense or “poaching,” as more than one headline and cartoon put it. Most appeared to mean it in a humourous way, and the accompanying news coverage made clear that Anglican-Catholic dialogue has been going on harmoniously for many years, and that the Pope’s invitation follows requests from groups of Anglicans who, sensing a loss of community and tradition, feel a stronger tie to Rome than Canterbury.

Fr. Raby inspires

November 6, 2009

Truth be told, the decision to publish a book of memorable Register columns by Msgr. Tom Raby was made before Pope Benedict XVI proclaimed this as the Year For Priests. But when The Little World of Fr. Raby, 1980-2007 arrived from the printer it was obvious we could not have selected a better project to celebrate the priesthood. So, yes, there is excitement at The Catholic Register this month. The gentle words of wit and wisdom from Msgr. Raby, beloved Register columnist for almost 60 years, are back among us. Just about anyone who has read our paper in the last half century will recall “The Little World of Fr. Raby,” the title atop his popular column that graced more than 2,000 issues of the paper. Failing health forced Msgr. Raby, then 88, to retire his column in 2007. But through the efforts of Managing Editor Mickey Conlon, Raby’s prose has been revived in a book that borrows the title of his popular column.

November 9

Abortion amendment pushes U.S. health reform bill through

November 9, 2009

WASHINGTON - In the end, the successful battle to include strict language prohibiting funding for abortions, led by pro-life congressional Democrats with the strong support of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, is what made the difference in the Nov. 7 House vote to pass a sweeping health care reform bill. In a rare Saturday night vote, the House approved the Affordable Health Care for America Act 220-215, moving the legislation on to the Senate, which was expected to take up debate on its own health care bill later in November.

November 10

Two auxiliary bishops appointed for Toronto include Vietnamese refugee

November 10, 2009

TORONTO - Canada's first non-white bishop along with a man who has spent 20 years forming young priests are ready to share in the leadership of Canada's biggest, richest and most diverse diocese. Fr. Vincent Nguyen (Nguyen Manh Hieu), who came to Canada as a teenaged refugee in 1984 and is a great-grandson of one of 117 Vietnamese Martyrs canonized in 1988, will make the transition from chancellor of spiritual affairs and moderator of the curia to auxiliary bishop with a Toronto ordination likely some time in January

November 13

Two more Toronto Catholic trustees face conflict-of-interest allegations

November 13, 2009

TORONTO - It's déjà vu all over again, says the head of a Toronto-based Catholic parents' group, as two Toronto Catholic District School Board trustees are being hit with conflict-of-interest allegations. “Here we go again. I mean, when is it going to end?” Murielle Boudreau, chair of the Greater Toronto Catholic Parent Network, told The Catholic Register.