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November 2009

November 20

Canada's bishops expected to welcome Anglicans

November 20, 2009

OTTAWA - Two leading Catholic prelates expect Canada’s bishops to respond positively to the new structure to welcome Anglicans into the Catholic Church. “I think it will be well received,” said Quebec Cardinal Marc Ouellet of the apostolic constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus that will establish personal ordinariates for groups of Anglicans wishing to become Catholic.

Pro-life forum targets medical students

November 20, 2009

Canadian Physicians for Life hosted its sixth annual medical students forum in Calgary Nov. 20-22 to discuss abortion, euthanasia, conscience rights and medical pro-life clubs. The lineup of speakers and workshop leaders — chosen to help equip pro-life medical students with knowledge and confidence on emerging issues of concern — was to include Margaret Somerville, professor of law and medicine at McGill University and founding director of McGill’s Centre for Medicine, Ethics and Law. She planned to speak to students about euthanasia and the topic of human dignity.

U of T Canada's most child-friendly campus

November 20, 2009

TORONTO - A new survey ranks the University of Toronto tops among Canada’s 86 universities for the services it offers to pregnant and parenting students. The survey, conducted by summer interns at the Toronto-based deVeber Institute for Bioethics and Social Research , looked at whether Canada’s universities provide services deemed important by parenting students, based on research done in the United States by Feminists for Life.

Outreach to former Anglicans not model of ecumenism, says Archbishop of Canterbury

November 20, 2009

ROME - Calling Pope Benedict XVI's arrangement for Anglicans wanting to become Roman Catholics "the elephant in the room," the spiritual head of the Anglican Communion said the Pope's move was nothing groundbreaking from an ecumenical viewpoint. Anglican Archbishop Rowan Williams of Canterbury spoke Nov. 19 at Rome's Pontifical Gregorian University at a conference marking the 100th anniversary of the birth of the late Cardinal Johannes Willebrands, a pioneer in Catholic ecumenism.

November 23

Web's culture of opinion must not be ignored

November 23, 2009

John Gabriel, an Internet games theorist/programmer, in 2005 developed what has become known as the Dickwad Theory of the Internet. It can be expressed as follows: One person + anonymity + audience = one “dickwad” opinion. This theory is often used to discount opinions posted in the comment sections that accompany most news web sites. The often virulent and brutish tone of such postings has resulted in most authors, analysts and commentators developing a tin ear to these virtual opinions. Fr. Raymond de Souza, a columnist for the National Post, expressed this well: “I could write a column on mowing the lawn and before long the comment threads would degenerate into cracks about pedophilia….”

Recognizing the beauty of the Latin Mass

November 23, 2009

Earlier this autumn, the Oratorians who operate Toronto’s St. Vincent de Paul Church, my liturgical home base, decided to make the principal Sunday service, at 11:30, a celebration of the 1962 Latin Mass. At first, I was dismayed by the strangeness of it all. The Mass in English had always seemed entirely reverent and otherwise satisfactory, at least the way the Oratorians do it; and it surely is a satisfactory way to thank God for His many blessings. (I have fortunately never witnessed one of those eccentric vernacular Masses the fervent Catholic bloggers complain about.)

Advent reminds us redemption is near

November 23, 2009

1st Sunday of Advent (Year C) Nov. 29 (Jeremiah 33:14-16; Psalm 25; 1Thessalonians 3:12-4:2; Luke 21:25-28, 34-36) It takes real courage and conviction to preach hope and redemption in the midst of disaster and suffering. Any politician doing so would be in serious danger of being thrown out of office after being accused of insensitivity, denial, political opportunism and a host of other political and social sins.

Married priests still exception to the rule

November 23, 2009

VATICAN CITY - The question of priestly celibacy is one that keeps bubbling to the surface at the Vatican, most often in the theoretical discussions of synods of bishops but more concretely in a new papal document on Anglicans coming into the Catholic Church. The fact that married former Anglican priests may be ordained as Catholic priests under the new arrangement — albeit on a case-by-case basis — has given rise to widespread speculation that this represents a step toward jettisoning the general rule of celibacy.

Women with depression book disappoints

November 23, 2009

Spirit and Dust: Meditations for Women with Depression by Maura Hanrahan (ACTA Publications, 176 pages, softcover, $15). We use many different words to describe depression: despair, blue funk, desolation, desperation, despondency, distress, the dumps, ennui, melancholy, misery, sadness, the blahs, bleakness, dispiritedness, hopelessness, the blues — the list goes on. Winston Churchill called it “the black dog.”

The Priests to play St. Paul's Basilica

November 23, 2009

TORONTO - The Priests, the singing clergymen from Northern Ireland, will return to Toronto for a concert at St. Paul’s Basilica Dec. 4. They’ll be here in support of their second CD, Harmony, which will be released Nov. 23. The event will assist the St. Paul’s Christmas Family program, feeding local families in need over the Christmas season.

Choose a pro-life mission wisely

November 23, 2009

Adults often call youth the “church of tomorrow,” but on the pro-life front youth are already very much the church of today as they influence others on campuses across Canada as only peers can. Campus pro-life clubs are effective because every effort and event reaches the target demographic. Statistics show young adults are more likely to procure abortions than any other demographic.

Justice to be served in Popieluszko's murder

November 23, 2009

TORONTO - The arrest of two communist-era secret police agents in Poland for helping to frame and harass Polish Solidarity hero and martyr Fr. Jerzy Popieluszko is a matter of justice, said the murdered priest’s seminary classmate and roommate Fr. Jan Kolodynski. “For those who have committed crimes, whether it’s the case of my classmate or over the last 50 years, it’s a question of justice. It’s not a vendetta or vengeance. It’s out of justice,” said Kolodynski, who was ordained with Popieluszko in 1972. Today the Polish priest is pastor of St. Jerome’s parish in Brampton, Ont.

'Married' gay priest distances himself further from church

November 23, 2009

TORONTO - An inactive priest who claims to have “married” his male partner at their Toronto home Nov. 14 will not be excommunicated but could lose his clerical state if he “continues to give scandal,” said Kingston Archbishop Brendan O’Brien, quoting canon law. Karl Clemens, a priest almost in his 70s who was dismissed from the archdiocese of Kingston 10 years ago and suspended from ministry, announced in a 2006 interview with Vision TV that he was gay. He said he “retired early” from the priesthood to minister to the gay community in Toronto.

Boot camps set up for trustee candidates

November 23, 2009

TORONTO - The countdown for next year’s province-wide Catholic trustee elections begins with two upcoming trustee training workshops in Toronto. Toronto Catholic District School Board trustee Rob Davis plans to run a free “trustee boot camp” on Nov. 21 at the Catholic Education Centre. St. Augustine’s Seminary’s Institute of Theology will conduct trustee workshops starting in January.

Italian priests remember 'surviving martyr'

November 23, 2009

TORONTO - He’s been called the “surviving martyr.” And next spring, 17th-century Italian Jesuit missionary Fr. Francesco Giuseppe Bressani’s sacrifices and contributions will be recognized with a statue at Martyrs’ Shrine near the territory where Bressani narrowly escaped death for his Catholic beliefs. Fr. Daniele Bertoldi, president of the Italian Pastoral Commission of the archdiocese of Toronto, said Bressani’s importance “has not yet been acknowledged.”

November 24

New bishop appointed for Antigonish diocese

November 24, 2009

ANTIGONISH, N.S. - Pope Benedict XVI has appointed Bishop Brian Dunn to lead the diocese of Antigonish as the Nova Scotia diocese recovers from child pornography charges laid against its former chief shepherd. The announcement was made Nov. 21 and passed along to parishioners at weekend Masses. “I look forward to coming to the people of Antigonish even recognizing there is a little difficulty there,” said Dunn, currently auxiliary bishop in the Sault Ste. Marie diocese.

November 26

Religious leaders take Conservatives to task on 'bogus' refugees claim

November 26, 2009

A dozen bishops and faith leaders representing a clear majority of Canadian Christians, plus an organization representing Canadian Muslims, has accused Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney of fostering “hostility towards refugees” and fueling xenophobia. A Nov. 12 letter from faith leaders to Prime Minister Stephen Harper takes issue with Kenney’s assertion that the refugee system has been slowed by “bogus” claims.

November 27

Church seeks media fairness

November 27, 2009

Perhaps the only thing tougher for a New Yorker than fighting city hall is taking on the mighty New York Times. So all Catholics should applaud New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan for publicly criticizing the anti-Catholic bias found not only on the pages of the The Times, but pervasive throughout the media. Dolan wasn’t speaking for Canada when he wrote an essay recently that labelled media prejudice against the Catholic Church “a national pastime.” But his comments apply on both sides of the border. Canada’s mainstream media, like its southern cousin, often operates with one set of rules for minority religions and another for the Catholic Church. Maybe it’s time we also got angry.

It's all about Christ

November 27, 2009

Being Catholic in the public square is a fascinating experience. In the past month or two I’ve written extensively about the church in the National Post and the Sun Media group of newspapers — no more in the Post because the Sun has bought my exclusive services. I’ve found it intriguing how little information about Catholicism my critics possess. Regrettable but understandable for those not concerned with religion but positively outrageous for those who think themselves informed and write letters and even articles.

Just a wee postcard from my new Scottish homeland

November 27, 2009

My husband and I sat in a crowded Edinburgh pub listening to live fiddle music drifting in through the carved wooden screen that separated bar from parlour. I was drinking a half-pint of Deuchars, Mark a pint of Ossian. The ceilings and walls were painted russet; the pub smelled comfortably of beer and warm, dry human bodies. Five white globes hung from the Edwardian chandelier over our head, and I contemplated the soccer pennants painted on the screen’s tympanum: Hearts of Midlothian. Inspector Rebus, I thought, Hibernians fan that he is, would never drink in a Hearts’ pub. “There’s Ian Rankin,” said Mark. And sure enough, there was Inspector Rebus’s creator, wearing his trademark black t-shirt, sitting at a small table with three large men.