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December 2009

December 5

Vatican delegation to join UN climate change conference

December 5, 2009

VATICAN CITY - The Vatican's delegation to the UN climate summit in Copenhagen , Denmark, was being headed by an experienced diplomat and included experts on the environment. Archbishop Celestino Migliore, the Vatican's permanent observer to the United Nations, was to lead the five-person Vatican delegation at the Copenhagen conference, Vatican Radio reported. Migliore is scheduled to speak to the UN during the Dec. 7-18 conference.

December 7

Bishops establish ad hoc committee to help D&P review mandate

December 7, 2009

OTTAWA - An ad hoc committee of four bishops has been named to help the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace in a renewal process. “The focus of the committee is to help Development and Peace to review its mandate and to see how they can adjust to the last encyclical letter of the Pope, Caritas in Veritate,” said Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops president Bishop Pierre Morissette Dec. 3. “We think that there is a lot of very helpful insight in this letter for Development and Peace.”

December 8

The Priests used music during the Irish Troubles as a unifying force

December 8, 2009

TORONTO - When Fr. Eugene O’Hagen was a student at St. MacNissi’s College in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, one of his school friends used to dress up in an IRA uniform for parties and sing The Men Behind the Wire. “It was his party piece,” O’Hagen explained on a recent visit to Toronto to promote The Priests’ latest CD, Harmony. The song begins:

Religious observers find conflict surfaces early at climate conference

December 8, 2009

WASHINGTON - The underlying tension between the world's largest producers of greenhouse gases and small countries quickly surfaced on the first day of the UN conference on climate change in Copenhagen, Denmark. In smaller gatherings after Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen opened the conference with the remark that "a deal is within our reach," the Alliance of Small Island States said it would accept nothing less than a legally binding pact to limit greenhouse gases. A much less demanding but politically appealing agreement would do little to protect its countries from rising sea levels, said the alliance, a coalition of 42 small island nations, low-lying coastal countries and territories.

December 10

Development agencies fear the CIDA chop

December 10, 2009

The axe that landed on KAIROS , ending 35 years of Canadian International Development Agency funding, has left Canada’s Catholic development organization and others wondering, who’s next? “It gives all organizations in the development community... pause right now to wonder what’s going on,” said Michael Casey, executive director of the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace.

Peace activist sees hope for Iraqi Christians

December 10, 2009

TORONTO - An Iraqi peace campaigner, on tour after receiving a Canadian human rights award, claims Christian Iraqi refugees — most of them stuck in Syria and Jordan — could safely return home to live in peace in Iraq. “Let’s be honest. To get accepted here as a refugee, I have to talk about violence,” Ibrahim Ismaeel, chair of the board of directors of the Iraqi non-violence network La’Onf , told The Catholic Register.

Morally, Canada is complicit if Afghan detainees tortured

December 10, 2009

TORONTO - Whether Canadian officials in Afghanistan knew that Afghan detainees would be tortured once handed over to the Afghan army, or merely suspected that they might be, Canadians may have involved themselves in the intrinsic evil of torture, according to Catholic theologians. Government denials which claim Canadians had no concrete evidence of specific cases of Canadian detainees being tortured don’t absolve Canadian officials of moral complicity in torture, said Lee Cormie, professor of Christian ethics at Toronto’s University of St. Michael’s College.

Quebec to launch consultation on euthanasia

December 10, 2009

OTTAWA - The Quebec government’s plan to initiate a public debate on euthanasia and assisted suicide should be a catalyst to energize people to speak out against these “deadly practices,” said pro-life groups. In a Dec. 3 announcement, provincial health minister Yves Bolduc said Quebec will hold public consultations on the question of euthanasia in the new year.

Life is a blessing

December 10, 2009

Pride hides beneath most that is wrong, from the thinnest of failing to the fattest of crime. The pride that we, rather than God, are always in control and that our bodies are ours to do with what we want, whenever we want. Sometimes this attitude is invincibly malicious, sometimes understandable. When it comes to the subject of euthanasia we see both aspects. For those promoting the cult of death it is horror, pure and simple. For those who are suffering, far more complex and delicate. We need, however, to take back the argument and deal with some of the propaganda and accepted wisdom. The usual litany claims that the dying always suffer, that disability is a curse, that we have the right and wisdom to make our own decisions about when to die and that so-called mercy killing is administered only after layers of consideration.

In praise of Christmas presents

December 10, 2009

The other day I walked to the town post office as part of my ordinary domestic chores. It was this side of the first of December, so I idly asked how much it would cost to send a Christmas card to Canada. “You’d have to bring them in, dear,” was the answer. “They’d have to be weighed.” “Alrighty then,” I said.

Court gets it right

December 10, 2009

Christians living in several Middle East, African and Asian nations are routinely persecuted and often killed. It is a serious issue that is generally overlooked amid the many international and domestic matters that occupy our media and political leaders. So it was as welcomed as it was rare to see a Federal Court judge overrule an immigration department official and grant a temporary order last week allowing a Catholic convert from Guinea to remain in Canada. Lamine Yansané is seeking permanent refugee status claiming that his father, a fundamentalist imam, had ordered his death — declared a fatwa against him — if he is returned to Guinea.

Southern Ontario Catholic school boards pick new leaders

December 10, 2009

TORONTO - In what appears to be a show of support for their embattled chair, a majority of Toronto Catholic District School Board trustees re-elected Angela Kennedy to the position at a Dec. 9 meeting. Kennedy, who was first chosen as chair in January, is one of two Toronto Catholic trustees facing conflict of interest charges. She will be in Ontario Superior Court of Justice to answer to the charge Feb. 1. She is alleged to have voted on budgetary decisions despite having a son, who would potentially be affected by the decision, employed at the board.

December 11

Carrying a torch for life

December 11, 2009

TORONTO - The Olympic flame is not the only torch making its way across Canada — the Torch of Life is also being welcomed in cities around the country. The Torch of Life, which was blessed by the late Pope John Paul II, is part of SOS The America’s seventh annual campaign organized by the charity Step By Step to raise awareness about organ donation.

Mother Teresa inspires Muslim man's charitable giving

December 11, 2009

TORONTO - Every night after 2 a.m., Abbas Jahangiri visits Toronto’s “poorest of the poor,” delivering sandwiches, fruit, water and tea out of his Hummer, all packed by volunteers from Serving Charity . Jahangiri’s non-profit charity is a labour of love, inspired by the live music venue owner’s devotion to Mother Teresa. He created it six years ago after making a personal vow of charity.

Helping patients face a 'good death'

December 11, 2009

TORONTO - A 13-year-old girl is battling cancer, but after nine years of treatment, her doctor has run out of medication options to beat the illness and help her stay alive. An 85-year old woman suffers internal bleeding after taking medication for a long-term skin condition and asks her doctor to stop treatment and “let her die.”

Red tape cut on generic AIDS drugs

December 11, 2009

Adding Canadian-made generic drugs to the mix of affordable HIV and AIDS treatments could be good news for Africa, but it’s probably not enough to make a serious dent in the disease which kills more than two million people each year, says a Canadian Jesuit who works on AIDS in Africa. “If Canadian sources are going to provide second-line generics at an affordable price — something few or no others are doing — it would be a reason for hope in Africa,” Jesuit Father Michael Czerny, executive director of the African Jesuit AIDS Network , told The Catholic Register in an e-mail, adding, however, that “Universal access to antiretrovirals (ARVs) is still a distant dream.”

Hamilton board leads way in getting pro-life message out

December 11, 2009

When it comes to pro-life teachings in Ontario, most are casting their eyes to the Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic District School Board as a model. Nearly six years ago, leaders established a board-run Culture of Life committee that has had its students interested in issues such as abortion, euthanasia and stem cell research ever since.

Making the case for larger families

December 11, 2009

AJAX, Ont. - It was only their second date when Patrick Douglas asked his future bride how many children she would like to have in her family. Her first answer was “however many children God gives me,” Carissa Douglas, 31, recalls. Her second answer, she adds, was 12. “Then (Patrick) hugged me tighter because it was an odd thing,” she says with a smile.

Patrick Hanlon is dedicated to the service of life

December 11, 2009

ST. JOHN’S Nfld. - When Patrick Hanlon was a young man, he heard a very disturbing comment. He was walking with his mother and mentally and physically disabled sister, when he heard people say behind her back, “Wouldn’t she be better off dead?” Hanlon was horrified to think that some people didn’t consider the sister he loved so dearly worthy of life.

Jesus Youth leader, George Devassy, found God early

December 11, 2009

Born and raised in India, George Devassy has a real passion for the youth and for his faith as a Catholic. And it is this passion that led him to become the international co-ordinator of the Jesus Youth lay movement at the age of 26. Jesus Youth was established during the World Youth Day 2002 in Toronto. Jesus Youth Canada has a charismatic spirituality and adopts a lifestyle of personal prayer, the Word of God, sacraments, fellowship, service and evangelization. Originating from India, Jesus Youth is now active in 24 countries and continues to serve the church.