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January 25, 2010
At a retreat centre just east of Toronto, a promise has been made on behalf of Canadian Catholics to the 10.5 million refugees around the world. At the first ever National Catholic Conference on Refugee Sponsorship, Jan. 13-15, 80 representatives of dioceses from Prince George, B.C. to Cornerbrook, Nfld., promised that the world’s refugees would no longer be just more misery on the evening news. From now on, refugees will matter to Catholic parishes and religious orders, and Catholic communities will sponsor refugees in greater numbers. Immigration and Muliculturalism Minister Jason Kenney has already taken Catholic refugee workers at their word, increasing the target for Iraqi refugees sponsored out of Damascus, Syria from 1,300 to 2,500 this year.
Third Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C) Jan. 31(Jeremiah 1:4-5, 17-19; Psalm 71; 1 Corinthians 12:31-13:13; Luke 4:21-30) Fear and an overwhelming sense of limitation and unworthiness completely possessed Jeremiah. He protested that he was too young — no one would take him seriously — and he was not a gifted speaker. None of the prophets in the Bible responded willingly and eagerly to their call from God. Almost to a man they wished fervently that God had chosen someone else. And no wonder — the job description of the prophet included huge quantities of abuse, rejection, humiliation, and physical danger.
For centuries of Western history, Christian churches were the outstanding expressions of the architect’s art and craft. There are many reasons why this is no longer the case. Among them is the widespread decline of church-going and revenues, and the opinion that churches should occupy a more low-profile place in the urban fabric, and, not least important, an attitude of alienation (if not hostility) on the part of the church-going public toward the accomplishments of modern architecture. But as long as new churches continue to be built, the opportunity of making them excellent and beautiful remains open. Catholics surely should not settle for second-rate church buildings in the Toronto archdiocese.
VATICAN CITY - Over the last few months, Pope Benedict XVI has opened a wider dialogue on the subject of environmental protection, and in the process put a sharper focus on an issue that’s become central to his pontificate. It’s increasingly clear that the “green” label slapped onto Pope Benedict after he installed solar panels at the Vatican and joined a reforestation project in Europe was not the whole story. Now the Pope is defining which shade of green — in moral arguments that are not always popular.
LONDON - Fr. Stevan Wlusek, installed this month as the new rector of St. Peter’s Seminary in London , is well known for his compassion and strength in the face of suffering, . A recent example of the 52-year-old priests’ endurance came just weeks before he took over as rector from then-Fr. Bill McGrattan, who was ordained a bishop on Jan. 12 to serve in the archdiocese of Toronto. Days before Christmas, Wlusek was injured when a truck backed into his legs in a parking lot, pinning him against his own vehicle. He escaped without any broken bones and was back on his feet in January, still recovering from the injury, but smiling, energetic and excited to plunge into his new responsibilities.
More contemplative and lyrical than advertised, the first big action movie of 2010 incorporates religious faith and Judeo-Christian principles to a surprising degree. Directed by twin brothers Albert and Allen Hughes, The Book of Eli (Warner Bros.) prompts the question whether, assuming a minimum level of respect, the attempt to integrate religion and Scripture into a mass-appeal film is by itself laudable.
TORONTO - Three months ago a troupe of young dancers from Haiti performed at Mississauga’s St. Joseph Catholic High School. So when news broke of the devastating earthquake in Haiti, teachers and students from the school rallied to raise close to $2,000 in less than a week. St. Joseph joined with several Ontario Catholic students as schools from across the province raised thousands of dollars for the relief effort almost overnight.
Jesuit novices Edmund Lo and Artur Suski of Toronto arrived in Haiti early in the new year to further their formation with a five-month teaching assignment. But after narrowly escaping injury in the Jan. 12 Haiti earthquake they have instead found themselves in the midst of a huge humanitarian relief operation. “The Jesuits here, in collaboration with the Jesuits from the Dominican Republic, had been spearheading a relief effort, and this is what Artur and I will be doing for the near future,” Lo said through e-mail.
The arrest last fall of Bishop Raymond Lahey has refocused attention on sexual abuse within the Catholic Church. The Catholic Register examines the issue in this special report. OTTAWA (CCN) — Investigative journalist Michael Harris has seen a “tremendous policy change” in the Catholic Church since he broke the story of sexual and physical abuse at the Mount Cashel orphanage in the late 1980s. “There has been a true response to the real problem instead of musical parishes, private deals and checkbook dispensations,” said the author of Unholy Orders: Tragedy at Mount Cashel. “I have a good feeling that the next generation of Catholic priests will not be in this position.”
TORONTO - With Haiti yet to emerge from the rubble, Christians didn't have to think hard to come up with a reason to pray hard and pray together at the annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity ecumenical prayer service Jan. 24. "We're called to reach out to assist those who suffer and to pray together (for the people of Haiti)," declared Archbishop Thomas Collins in his sermon at Timothy Eaton Memorial Church, part of the ecumenical grouping of mid-town Toronto churches called the "Churches on the Hill." Along with two Anglican and five Protestant churches, the Yonge and St. Clair neighbourhood churches include Holy Rosary and Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Churches.
January 26, 2010
TORONTO - Cardinal Aloysius Ambrozic, archbishop of Toronto from 1990 to 2007, turns 80 Jan. 27. Ambrozic, a resident at Providence Healthcare in Scarborough, has always valued his privacy and no public celebrations are planned for his birthday. The 5:30 p.m. Mass at St. Michael’s Cathedral on Jan. 27 will be offered for the intentions of the Cardinal.
January 28, 2010
TORONTO - With an assist from the United Nations, the Archdiocese of Toronto has sprung a 14-year-old refugee from a three-year bureaucratic purgatory of waiting for the government of Canada to act. Within days of receiving a letter from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the Canadian visa post in Accra, Ghana recognized Piratheeprajh SriVijayarajarajan, who had fled the civil war in Sri Lanka, as an urgent case and a week later had him on a plane to join family in Toronto. For four months Citizenship and Immigration officials at the Canadian embassy in Accra had insisted the boy refugee living alone in the West African city did not qualify for special treatment.
January 29, 2010
The self-described Friends of Haiti took a commendable first step on Jan. 25 when this coalition of wealthy nations, in Montreal for a conference chaired by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, committed to a multi-billion-dollar, multi-year plan to rebuild Haiti. But there was at least one major reconstruction project overlooked in Montreal even though it is urgent to the Catholic population of the impoverished people of Haiti: Who will help rebuild their church?
I suppose it had to happen. That well known moral theologian Jennifer Aniston, star of Friends and He’s Just Not That Into You, is tipped to be the next Hollywood convert to the Jewish mystical code known as Kabbalah. She had previously become a Buddhist when fellow moral theologian Brad Pitt left her for Angelina Jolie but apparently the ancient sage’s beliefs didn’t quite make the grade for Jen. Rumour is that Demi Moore, who was married to Bruce Willis but now walks out with Ashton Kutcher, also thinks Kabbalah is really cool and that she led Aniston to the path of true enlightenment. Aniston originally met Moore through a Hollywood lifestyle guru but when they chatted again recently at a fashionable New York party Aniston finally saw the light. She also sought advice at the same party from Gwyneth Paltrow, another Kabbalah follower and moral theologian, who also used to date Brad Pitt before he dated Jennifer whom he then left for Angelina. Confusing but oh so important.
Husbands are useful for filling holes in one’s vocabulary. My mother does crossword puzzles within yelling distance of my father, and while reading I turn to Mark when he’s closer than the dictionary. “What’s a mozetta?” I inquired, raising my eyes from a book.
TORONTO - An internal LCBO review of how Mass wine gets from California to your parish’s altar has church suppliers a wee bit nervous, but the provincial wine merchant and regulator is trying to reassure everyone it is not going to reroute the grape vine. A January freedom of information request by The Canadian Press uncovered internal Liquor Control Board of Ontario memos which decried “general non-compliance with rules and regulations” in the sacramental wine business.
VATICAN CITY - Pope John Paul II always took penitence seriously, spending entire nights lying with his arms outstretched on the bare floor, fasting before ordaining priests or bishops and flagellating himself, said the promoter of his sainthood cause. Msgr. Slawomir Oder, postulator of the late pope’s cause, said Pope John Paul used self-mortification “both to affirm the primacy of God and as an instrument for perfecting himself.”
TORONTO - The Assembly of Catholic Bishops in Ontario is urging Catholic secondary schools to reject a proposed gender studies course that contravenes church teaching on sexuality. “A reading of the overall expectations leads us to believe that, though much of the content could be taught within a Catholic context ... the fundamental thrust of this proposed optional course reflects an ideology which is at variance with Catholic anthropology and moral teaching,” the bishops said in a recent letter to Catholic school board chairs and directors of education.
TORONTO - Close to 70 girls at a Catholic-run orphanage who survived Haiti’s devastating earthquake are sleeping on the streets of Port-au-Prince with little food and water and are still awaiting outside help since the disaster struck Jan. 12, says Frank Chauvin. Chauvin, a retired police detective in Windsor, Ont., told The Catholic Register that three 18-year-old girls and one worker from his orphanage run by the non-profit organization Le Foyer des Filles de Dieu died after the 7.0-magnitude earthquake hit Haiti. But 67 girls at the orphanage and its director survived. At least 30 other children have joined them on the streets and are sharing their food and water.
TORONTO - When Grade 9 student Jeremy Addoty spoke at a service in front of students and teachers at Brampton’s Cardinal Ambrozic High School, he appealed for prayers for missing relatives and those who survived the devastating Haitian earthquake. Haitian-born St. Ignatius of Loyola High School teacher Pierre-Michel Laveau is also doing what he can to help friends and family cope after the disaster by sending money to those in need.