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June 8, 2010
relics of Blessed Jerzy Popieluszko [images/stories/historical_people/popieluszkorelics.jpg]WARSAW, Poland - A martyred Polish priest was praised for standing against the oppressive forces of communism when he defended human rights in his sermons during a beatification Mass in the Polish capital. More than 140,000 people listened intently during the June 6 ceremony in Pilsudski Square as Archbishop Angelo Amato, prefect of the Vatican's Congregation for Saints' Causes, recalled how Fr. Jerzy Popieluszko "did not yield to temptation to survive in this death camp" under communist rule.
June 9, 2010
Jesuit Father Martin Royackers [images/stories/canada/canada10/jamaicamartin.jpg]A Canadian Jesuit gunned down in 2001 standing by his rectory door in Jamaica will have his name attached to an AIDS clinic in Burundi. “The decision to name this clinic after Martin Royackers has been motivated by two things,” said SYM director Jesuit Father Desire Yamuremye in an e-mail to The Catholic Register. “The principal one is that the centre is at the service of the poor living with HIV and AIDS. I think Martin Royackers was murdered while he was at the service of poor people. The second reason is that part of the funds came from the Canadian Jesuit province.”
June 10, 2010
At a recent conference on religion and the media, a colleague from the Toronto Star announced his paper was getting rid of its full-time religion beat. That should have been a grand moment for me and the National Post, the paper I write for. When he told the assembled group of about 50 esteemed representatives from various churches of the Star’s decision, it was a perfect opening for me to discuss how the Post was putting an even greater emphasis on religion. It was hard not to crow.
Covers Collage [images/stories/arts/arts10/covers10.jpg]At a pair of recent galas to recognize excellence in religious media, staff of The Catholic Register took home an impressive 13 prizes, including five first-place awards, covering a wide array of writing and design categories. Six of the awards came at a gala dinner of the Catholic Press Association of the United States and Canada (CPA) held in New Orleans on June 4. Those awards followed seven honours taken by The Register at the Canadian Church Press (CCP) awards dinner in Toronto on May 28.
Thomas Langan [images/stories/canada_people/canada_people10/thomaslangan.jpg]TORONTO - The same-sex marriage debate. A controversial sex-ed program aimed at elementary students. YouTube videos exposing the desecration of the Eucharist. These are some of the issues the Catholic Civil Rights League (CCRL) has dealt with in its mission to combat Catholic defamation in the media and public square over the past 25 years. The league celebrated its silver anniversary at a June 10 gala in Toronto. Established in 1985, the league is a national lay Catholic organization that works with media to ensure a fair hearing for Catholic positions on issues, lobbies the government and intervenes in court challenges supporting laws and policies that reflect Catholic understanding of the common good and human nature
Catholic Civil Rights League [images/stories/logos/logos10/ccrl.jpg]TORONTO - When Susan Lavallée found her children would be forced to take Quebec’s controversial ethics and religious culture course, the 45-year-old felt she had to stand up for her religious rights as a Catholic parent. It’s a fight the Drummondville mother of six is willing to take all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada. “We’re hoping that they will take the case because it’s a very serious case and it’s a case of national interest,” said Lavallée.
Canadian Council of Churches [images/stories/logos/CanadianCouncilofChurches.jpg]The faith leaders meeting to discuss the G8 and G20 agendas are absolutely not going to bomb any banks and have rejected violent protest, said the Canadian Council of Churches in a news release. On May 18 activists bombed a Royal Bank of Canada branch in Ottawa causing $500,000 damage. A group calling itself FFFC-Ottawa claimed responsibility. “In light of the recent acts of violence in Ottawa and Toronto by those protesting the upcoming visit of the G8/G20 to Canada, the Canadian Council of Churches, a member of the 2010 InterFaith Partnership, reiterates its belief in the importance of dialogue and conversation and rejects violence as a medium of protest,” said the release sign by CCC general secretary and 2010 InterFaith Partnership chair Rev. Dr. Karen Hamilton.
Sharon DiCecco [images/stories/misc/misc10/irelanddicecco.jpg]TORONTO - The St. Patrick Centre in Northern Ireland aims to not only instill peace at home, but also change the perception of Irish culture abroad, which it will now do in Canada through partners based in Toronto. “It’s important because there’s a large connection between Northern Ireland and Canada, especially in Ontario,” said Dr. Tim Campbell, the centre’s director in Downpatrick, Northern Ireland. Campbell said there are too many pre-conceived notions abroad about Northern Ireland and hopes the centre can help people to understand that Irish culture and St. Patrick’s legacy aren’t about shamrocks and green beer. Sharon DiCecco, the centre’s Toronto chapter director, discovered the centre online while researching St. Patrick for one of her “Community in Concert” programs on Toronto’s HMWN Radio Maria last year. She started a “Young Friends of St. Patrick” club at Our Lady of Peace parish where she meets monthly with a group of children ages four-10, teaching them about the different saints and engaging them in charity projects. She also connected 26 children in her parish who were preparing for their First Communion with first communicants in Downpatrick, where she visited in May.
Archbishop Prendergast, Teo Ugaban, John Meehan [images/stories/canada_bishops/prendergastugabanmeehan.jpg]TORONTO - Living in the L’Arche community in France and meeting Jean Vanier led John Meehan to discover his call to become a priest. “It changed the way I looked at community, the Church, my faith. I wouldn’t be a Jesuit now if it hadn’t been for L’Arche,” he told The Catholic Register. Meehan, 42, was ordained June 5, along with Teo Ugaban, at Toronto’s Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, with Ottawa Archbishop Terrence Prendergast, S.J., presiding at the Ordination Mass. Born in Halifax, Meehan started thinking about the priesthood in his teens. But it was his experience in France that led him to consider the Jesuits. The call came during a European backpacking adventure in 1989 when he decided to volunteer at L’Arche and work with individuals with severe disabilities. His eight months living in community and living “very simply” was what attracted him to the vocation.
WRP Affordable housing project [images/stories/misc/wrp.jpg]TORONTO - Forty communities of Catholic nuns were among 21 “Affordable Housing Champions” honoured by the City of Toronto June 3. The sisters were singled out for their WRP Neighbourhood Housing project, which created 38 units of subsidized housing in southeast Scarborough. The project began as a millennium jubilee project in 1999.
I tend to look back at my childhood summer breaks as a time of genuine relaxation and renewal. When I was an elementary school student, I always looked forward to summer because it meant I would have more time to ride around on my bicycle, soar down our bumpy road with my cousin’s hand-me-down rollerblades, swim and take walks with my siblings or friends or sit outside in the sun to read a book. Because of that joyful time off, I always seemed to have more energy for doing my school work throughout the fall and winter. Over the years, I’ve come to realize that appreciating and enjoying God’s beauty in nature and in the summer weather can be a great prayer of thanksgiving — if we recognize it as such.
The Human Experience Movie [images/stories/arts/arts10/thehumanexperience2.jpg]The superb and thoughtful documentary The Human Experience reminds us that enduring difficulty and stepping out of one’s “comfort zone” and taking up the cross make us human. That basic Christian idea lives on in four young men. They are brothers Jeff and Cliff Azize and their friends Matthew Sanchez and Michael Campo. These men have not only answered the call of Jesus, but have made a documentary showing how they answered it. The film made its Canadian premiere with a pre-screening in Toronto at Dante Alighieri Academy May 28. The film has gone through more than 200 pre-screenings worldwide, racked up more than 18 awards and its producers at Grassroots Films in New York are working on a deal to have it released in theatres across the United States. The Human Experience fills hearts with emotion and heads with questions about life and the purpose of mankind. It touchingly reveals both the potential of man and the work of God. Their journey is a long and affecting one that brings the four friends to a variety of places and connects them with a variety of people. It begins with the Azize brothers sleeping on the streets of New York City, and then caring for orphans in Peru. Sanchez and Campo join them on their visit to a leper colony in Ghana. In addition, the Azizes reunite with their estranged father to forgive him for physically abusing them during their childhoods. There’s a lot to like about this documentary. For one thing, it’s beautifully shot. Director Charles Kinnane takes advantage of the exotic locations found in Africa, South America and New York, treating the viewer to an array of eye-popping landscapes. The most striking settings are the chilly streets of New York, where the Azize brothers sleep in cardboard boxes to experience the ravages of homelessness. Furthermore, Kinnane seamlessly integrates commentary from famous figures such as Rabbi Simon Jacobsen and civil rights activist Alveda King into the film, giving it an enjoyably intellectual vibe.
Brendan [images/stories/books/brendan.jpg]Brendan: The Remarkable Life and Voyage of Brendan of Clonfert, One of the most Beloved Irish Saints by Morgan Llywelyn (New York, Tom Doherty Associates, 303 pages, $29.99.) Saints stand out as great role models for youth and if they haven’t already added St. Brendan to their list of heroes, it’s probable they will after reading Brendan: The Remarkable Life and Voyage of Brendan of Clonfert, One of the most Beloved Irish Saints by Morgan Llywelyn. Brendan is a telling tale of the legendary life of St. Brendan of Clonfert, or St. Brendan the Navigator, one of the greatest Irish saints. In reading the novel, the reader will develop a mental picture of who St. Brendan was — a man of great faith, knowledge and love for God.
Priests [images/stories/misc/chrism3.jpg]VATICAN CITY - Catholics expect a lot from their priests and Pope Benedict XVI is no exception. Some people might have thought the Pope convoked the June 2009-2010 Year for Priests as a praise-fest for the Church’s collared class, but instead he highlighted the importance of priests in the life of the Church by exhorting them to live up to their calling. In hundreds of speeches throughout the year and in a special three-part series during his weekly general audiences in April and May, Pope Benedict described the identity and mission of priests, asked Catholics to pray for their ministers and asked the men in black not just to be good priests, but to be holy. The fact that the Church’s handling of cases of priestly sex abuse came to the fore in Ireland and other European countries and then was back in the news in North America made it impossible during the Year for Priests for the Pope or anyone else to ignore that a problem existed, even if it involved just a small portion of the world’s priests.
Priest in prayer [images/stories/misc/priestinprayer.jpg]Editor’s Note: As the Year for Priests comes to a close, Catholic Register reader Rappai J. Nedumpara, president of Family Prayer Mission (Ontario), shares the thoughts of a young priest whose petition from India has universal meaning. The Catholic world is reeling under the huge storm of scandals and it pains me to see such things happening. One person went to the extent of saying that “I don’t feel like going to Church any more to hear the great and lofty ideals that these people preach.” We have reached a stage where people are thinking of giving up on the Church, and priests in general are being blamed for it. Many of us Catholics are joining this outcry. Priests are being looked at with different eyes now — eyes of suspicion, and understandably so. This hurts and pains me as I am a priest. Yes I am ashamed, I must admit, about what has happened. A priest is supposed to be one who is trusted, at times trusted even more than one’s own parents. A priest is meant to heal and to care and when a priest fails to do that it is saddening.
[images/stories/logos/logos10/yearforpriests.jpg]Many countries have a memorial to The Unknown Soldier. As our Year for Priests draws to a close, this story is my memorial to all The Unknown Priests. Those are the priests who with a word, a challenge or a smile effect a radical change in our way of loving and perceiving God. One such priest was a Franciscan Friar who gave a weekend retreat for married women several years ago. I had taken some overdue time out from my hectic life as the mother of five and the wife of a busy politician. I was so eager for some spiritual refreshment that I didn’t even care who the priest would be. I only knew I needed a couple of nights of solitude and quiet, with time to reflect on my spiritual life that was often neglected due to my exhaustion. Once at the convent, we were assigned to our rooms and then directed to the dining room for a light supper. We were informed that this was a silent retreat, so meals were to be eaten with no conversation. What a change from Friday night supper at home.
12th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C) June 20 (Zechariah 12:10-11; Psalm 63; Galatians 3:26-26; Luke 9:18-24) For whom shall the people mourn, and who is the one who has been pierced? Scholarly theories abound, and it is very difficult to even date these oracles from Zechariah. But evidence suggests that they address a broken and impoverished nation that has recently returned from exile in Babylon. The glorious victory and radiant future promised by the exilic prophets has not materialized, and the Jewish nation is torn apart by dissension within and threats from without. This famous oracle speaks of a time when the people of Jerusalem will come to their senses and have their own hearts broken with the knowledge of their own injustice and sin. Even repentance itself is a gift from God, and the spirit of compassion and supplication promised by God will begin the process of healing and renewal.
Conversion from a Protestant church to the Catholic Church, such as mine 12 years ago, usually has complicated results. It often makes the people left behind angry and bewildered. So you try to explain what happened, what made conversion necessary and inevitable — only to find quickly that words do nothing to ease the hurt and confusion others feel. But words and images and gestures are the only things we possess to communicate our experiences to others. So I am using what I have, and will try to put into words what happened to me 12 years ago at the Marian shrine at Lourdes. I do so because I have been asked, once again, to explain myself. This time the request came from a Christian acquaintance, appalled at the narrative of my conversion that appeared in The Globe and Mail on Holy Saturday. You may recall the op-ed piece. Its occasion was the sex-abuse accusations rocking the Catholic Church. Asked by The Globe whether these shocks had ungrounded my Christian faith, I tried to explain in the article why they had not.
The recent call by Cardinal Marc Ouellet and Archbishop Terrence Prendergast for government to provide aid to pregnant women who want to keep their babies was widely ignored. A week earlier, comments by Ouellet on the issue of abortion provoked a venomous political and media response. There was nothing startling in either of the remarks, but one was shrugged off and the other drew an unusual degree of vitriol, highlighted by one columnist wishing the cardinal “a slow and painful death.” It was an extreme comment, but not exceptional in its derision. In researching 25 years of anti-Catholic media hostility, I’ve been struck by how often Church participation in debates on the moral issues of the day spark such prejudice. The reaction is probably strongest on abortion, but also colours discussions about the re-definition of marriage, euthanasia, faith-based schools and bioethical research. No one minds too much when the Church tells us to help the poor, but statements about when life begins or what is meant by family are often lightning rods. Nor is prime time entertainment immune; while the Church is mostly ignored, script writers know they can always count on the Catholics when they need a tireless charity worker, a backdrop for sacred art and music or a deranged person to bomb an abortion clinic.
[images/stories/features/feature10/christianpublications.jpg] What is the role of Catholic media in modern society? Several hundred journalists from across North America were invited to ponder that question during the Catholic Press Association annual conference, held recently in New Orleans. These have been difficult days for the Church and challenging days for Catholic media. Not only has the news been filled with stories of clerical sexual abuse and alleged Church coverups, but the technology-challenged Church hierarchy has often stumbled in offering a timely defence or authoritative explanation of Church positions. Instant communication in a digital age has put pressure on traditional media such as newspapers and television to rethink how they conduct business. The result is often a softening of fundamental values as the old media strains to keep pace with the new, a manic technological beast of web sites, blogs and various social media tools that, collectively, disseminate information instantly but not always accurately.