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October 22, 2010
Two Sundays ago, on Oct. 10, Pope Benedict XVI opened the special Synod of Bishops for the Middle East. The synod participants joined the Holy Father for a solemn Mass to begin two weeks of discussions about the situation of Christians in the Middle East — a small minority that is getting smaller in many places.
In the past month I have received several dozen e-mails from people complaining about how some journalists use their Catholicism as a rather self-indulgent vehicle for their own secular politics. What my correspondents object to is not writers who promote explicitly Catholic political principles such as the sanctity of the unborn, the precious nature of all human life or the essential defence of Christian marriage and family, but they object to Catholics who obsess about the fashionable and banal politics that so dominate the Canadian landscape — Jesus and the possibility of Sun TV coming to our screens, the Church and recycling policy, what does the Pope say about municipal arts grants or why being a good Catholic is pretty much the same as being a good socialist or liberal.
Saint Andre Bessette [images/stories/features/br_andre/BrAndreCover.jpg]During the canonization Mass in Rome of Canada’s new saint, Pope Benedict XVI prayed that the example of Brother André would become an inspiration for Canadian Christian life. We suspect St. André Bessette would be pleased with that. Shy, faithful, kind, he was never comfortable with the fame attached to his reputation as Montreal’s miracle man. His advice to the sick, poor and lonely, who arrived by the thousands to experience his gentle way, was always to turn to God and, of course, to St. Joseph. It was only there, he said, that comfort would be found.
Brescia ad [images/stories/education/education10/brescia.jpg]Her mind is as sharp as her heels. Lead the pack or follow the boys. Some ceilings were meant to be broken. These are some of the slogans of Brescia University College’s bold new advertising campaign that started in September to increase declining enrolment, said registrar Marianne Simm. “This year, we have the highest enrolment ever and we think part of that is due to work we started last year with our re-branding,” said Simm. After seeing a trend of declining enrolment, particularly from Ontario high school students, the London, Ont.-based women’s college kicked off a re-branding process in January 2009. This included a consultation of faculty, students, alumni, guidance counsellors and parents on the benefits of attending Brescia. Through this, four attributes describing the campus were identified, which the campaign now focuses on: student-centred, empowering, invigorating and compassionate.
Kings students [images/stories/education/education10/kingsstudents.jpg]LONDON, Ont. - For those who are worried about just how Catholic Ontario’s Catholic teachers really are, fourth-year King’s University College students Kasia Surowaniec and Nicole Denomy ought to ease any anxieties. Surwaniec and Denomy are already in their third year of preparations to become Catholic teachers — and they haven’t even been to teachers’ college yet. Since their second year at university the students have been enrolled in Kings’ new Catholic Studies for Teachers program and should be among the first four graduates to complete the program this spring.
OCSTA logo [images/stories/logos/OCSTA.jpg]TORONTO - Close to 40 per cent of the 230 seats for Catholic school trustee across Ontario have been filled by acclamation. But the Ontario Catholic School Trustees’ Association says this represents a drop in acclamations — down from 45 per cent in 2006 to 37 per cent this year — and is a potential silver lining to what’s happened at the Toronto Catholic District School Board. Nancy Kirby, the association’s president, told The Catholic Register that the drop in acclamations is encouraging and may have been sparked by the events at the Toronto Catholic board.
The Queen of Unforgetting [images/stories/books/1897151721.jpg]The Queen of Unforgetting by Sylvia Maultash Warsh (Cormorant Books Inc., 284 pages, $21). The Queen of Unforgetting is a masterfully written book, with an engaging protagonist and a thought-provoking exploration of the themes of suffering, death and survival. It is well worth the read. As the child of Holocaust survivors, Sylvia Maultash Warsh grew up listening to her mother’s stories of fleeing from the Nazis in Poland and surviving the horrors of the labour camps. These stories sparked Warsh’s interest in history — an interest that has shaped her fiction. To date, she has written three well-received historical mystery novels. In her fourth novel, The Queen of Unforgetting, she departs from the mystery genre with great success.
Bishop Nguyen [images/stories/canada_bishops/nguyen.jpg]TORONTO - Toronto Auxiliary Bishop Vincent Nguyen will be sharing his life’s journey, from fleeing Vietnam as one of that nation’s “boat people” to becoming Canada’s youngest and first Asian-Canadian bishop, at an Oct. 31 talk. Taking place at Toronto-based Scarboro Missions at 7:30 p.m., the talk is entitled, “My Spiritual Journey: From a boat refugee to a Catholic bishop in Canada.” “It’s a spiritual journey,” Nguyen told The Catholic Register. “So at the end (of the talk), I’ll also offer some reflections based on my story.”
Michael Coren panel [images/stories/toronto/toronto10/coren_panel.jpg]TORONTO - A panel of journalists joined Oct. 17 in expressing their views on “The Church through the Public Eye.” The symposium was hosted by the Office of Catholic Youth of the archdiocese of Toronto, at its second annual young adult symposium. It was held at Ryerson University in collaboration with the Ryerson Catholic Chaplaincy Centre and the Catholic Student Association. With Michael Coren hosting, journalists Charles Lewis, Brian Lilley, Barbara Kay and Joyce Smith discussed the ins and outs of how the Church — and Catholics — are perceived in the media.
RICHMOND HILL, Ont. - More than 150 students from the York Catholic District School Board will gather Oct. 27 to raise awareness of the contributions and struggles of aboriginal people at the Desire for Change Symposium held at Rama First Nations Cultural Centre.
During lunch, as I’m talking with my friends, I hear the headlines that make their day. This goes something along the lines of: the latest stunt from a reality show on TV, the newest video game to hit store shelves and the best dancing couple to fend off elimination.
WCF [images/stories/ysn/ysn10/wfc.jpg]VICTORIA -Natalia Zapotoczny doesn’t think Catholic youth know as much about the Church as they should. The first-year sciences student at the University of Victoria is doing something to change that. She is the founder of Warriors for Christ — a group of young people who gather to pray and become more exposed to Catholicism through conversation and questioning. It also strives to help its members get prayer out of the on/off switch phase and turn that into a prayer life.
CCCB and D&P [images/stories/canada/canada10/cccb_dp.jpg]OTTAWA - Life and family issues and the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace are among the hot issues Canada’s bishops will tackle at their annual plenary Oct. 25-29. The secretary general of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) expects a positive result and a “new climate of confidence” once the bishops respond to the recommendations of two special ad hoc committees. “Both committees have worked extremely well and they have excellent results to report,” said Msgr. Pat Powers.
Pakistan flood [images/stories/international/international10/pakistan_flood.jpg]TORONTO - Canadian Catholics have raised more than $3 million to help flood victims in Pakistan while the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace has been chosen to help deliver $2 million in extra emergency flood relief. The $3 million raised for Development and Peace by Oct. 13 is eligible for matching funds from the federal government, transforming it into $6 million worth of aid. Toronto parishes played a big part in the fund-raising drive, putting $463,000 in ShareLife’s emergency relief account in time for federal matching grants. Money has continued to trickle in after the Oct. 13 deadline, and ShareLife reported $466,113 in funds for Pakistan as of Oct. 18.
mcqueen clough [images/stories/toronto/toronto10/mcqueen_clough.jpg]TORONTO - Leaning on the expertise of six lay people, including three women, the archdiocese of Toronto has declared redress, accountability and pastoral care aren’t just words or theories but concrete realities in cases of sexual abuse. Members of the committee that worked on revising the Toronto Church’s 20-year-old sexual abuse policies told The Catholic Register the new norms represent incremental rather than radical change, and that new Church law won’t by itself make the problem go away. “I would like to say that we think the problem is solved,” said clinical psychologist Dr. Philip Dodgson of the Southdown Institute. “I’m afraid that it’s something that is part of society, not just the Church. The protocol that we’ve written up will need to be reviewed and updated as new knowledge and better procedures are acquired.”
October 25, 2010
Barbara Poplawski [images/stories/education/barbarapoplawski.jpg]TORONTO - An Ontario Superior Court Justice has dismissed the conflict-of-interest case against Toronto Catholic school trustee Barbara Poplawski. In an Oct. 22 handwritten judgment, Superior Court Justice Lois B. Roberts ruled that there was insufficient evidence to prove “on a balance of probabilities that Trustee Poplawski made a thumbs-down gesture as alleged, in an attempt to influence the voting at the May 14, 2008 meeting in issue in this application.” A Catholic ratepayer took Poplawski and former Toronto Catholic District School Board chair Angela Kennedy to court on conflict-of-interest allegations. Both are running for re-election.
Bishop Monroe [images/stories/canada_bishops/bishopmonroe.jpg]KAMLOOPS, B.C. - Kamloops Bishop David Monroe, 69, has been removed from the Intensive Care Unit of Kamloops Royal Inland Hospital, where he continues to recover after being viciously beaten at Sacred Heart Cathedral Oct. 22. Fr. Vincent Asomugha said on Oct. 24 that Monroe remains in intensive care in a "step-down unit." There is no indication when the bishop will be leaving the hospital. Reports said he suffered severe trauma to the face and head and other cuts and injuries. "He recognizes people and can say his name but that is about it," Msgr. Jerry Desmond told the Vancouver Sun. "It's that serious." The attack in the cathedral rectory took place about 10:15 p.m., and Kamloops RCMP arrested a 30-year-old man several hours later. He was to appear in court Oct. 25 to face assault-related charges.
October 27, 2010
[images/stories/schoolB_logos/TCDSBLogo.jpg]TORONTO - New and returning members of Toronto’s embattled Catholic school board are both calling for reconciliation and a fresh start following Oct. 25 elections that resulted in a significant turnover of the 12-member board. With a record number of candidates and above-average voter turn-out leading to several close races, Toronto Catholic District School Board voters elected six new candidates and six incumbents. New trustee Jo-Ann Davis, who defeated long-time trustee and former chair Catherine LeBlanc-Miller, said voters sent a clear message with a high voter turn-out and election of new trustees. “I think it’s pretty clear that people want to move forward,” she told The Register. “They’re looking for something new. They’re looking for more continued accountability and transparency.”
Bishop David Monroe [images/stories/canada_bishops/monroe2.jpg]KAMLOOPS - Kamloops Bishop David Monroe suffered severe head and body injuries when he was attacked Oct. 22 by a man he was comforting in the rectory of Sacred Heart Cathedral. At press time, Monroe was in serious but stable condition at Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops. “It was the most brutal beating I have ever seen,” said Kamloops Vicar General Msgr. Jerry Desmond, who administered the sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick to the bishop two hours after he was admitted to hospital. Police were called to Sacred Heart Cathedral when the bishop was found bleeding profusely in the rectory after admitting a man apparently unknown to him. At around 10 p.m., the alleged assailant encountered a parishioner outside the cathedral next to the rectory and requested a priest. Monroe admitted the man to the rectory by the front door and led him into the kitchen.
Canada and the United States differ in many ways and that includes some clear differences between the Churches in both countries but there has been one strangely similar festering dispute confronting the hierarchy in both nations. In the U.S. it is the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, here in Canada it is the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace and both have been the targets of sustained criticism by Pro-Life groups and for at least two years the atmosphere has been one of acrimony and bitterness. At times, tempers have flared and names have been called. While each story differs in particulars the general themes are the same. The issues center on the activities of organizations that CCHD supports and partners with at home and with Development and Peace the issues concern the partner organizations abroad. CCHD and D&P are in alliance with groups, their critics charge, that operate contrary to Catholic Teachings. In the U.S. for example there were complaints about an Immigrant Rights Group, that CCHD supported, that campaigned in favour of Same Sex Marriage in California. In Canada, an example of the complaints concerning D&P concerned the funding of 5 groups in Mexico supporting abortion rights and changes to laws regarding abortion. In both the United States and Canada Critics demanded investigations into the organizations’ activities and reform where needed. In both countries individual Bishops stepped into to regulate parish collections which normally flowed to the organizations. Now it seems that a resolution is near. In the United States, word of a resolution is emerged with a final proposal due at the annual meeting of the American Bishops in November. Here in Canada the matter of Development and Peace is high on the Agenda of the annual meeting of the Canadian Bishops, as the Catholic Register reports. In a not unrelated development, a AP wire story from late last week highlighting the efforts of a disparate group of web based organizations intent on calling out Catholic In Name only organizations and individuals has been generating a lot of attention from both liberal and conservative Catholics. The report cites numerous examples of clandestine operations, bloggers and websites determined to bring to heal individuals that the critics have determined are insufficiently `faithful``. The whole issue flows from remarks made by John Allen Jr. on the question of the “Catholic Taliban” and his further suggestion that there is a form of Catholic McCarthyism building in the U.S. It is somewhat reminiscent of the hubbub created last year when Archbishop James Weisgerber went on the defensive in terms of charges being levied against Development and Peace and offered the opinion that "These bloggers who claim to be more Catholic than anyone - I think first of all they're not part of the church, they're not Catholic in the sense that they have no mandate, they have no authority, they have no accountability. And they speak very, very definitively about what it means to be Catholic, and they're followed by so many people." Odds are this issue is just beginning to heat up.