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December 2010

December 2

Immigration minister lashes out at bishops’ criticism of anti-human smuggling bill

December 2, 2010

Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney [images/stories/canada_people/canada_people09/KenneyJason.jpg]OTTAWA - Immigration Minister Jason Kenney has fired back at Canada’s bishops for a public letter criticizing his anti human-smuggling bill. The letter reflects a “long tradition of ideological bureaucrats who work for the bishops’ conference producing political letters signed by pastors who may not have specialized knowledge in certain areas of policy,” Kenney said in an interview.

December 6

Catholic education moulded retiring MP Keith Martin

December 6, 2010

Dr. Keith Martin [images/stories/canada/canada10/martin_keith.jpg]OTTAWA - When Dr. Keith Martin recalls all that he has accomplished, he can't help but thank the priests who taught him at Toronto's Neil McNeil High School. The retiring MP credits his Catholic education and the challenges created by some tough but caring priests with shaping the values of charity, compassion and kindness that have guided his life ever since. “They taught us to look outside ourselves,” he said.

December 8

PETA campaign slammed by rights league

December 8, 2010

[images/stories/canada/canada10/popepetsx.jpg]The Catholic Civil Rights League has strongly denounced a spaying and neutering campaign by an animal rights group that depicts Pope Benedict XVI brandishing a condom. In a campaign launched Dec. 2 in the Vatican, representatives from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) began handing out their “Pope Condom campaign leaflets.” PETA said the campaign will be taken to cathedrals and churches across the United States.

Fix the system

December 8, 2010

[images/stories/misc/misc10/refugee_boat.jpg]Canada has a moral obligation to provide asylum to refugees fleeing persecution. And Parliament has a duty to enact tough laws to target smugglers and human traffickers who exploit these people. On those broad points, Canada’s Catholic immigration minister, Jason Kenney, and Canada’s bishops are in agreement. So it is distressing to see them at odds over Bill C-49, proposed legislation that would hit smugglers with mandatory jail time and nail ship operators with strict penalties.

Giving is a family affair

December 8, 2010

The world of advocacy can be a depressing place much of the time. That is why this time of year is so enjoyable. Despite the gravity of the issues we read and write about throughout the year, the Christmas season brings out powerful media messages and, perhaps more to the point, brings crowds into the streets and malls focused on the act and spirit of giving.

John Lennon's imaginary world

December 8, 2010

Faithful readers will know that much energy has been expended these past years on combating the “new atheists” — militant, aggressive and very trendy. Atheism is of course not new, and even the new atheists not altogether new. Thirty years ago, John Lennon was murdered, shot outside his Manhattan apartment on Dec. 8, 1980. The anniversary of Lennon’s death brings an annual discussion of his significance, and due to his widow’s prodigious efforts, various commemorations of the slain singer. This year there were more than usual. Invariably these involve a sentimental playing of “Imagine,” Lennon’s anthem.

We must encounter the Lord in Advent

December 8, 2010

Each year at this time, Advent seems to get lost in the shuffle. The weeks before Christmas are bustling with things to do. We shop for presents, make trips to visit friends and relatives, attend concerts of seasonal music, put in appearances at the usual round of office parties and other sociable events. There is only one thing wrong with this happy round of activities: It inevitably distracts us Christians from engaging creatively with the wonderful truth of Advent as the Catholic Church has traditionally understood it.

God is truly with us

December 8, 2010

Fourth Sunday of Advent (Year A) Dec. 19 (Isaiah 7:10-14; Psalm 24; Romans 1:1-7; Matthew 1:18-24) What kind of sign would we like from God to reassure us when things are tough? King Ahaz wanted one but was afraid to ask. About 730 years BC Jerusalem was besieged by a coalition of Syrians and Israelites from the Northern Kingdom. They were trying to force Ahaz into joining their rebellion against the Assyrians. He was faced with a bitter dilemma: either join their rebellion and risk destruction or submit to Assyria as a vassal state. Definitely a lose-lose choice!

Catholic board’s denominational rights will trump province’s equity strategy

December 8, 2010

[images/stories/schoolB_logos/miscSchoolBd.jpg]TORONTO - Ontario’s Catholic schools won’t be forced to hire non-Catholic or gay teachers as part of the government’s new equity strategy, said an education ministry spokesperson. Next year is the final phase of government’s equity strategy which asks boards to update or establish equitable hiring and promotion practices. Gary Wheeler told The Register that the government’s strategy “is to be implemented within the context of denominational rights.”

December 9

As cardinal, Pope Benedict sought swift action against abusive priests

December 9, 2010

Pope Benedict XVI [images/stories/PopeBenedictXVI/popeBenedict1.jpg]VATICAN CITY - A newly disclosed letter reveals that as early as 1988, the future Pope Benedict XVI pressed for swifter and more streamlined procedures to punish priests guilty of “grave and scandalous conduct.” The letter, written by then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger when he was head of the Vatican’s doctrinal congregation, expressed concern that the normal process for dealing with such priests — which typically involved a request for dispensation from priestly obligations — took too long and was seen more as a favour than a punishment. Eventually, with Ratzinger’s involvement, the penal procedures were simplified and sanctions were strengthened. But in 1988, the cardinal’s suggestion of a “more rapid and simplified penal process” was rebuffed by the Vatican’s canon law experts.

KAIROS gets stronger since CIDA funding cuts

December 9, 2010

KAIROS [images/stories/logos/kairos2.png]TORONTO - One year after losing its federal government funding and being accused of supporting anti-Semitic organizations, KAIROS has come out “stronger” and remains hopeful that its funding will be reinstated, says executive director Mary Corkery. The challenges KAIROS faced over the past year have “renewed our passion to carry out a mission in support of social justice which is the root of peace, the heart of peace, the only way peace and development can happen,” Corkery told said during a Dec. 1 teleconference with four partners in Kenya, Colombia and the Philippines. KAIROS invited church media to the teleconference to provide an update on the funding cut.

Catholics step up response to Iraqi Christian refugee crisis

December 9, 2010

Toronto Archbishop Thomas Collins [images/stories/toronto/toronto10/collins_hetu.jpg]TORONTO - Spurred by the exodus of Iraqi Christians, the archdiocese of Toronto doubled the number of Iraqi refugee families it sponsored in 2010 to 190. The boom in Iraqi refugee sponsorships was fueled by 40 new refugee sponsorship committees or initiatives aimed at rescuing Iraqi refugees. The Office of Refugees, Archdiocese of Toronto is currently handling sponsorship files for approximately 250 refugees from around the world.

Ashleigh Molloy follows Vanier’s path

December 9, 2010

Ashleigh Molloy [images/stories/ysn/ysn10/molloy.jpg]TORONTO - Long-time special education advocate Ashleigh Molloy credits Jean Vanier with showing him the way. It is Vanier, the founder of the worldwide L’Arche movement, and his message that working with people with special needs is a blessing, not a burden, that Molloy has carried throughout his more than two decades of work as a Catholic school teacher and father of a daughter with Down Syndrome.

Learning life lessons from the poor

December 9, 2010

I’ve come to realize we can learn some of life’s greatest lessons from the poor. Last spring, I travelled with six other students to Cuernavaca, Mexico, with Global Connections on an educational immersion trip organized by the Canadian Catholic Campus Ministry. For 12 days I lived the social justice teachings of the Church through hands on experience. I toured some of the poorest parts of the city, volunteered at a compost centre and served breakfasts to underprivileged school children.

York Region students experience Ethiopia

December 9, 2010

Kristine Soufian [images/stories/ysn/ysn10/ethiopiasummerexperience1.jpg]TORONTO - Kristine Soufian wanted to help people who needed it the most. So she took action, initiating the Ethiopia Summer Experience. The main focus of the volunteering initiative is to offer an ESL (English as a Second Language) program to both elementary and high school students in Gambo, Ethiopia, over the summer. The program is one branch of the Cor Unum Africa Foundation.

Vigil rare display of faith at University of Victoria

December 9, 2010

University of Victoria [images/stories/ysn/ysn10/uvic_vigil.jpg]VICTORIA - On Nov. 27, students at the University of Victoria held a day-long vigil to pray for the rights of the unborn. From 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., about 15 students gathered throughout the day, rosaries in hand, with at least four people present every hour. It’s the sort of public display of faith that is rare on the University of Victoria campus though.

Gay teachers' network aims to recruit Catholics

December 9, 2010

gay teachers [images/stories/education/education10/gayapple.jpg]TORONTO - A new teachers’ group for openly gay teachers has been created to provide a “safe environment” to discuss homophobia, said the group’s founder. Durham District School Board kindergarten teacher Lauren Chapple started Proud Rainbow Voices last May. The 155-member group of openly gay teachers includes five Catholic school teachers, she said.

Photographer-priest makes viewer present in Dene land

December 9, 2010

Way Down North [images/stories/books/waydownnorthfinal.jpg]What makes Fr. René Fumoleau’s photography worth looking at is just where the missionary priest from France took his photos. Fumoleau showed up in the Dene lands straddling the Arctic Circle in 1953. He bought his first Pentax 35 mm camera in 1956. Without training or direction, he created a body of images that document the land and its people over 40 critical years of history for the Dene, all captured in a new book.

A 'Joyful Noise' rocks the season

December 9, 2010

messiah rocks [images/stories/arts/arts10/messiah.jpg]MISSISSAUGA, Ont. - This Christmas season, Handel’s Messiah is going to rock the Toronto area. George Frideric Handel’s musical oratorio on the life of the Messiah has been updated, adding some modern-day flash, to produce Handel’s Messiah Rocks: A Joyful Noise. It will be performed at the Living Arts Centre in Mississauga, Dec. 16 and 17.

December 10

Old City Hall creche vandalized for sixth year straight

December 10, 2010

creche vandalized [images/stories/toronto/toronto10/crechecrushed.jpg]TORONTO - For the sixth year in a row, vandals have taken a shot at the Christmas creche in front of Old City Hall in downtown Toronto. Passersby noticed the plexiglass window which encases the statues of Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus had been smashed on Dec. 5. Suresh Dominic of Campaign Life Coalition's Catholic wing was preparing to replace the broken pane on Dec. 8.