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June 2011

June 18

The gift of cherry blossoms to ‘grow along with Japan’

June 18, 2011

Within days of a violent storm that tore limbs from dozens of mature trees and uprooted others, the Scarboro Missions celebrated a gift of 15 new cherry blossom trees on their property. The gift from the Sakura Project brought out Toronto’s Japanese Catholic community and a Japanese folk dance group in a show of solidarity with Japan June 12, three months after a devastating 9.0 earthquake and tsunami killed more than 15,000 and pushed the Fukushima nuclear power plant into a meltdown. “These trees, in a sense, mark this disaster. But also, these trees will grow along with Japan,” said Masaya Otsuka of the consulate general of Japan’s office, which supports the Sakura Project. The Scarboro Missions headquarters on Kingston Road was chosen as one of 55 sites in 18 municipalities across southern Ontario where the Japanese consulate has planted trees. Since the Second World War the Scarboros have sent 40 missionaries to Japan. Several Scarboros served over 50 years in Japan and six are buried there.

Nobody likes talking about sexual abuse in the Church

June 18, 2011

I hate this story. I don’t hate it because some people fear stories about sexual abuse by priests could tear apart the Church. Journalism can’t destroy the body of Christ. All men who use sex to dominate the weak, the vulnerable and the innocent are evil. Men who camouflage predatory sex behind the Gospel, who preach mercy, justice and forgiveness by daylight and consume young souls in the dark, they’re worse. The unfolding of this story ever since Mount Cashel hit the headlines in 1989 is still news. There is still evil to be unmasked. As a journalist in the Church, I should embrace that challenge. Unmasking evil is part of what journalists do. What could be a greater service to the Church? But I hate it. When I worked for The Guelph Mercury in 1990, editing the crime page for our weekend edition, I always put the arrest of priests on sex charges at the top of the page with the biggest headline. That was an easy decision. Predatory priests are bigger news than desperate addicts robbing gas bars. Unexpected reversal is what makes a story news.

The Church’s new reality reveals the same old divisions

June 18, 2011

ANTIGONISH, N.S. - As Catholics of Antigonish ponder their post-Raymond Lahey life of faith, duelling groups are holding discussions about what a rebuilt Church should look like. A left-leaning group fired the first salvo last October with a conference featuring academic theologian Paul Lakeland of Fairfield University. A right-wing group will respond later this month with a conference featuring Michael Voris, a conservative apologist and commentator with a dedicated Youtube following. “We don’t think the Lakeland conference was really a conference that is in conformity with the true teachings of the Catholic Church,” said Wayne Murphy of Port Hood, organizer of the June conference, titled For the Beauty of the Church. For Murphy, the only good Catholics are right-wing Catholics.

Yarmouth’s Church suffers with town

June 18, 2011

YARMOUTH, N.S. - On Norbert LeBlanc’s street there are three houses for sale. They’ve been for sale long enough for the realtor’s signs to start fading and growing rust. House prices in Yarmouth dropped 11.9 per cent between the first quarter of 2010 and 2011, said the Nova Scotia Association of Realtors. Southern Nova Scotia’s unemployment rate was 12.7 per cent in April, down from 15.9 per cent a year earlier, according to Statistics Canada. What’s left of the diocese of Yarmouth — a diocese that hasn’t had a bishop since Bishop James Wingle was appointed to St. Catharines in 2001 — now has to raise money to pay for sex abuse settlements past and future by selling real estate. But it’s not as grim a prospect as you might think, LeBlanc told The Catholic Register.

From bereavement to a new plan

June 18, 2011

ANTIGONISH, N.S. - Since arriving as the bishop of Antigonish in November 2009, Bishop Brian Dunn has spent a lot of time listening and he’s learned how important listening is to his job. “We need to discern the movement of the spirit,” he said. “We need to revitalize the concept of consultation.” This agonizing, slow process of listening to as many people as he can — hearing their anger, disappointment and grief — isn’t just a practical strategy for building consensus and making sure as many Catholics as possible feel they’re part of the diocese’s future direction. Dunn believes listening is a spirituality that provides insight into what the Church is. “I’m convinced that consultation and a spirituality of communion is it. I think that’s the only way,” he said. It’s not the approach everyone expected from the canon lawyer whose administrative past has included stints as a member of the college of consultors and associate judicial vicar of the marriage tribunal in Windsor-Grand Falls, Newfoundland. But 20-months in, nobody in Antigonish can credibly accuse Dunn of narrow, rule-bound legalism.

Property sales are key to settlement

June 18, 2011

ANTIGONISH, N.S. - For those looking for property in northern and eastern Nova Scotia, there are deals to be had. The agent representing the diocese of Antigonish, the Chaisson Group, lists 58 properties at www.churchpropertysales.info, 16 of which have already sold. Most of the properties are lots or acreage. If the diocese got its asking price for every property it would make $7,775,600. The asking prices for the properties already sold comes to $1,604,000. Selling the properties is a key part of the overall strategy to raise $18 million by November 2012 in order to satisfy settlement agreements with victims of clerical sexual abuse. The diocese is asking $264,900 for a waterfront home in Iona on Lake Bras d’Or, two hours drive from Antigonish. But a more typical property is 2.5 acres on Bayfield Beach Road in Antigonish for $125,000.

June 19

Media fast introduced for new seminarians

June 19, 2011

When Thomas Collins was in the seminary, he felt like the busiest, most rushed guy in town. Now, as Archbishop of Toronto, he wants to give seminarians a chance to stop and reflect — something he wishes he could have done more often. For the incoming class at St. Augustine’s Seminary, that will mean a media fast — abstaining from electronic and traditional media of all types — for much of their first year. No phones or cellphones, no Internet or computer games, no TV or radio. No modern devices or even old friends like newspapers and magazines. Beginning in September, the new class of seminarians will take part in a type of spiritual preparation called a propaedeutic year. The 10-month period, which falls between formation (at places like Serra House) and the traditional studies of the seminary, is meant to prepare discerning priests in a non-academic setting. It will include reading traditional Church texts, a collection of retreats and, for five and half days per week, a “fast” from electronic and popular media.

Hedonism clouds judgment, risks annihilating morality, pope says

June 19, 2011

VATICAN CITY - Hedonism clouds people's judgment and risks annihilating morality, Pope Benedict XVI said. It also fools people into thinking their real worth lies in their social or personal standing and their ability to control reality, he said during a one-day visit June 19 to the Republic of San Marino, a tiny nation completely surrounded by Italy. Like many Western nations, San Marino today faces many difficulties and challenges, the pope said in his homily during a Mass held at an open-air stadium. Such difficulties are caused most of all by "hedonistic models that cloud the mind and risk quashing morality altogether," he told some 22,000 people in attendance, which included people who came from surrounding Italian cities. "The temptation has crept in that says man's richness is not faith, but his personal and social power, his intelligence, his culture and his ability to scientifically, technologically and socially manipulate reality," he said.

Prostitution immoral and exploitative, court hears

June 19, 2011

Striking down Canada's anti-prostitution laws would violate the “fundamental moral values” of protecting human dignity, and would infringe on a woman's rights to liberty and security, lawyers representing the Catholic Civil Rights League told the Ontario Court of Appeal. “Prostitution is antithetical to the fundamental values of Canadians,” said lawyer Ranjan Agarawal on June 16. He was representing the Catholic Civil Rights League, the Christian Legal Fellowship and REAL Women of Canada. “Prostitution is immoral. It takes the most intimate human activity and commodifies it. It is that commodification that causes violence, drug use, the trafficking of women, the exploitation of women in the economic margins of society.” The federal and Ontario governments are appealing an Ontario judge's decision that struck down some sections of Canada’s prostitution laws as being unconstitutional.

Sexual Abuse of Minors Requires Strong Response Say Vatican

June 19, 2011

VATICAN CITY - The phenomenon of the sexual abuse of minors within the church requires a strong response that is "not inertia, a culture of silence or repression," said the Vatican's top investigator of clerical sex abuse said. Msgr. Charles Scicluna, promoter of justice for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, said that the church must do all it can to respond to the problem and emphasize that protection of children is integral to the good of the universal church. Msgr. Scicluna spoke at a news conference to present an upcoming symposium on sexual abuse that organizers hope will contribute to a "global culture" of transparency and commitment to keeping children and young people safe within the Catholic Church. The symposium, to be held in Rome in February, will give bishops and other church leaders a chance to learn from experts the best practices learned over the last several years about sexual abuse of minors from psychological, juridical, sociologic and child-protection standpoints.

June 20

Nova Scotians find opportunity in crisis

June 20, 2011

ANTIGONISH, N.S. - On April 13 the little wooden church on the hill overlooking Maryvale burned down. Located in the diocese of Antigonish, it was a mission church — one of four churches served by the priest in Lakevale. St. Mary’s was insured, but the insurance won’t fully pay to replace the 150-year-old structure. A pretty good case can be made that the diocese needs that insurance money more than the people in Maryvale need another church. The diocese of Antigonish, comprising Cape Breton and three counties in Northeastern Nova Scotia, must raise $18 million to compensate victims of clerical abuse. If St. Mary’s is not rebuilt, Maryvale Catholics only have a 15-minute drive to Georgeville for Mass on Sunday. Yet the parish has decided to rebuild. In their resolve, they resemble the broader Catholic community in Nova Scotia that is working to rebuild a shattered Church. “There’s tremendous symbolism in that building,” said parishioner Terry O’Toole. “The diocese has been hurt. The parish has lost its church. But now there are people who can’t do enough for the building committee, the fundraising committee and the parish council. That crisis has really created opportunity.”

June 22

Ukranian rector says the state is watching

June 22, 2011

OXFORD, England - The U.S.-born rector of Ukraine’s Catholic university said his country is “living in dark times” and accused state security services of placing him under surveillance. “Our telephones are tapped — the stationary ones probably, the mobile ones certainly. Lists of my telephone conversations have been shown to colleagues, and an assistant was followed through the city,” said Fr. Borys Gudziak, rector of the Lviv-based Ukrainian Catholic University. “I have seen some fundamental change in hopeless situations — from communism to an independent Ukraine, from growing authoritarianism to the Orange Revolution. Although I believe we’re living in dark times, I’m convinced the Spirit and human dignity will prevail,” he told Austria’s Die Presse daily. He said the university students and faculty were “not a nest of radical revolutionaries. But we do try to be free.”

Consider the human heart’s complexity

June 22, 2011

In a book on preaching, entitled, Telling the Truth, Frederick Buechner challenges all preachers and spiritual writers to speak with “awful honesty” about the human struggle, even inside the context of faith. Don’t put an easy sugar-coating on things, he warns: “Let the preacher tell the truth. Let him make audible the silence of the news of the world with the sound turned off so that in that silence we can hear the tragic truth of the Gospel which is that the world where God is absent is a dark and echoing emptiness; and the comic truth of the Gospel, which is that it is into the depth of this absence that God makes himself present in such unlikely ways and in such unlikely people that old Sarah and Abraham and maybe when the time comes even Pilate and Job ... and you and I laugh till the tears run down our cheeks. And finally let him preach this overwhelming of tragedy by comedy, of darkness by light, of the ordinary by the extraordinary, as the tale that is too good not to be true because to dismiss it as untrue is to dismiss along with it the catch of the breath, the beat and lifting of the heart near to or even accompanied by tears, which I believe is the deepest intuition of truth that we have.” Reading this, I was reminded of some of the preaching in my own parish when I was a young boy. I grew up in a small, sheltered, farming, immigrant community in the heart of the Canadian prairies. Our parish priests, wonderfully sincere men, tended however to preach to us as if we were a group of idyllic families in the TV series Little House on the Prairies. They would share with us how pleased they were to be ministering to us, simple farm-folk, living uncomplicated lives, far from the problems of those who were living in the big cities.

God’s call still shaping Pope Benedict’s life 60 years later

June 22, 2011

The Feast of Saints Peter and Paul, June 29, is kept with suitable solemnity in Rome, with the Holy Father offering Mass at St. Peter’s on the patronal feast of his diocese. Ten years ago, in 2001, Blessed John Paul asked Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger to celebrate the Mass in his stead. It was the 50th anniversary of Ratzinger’s priestly ordination, 29th June 1951, and the honour of offering the patronal Mass in the Holy Father’s presence was thought both a tribute to Ratzinger’s long service, and, perhaps, a prelude to a farewell earnestly sought by Ratzinger himself. The farewell never came; the long service continued. Now, on the 60th anniversary of his priestly ordination, Ratzinger will offer the Mass for the two princes of the apostles, not in place of anyone, but as Bishop of Rome himself. Sixty years of faithful service in any vocation is a remarkable testimony of cooperation with God’s grace. The 60 years of Pope Benedict are all the more remarkable given that, since being called from his professor’s chair to the episcopate in 1977, he has been labouring in a section of the vineyard that he did not choose. On April 19, 2005, the cardinals chose him to be pope. Joseph Ratzinger has long desired to devote his life to scholarship. Had it been up to him, his 60th anniversary would be spent, if not in heaven, in retirement in his library, studying and writing theology. But even as a young man Joseph knew that God might be calling him to something different.

Cyber judgment

June 22, 2011

If the hockey riots of Vancouver needed a face an unlikely one was found in 17-year-old Nathan Kotylak. Kotylak skipped his high-school graduation ceremony in Maple, B.C. so he could turn himself into police and confess that he was the person shown attempting to torch a police car in a widely-distributed photograph. The photo was taken in the aftermath of the final game of the Stanley Cup playoffs, when mobs vandalized and looted their way through the streets of downtown Vancouver. The first reaction to all this is that Kotylak and the rest of the mob are hooligans who should probably be tossed in jail. They terrorized a city and brought shame to the country and should be held to account. In due course, the police and the courts will settle all that. Meantime, though, we are left to try to understand why this happened. Why did so many young people run with the mob? And how to explain the public response, when the initial shock understandably became anger before taking an inexplicable turn to rage and calls for vengeance.

Everyone belongs at St. Peter’s Basilica

June 22, 2011

As the bus trundled down the sun-baked New Appian Way, I found myself in Rome yet again. This time I was there to visit a sick friend. Hilary White, Rome correspondent for LifeSiteNews, had been curled up on her couch for weeks, lonely and bored. It occurred to both of us that she needed someone to make her a cup of tea, so I flew from Edinburgh. This is much less expensive than it sounds, thanks to the miracle known as the discount airline. Hilary has the best gig in Canadian Catholic media for it entails living by the Mediterranean Sea in a small town within an hour’s train journey of Rome. This town is home to other Canadian Catholic expatriates who travel to the Eternal City for work or study and then come back to bask on the shore. Within two hours of my hot and sleepy arrival, I found myself on a seaside terrazzo owned by one Canadian expat toasting another Canadian expat with champagne for his birthday. The next day Hilary had an appointment in Rome, so we took the train together—eyes dazzled by a sudden expanse of sunflowers—and had lunch on a quiet side-street near the Piazza Farnese, the Roman home of the Brigantine Sisters. Fettuccini con flora zucca was one of the specials, and I was delighted, for I have long wished to try squash blossoms. They were delicious. Hilary went to her appointment, and I lingered, ordering a plate of tomatoes and chatting with the waiter. As I always do after a successful Italian conversation, I thanked heaven for Mrs. Angelini, my high school Italian teacher.

Live in the Spirit and you will be transformed

June 22, 2011

14th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A) July 3 (Zechariah 9:9-10; Psalm 145; Romans 8:9, 11-13; Matthew 11:25-30) What is strange about this picture? The victorious king enters the city on a donkey — the equivalent of a president or prime minister driving an ordinary low-end car. One might expect more flash and panache from a messianic king. But there is something else out of the ordinary. This king is not bent on conquest or empire but establishing peace. In fact, he will deliberately thwart the efforts of all those dedicated to war and conquest. All of this confirms that this personage is from God and not a product of human beings. The visitation of God never baptizes the status quo, nor will it give comfort to opinionated, fanatical or controlling people. God will shock most and outrage not a few for God’s ways are definitely not human ways. It would be wonderful to have a divine figure who would establish peace and justice but this is not going to happen. God will give us the tools — the spiritual principles and guidance — to make this happen. But God will not force this on us, for God respects our free will. Far better for us to follow the example and teachings of the one who rides humbly into the city on a donkey than to just ‘let God do it’ or even worse to pervert the Lord’s teaching into instruments of violence or injustice.

Cultural changes are undermining marriage

June 22, 2011

OTTAWA - Cultural changes in recent decades have caused marriage and fertility rates to plummet, according to an American professor. University of Texas at Austin professor Mark Regnerus told the recent Institute of Marriage and Family Canada (IMFC) conference that young people are told “there’s no rush,” and that one must “be your own person” before marrying. As a result, marriage rates have dropped in all age groups, but precipitously in the younger age groups. The percentage of men aged 20-24 who have never married “has just exploded” since 1970 when only 35 per cent of men in that age group had never married. Now almost 89 per cent have not married. The next age group, 25-29, has also jumped from 10.5 per cent never married in 1970 to 62 per cent. Among men who marry under the age of 24, religion is “most important” to 44.7 per cent and “very important” to 25.1 per cent, he said. Fidelity and monogamy are also rated highly. Regnerus noted the ages of 20-29 are years of peak fertility for women.

ISARC debate focuses on poverty issues

June 22, 2011

With an Ontario election looming in the fall, community faith leaders staged an all-party debate on poverty at the University of Toronto June 9. Well, it was almost an all-party debate. Despite seven weeks of trying, they couldn’t land a representative from the provincial Progressive Conservatives. ISARC, an ecumenical and interfaith coalition supported by Ontario’s bishops and Catholic religious orders, went ahead anyway and at least one debater said the Conservative absence was irrelevant. “Poverty will be an issue. You can’t ignore it. It’s not going away,” said Etobicoke Centre Liberal MPP Donna Cansfield. Whether poverty is an issue when the election heats up in the fall will be up to churches, mosques and temples, said ISARC executive director Michael Skaljin. “The faith communities are not going to be silent on this,” he said.

Totus Tuus brings kids “closer to Christ”

June 22, 2011

After almost a quarter-century of success in the United States, Totus Tuus is coming to Canada. Totus Tuus is a parish-based summer-camp program for Catholic youth. It will be offered for the first time in Canada at 18 parishes in the archdiocese of Toronto starting July 3 and running until mid-August. The Totus Tuus program began in 1987 in the archdiocese of Wichita, Kansas, and today is established in over 21 dioceses in the United States. The name was derived from Blessed Pope John Paul II’s personal motto, Totus Tuus, translated as “Totally Yours.” The program aims to fulfill evangelical and catechetical needs of young people. “I thought that there wouldn’t be a better way than to offer a parish summer camp to provide something substantial for our young people,” said Fr. Hansoo Park, director of vocations for the archdiocese of Toronto.