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June 2011

June 27

Pope says Eucharist is antidote to modern individualism

June 27, 2011

VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI said the Eucharist is the heart of church life and an "antidote" to the increasingly individualistic global culture. Addressing pilgrims June 26 on the feast of Corpus Christi, which commemorates the institution of the Eucharist, the pope said the Eucharist was like the "pulsing heart" that gives life and meaning to everything the church does. As the sacrament of Communion, it is able to transform people's lives, leading them to God, he said. "In a culture that is more and more individualistic -- a culture in which we are immersed in Western society, and that tends to spread itself throughout the world -- the Eucharist constitutes a type of 'antidote,'" the pope said. "It works in the minds and hearts of believers and continually disseminates in them the logic of communion, of service, of sharing -- in short, the logic of the Gospel," he said.

June 28

CCCB pastoral letter sensitive to youth struggling with same-sex attraction

June 28, 2011

Click on the image to download the full 8-page booklet prepared by the CCCB [images/stories/canada/canada11/cccb_letter_pdf_3.jpg]OTTAWA - Canada’s Catholic bishops have published an uncompromising pastoral letter on ministry to young people with same-sex attraction that upholds Church teaching on sexuality yet shows sensitivity to their challenges. The eight-page booklet prepared by the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (CCCB) doctrinal commission and released June 27 comes at a time when publicly funded Catholic schools in Ontario are under pressure from the provincial government’s equity policy. You can download the document by clicking on the image on the right. Ottawa Archbishop Terrence Prendergast, S.J., a commission member, said he hopes the document will clarify for school boards, teachers, parents and students where the Church stands. “If we are going to be Catholic school boards and we are going to try to have equality and equity in our outreach to young people then we need to be clear about what the Church’s teaching is,” he said. The document frames the debate in Catholic terms and avoids reducing people to an identity based on sexual orientation. The Church does not use the terms “gay” or “lesbian” in its official teachings.

The size of our hearts

June 28, 2011

It’s common, particularly among religious commentators, to describe the human heart as small, narrow and petty: How small-hearted and petty we are! I find this distressing because religious thinkers especially should know better. We are not created by God and put on this Earth with small, narrow and petty hearts. The opposite is true. God puts us into this world with huge hearts, hearts as deep as the Grand Canyon. The human heart in itself, when not closed off by fear, wound and paranoia, is the antithesis of pettiness. The human heart, as Augustine describes it, is not fulfilled by anything less than infinity itself. There’s nothing small about the human heart. But then why do we find ourselves relating to the world, to each other and to God with hearts that are small, narrow and petty?

Some people miss mail

June 28, 2011

The recent disruption in Canada Post service has produced news stories about the unimportance of mail delivery that are at odds with my own experience, but presumably reflect the view of many others. When Canada Post was on strike 14 years ago, even a few days without mail was big news. But during the recent disruption, settled on June 28, I’m not aware of a single newscast that made the work stoppage the lead item, and most days it has not even been front-page news. True, the growth of the online world has undoubtedly reduced most people’s reliance on mail delivery, but newscasters and pundits who think the letter carrier is dispensable are mistaken. For those of us with a greater than average reliance on mail delivery, it was galling to see editorial content such as: “Postal strike looms — will anyone notice?”; “In 20 years no one will remember what a mailbox looks like” or “I think there’s a packet of stamps in the house some place.” Even after almost a month, Lorne Gunter of the National Post claimed that “almost no one cares yet that the mail is not being delivered.” Trust me, if a good chunk of your income takes the form of cheques in the mail, you will care.

Pius XII’s actions spoke louder than words

June 28, 2011

The conduct of Pope Pius XII during the Second World War, specifically in regard to Jews and the Shoah, has been a bone in the throat of Catholic-Jewish relations for some time now. Recent developments may point, however tentatively, to the possibility of a way forward. In late June, the Israeli ambassador to the Holy See, Mordechay Lewy, made a remarkable statement in the course of the ceremony in which Fr. Gaetano Piccini was named “Righteous among the Gentiles” — a designation given to those who were heroic in saving Jews during the Shoah. Ambassador Lewy noted that after the Nazis rounded up Jews in Rome in October 1943 for deportation to the death camps, Catholic convents and monasteries opened their doors to shelter Jews — something risky and dangerous under Nazi occupation. “There is reason to believe that this happened under the supervision of the highest Vatican officials, who were informed about what was going on,” he said. “So it would be a mistake to say that the Catholic Church, the Vatican and the pope himself opposed actions to save the Jews. To the contrary, the opposite is true.” Lewy added that the fact that the Vatican couldn’t stop the deportation of Jews from Rome’s ghetto on Oct. 16-18, 1943 “only increased the will, on the part of the Vatican, to offer its own sites as refuges for the Jews.”

Bishops’ straight talk

June 28, 2011

Finally, some straight talk from the Church about same-sex attraction. The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops should be commended for releasing an overdue but welcomed pastoral letter on same-sex attraction. The letter from the bishops’ Commission of Doctrine clearly enunciates Church teachings on this contentious topic while offering frank advice to priests, parents and educators on how to support young people who may be troubled by society’s mixed messages on this difficult issue.

There is no limit to God’s Word

June 28, 2011

15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A) July 10 (Isaiah 55:10-11; Psalm 65; Romans 8:18-23; Matthew 13:1-23) The Word of the Lord is relentless and unceasing. But this “Word” has little to do with the individual words written on a page — even in the Bible. When we hold the lectionary aloft and say “The Word of the Lord” we must take care not to mistake the book for God’s word. This sort of confusion often leads to literal interpretations and superficial, unthinking applications of the text. The beautiful metaphor in Isaiah’s passage is far richer and deeper. The Word of God is a divine utterance — an expression of God’s will and spirit — and it ripples through the entire cosmos. Everything that reflects the nature and will of God is part of this communication. As the recent papal exhortation Verbum Domini points out, God’s Word can be expressed in creation itself, in nature and the cycle of life. It also finds expression in salvation history — the times and places when God’s guiding hand has moved humanity towards redemption.

A view from the Island of Tears

June 28, 2011

This summer, I visited Ellis Island, the “Golden Door/Island of Tears” by which 12 million persons sought to enter the United States between 1892 and 1954. Sailing from Italy, Russia, Poland and other countries, many travelled steerage, like sheep. Black-and-white photographic portraits of travellers look out from the walls of the huge building, now a museum, formerly dedicated to sorting and processing the newcomers. One portrait, of a beautiful young Italian with pensive eyes, reminded me of photos of my grandmother, who came to Canada in similar circumstances at age 18, alone, parted forever from her home and family, unable to read or write or speak English. Remembrances by some who made the journey are recorded there. “This is my native land now,” said one; “I don’t ever want to see Russia again.” What broke, between this man and his birth country? Did that rupture somehow find healing in the new land he took as his own? Broken relationship and new life: what’s the connection? As novelist Ernest Hemingway observed, “Life breaks us all; and afterward, many are strong at the broken places.”

C. Gwendolyn Landolt: Judges should enforce, not interpret, law

June 28, 2011

Two Supreme Court of Canada judges have announced they will step down at the end of August [images/stories/canada/canada11/supreme_court_canada2.jpg]The announcement by two of the judges on the Supreme Court of Canada of their proposed retirement provides the opportunity to reflect on the role of judges in Canada. This is especially important since judges have assumed a powerful and influential role under the Charter. The latter allows judges using the broad and vague words to rule on the merits of legislation, creating new laws and social policies. The vivid reality is that these Charter decisions are highly contingent on socio-political choices which the courts have been able to determine by applying, for example, the broad words of Section 7 of the Charter, (“Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of the person”) and Section 15 (the Equality provision). These words mean whatever the judges want them to mean. That is, the broad words of the Charter have enabled the judges to promote their own, private, political attitudes and preferences, claiming it is for constitutional reasons. Unfortunately, judges are ill positioned to make public policy decisions because they have limited access to social data and depend on the biased arguments of the litigants and unreliable information in the media. Isolated from society, judges are not exposed to differing perspectives, as occurs in Parliament, since there is no public debate. In short, judges may not be cognizant of all the relevant facts.

June 29

Spiritual conversion leads away from gay lifestyle

June 29, 2011

TORONTO - Alan Yoshioka chose God over his homosexual inclinations. Before his conversion to the Catholic Church, Yoshioka says he lived an “out and proud gay lifestyle.” The 48-year-old Toronto-based freelance editor says after many years of rejecting the Church’s views on homosexuality, he experienced a spiritual conversion leading him to “interior freedom” when he embraced a life of chastity. “(I am) so grateful for having discovered what it is like to live a life of chastity because there is an interior freedom that I never knew during all my years seeking liberation, seeking freedom in a worldly sense,” he told The Catholic Register. His blog, “The Sheepcat,” is “a Catholic commentary by a former gay activist and his wife” where Yoshioka writes of his spiritual and personal conversion.

Pope launches Vatican web portal, tweets the news

June 29, 2011

VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI inaugurated the Vatican's online news portal with a click, and then announced the launch with the first-ever papal tweet. "Dear Friends, I just launched News.va. Praised be our Lord Jesus Christ! With my prayers and blessings, Benedictus XVI," the pope said in his message on the news site's Twitter account. His tweet -- 117 characters -- went viral, and within 24 hours twitter.com/news_va_en had more than 35,000 followers. The pope was flanked by Vatican communications officials June 28 as he tapped an iPad and officially launched www.news.va, which aggregates news content from the Vatican's newspaper, radio, television and online outlets. The pontiff was then given a brief tour of the portal's features. The launch came on the eve of the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul and the 60th anniversary of Pope Benedict's ordination into the priesthood.

Lahey’s sentencing postponed to August

June 29, 2011

OTTAWA - Bishop Raymond Lahey’s sentencing hearing for importing child porn has been postponed to Aug. 4 and 5. The sentencing hearing had been scheduled for June 24, but the Crown had not received the report from forensic psychiatrist Dr. John Bradford, who assessed the former Antigonish bishop. Lahey, 71, the former bishop of Antigonish, N.S., faces a minimum of one year in prison and could receive up to 10 years. In August, Bradford will be cross-examined concerning the bishop’s mental state and likelihood of reoffending. Lahey pleaded guilty to importing child porn May 4, 18 months after a Canadian Border Services agent stopped the bishop at Ottawa airport and pulled him aside for a secondary search of his laptop. A more serious charge of possession for the purpose of distribution was dropped by the Crown. The bishop opted to go to jail immediately, pending his sentencing hearing.

Rediscovering Augustine’s Confessions

June 29, 2011

Garry Wills has written a short book that teaches us how to read a longer book. If we follow Wills’ instructions we will discover new riches in St. Augustine’s seminal classic, The Confessions. This book is the third in a new series called “Lives of Great Religious Books.” The series is meant to make classic religious texts accessible to the general public. Wills is the right choice to make Augustine’s Confessions come alive for contemporary readers. Wills has studied the bishop of Hippo’s writings for a long time, both as an academic historian and a Christian believer. His ready familiarity, one might even say his friendship, with the person of Augustine shines through, making the Confessions come to life. Along the way, Wills provides helpful insights into thorny theological problems and breaks open elements of Augustine’s basic teaching on God, human beings and the spiritual life. Reading the Confessions is hard work, partly because we live in a very different kind of culture and world. With the passing of 1,600 years, we read, remember and reflect differently.

Magazine aims to renew Judeo-Christian underpinning of Canadian culture

June 29, 2011

OTTAWA - An Ottawa-based think tank has launched Canadian Observer, a culturally conservative Canadian quarterly its editor hopes will engage Catholic readers. “The culture has turned against Christians generally,” said Richard Bastien, a Catholic and retired economist who is a senior research fellow at the Canadian Centre for Policy Studies. Bastien also represents the Catholic Civil Rights League in the National Capital Region. The centre’s president, Joseph Ben-Ami, is the magazine’s publisher. “We are constantly being challenged by various aspects of the culture and we must respond to that challenge by showing abandoning certain beliefs and practices will lead to chaos,” said Bastien. “What we are defending through this magazine is not just particular policies or ideas, it’s a certain understanding of civilization — Judeo-Christian civilization.”

Teopoli students will experience Sr. Carmelina

June 29, 2011

TORONTO - About 80 young Catholics attending this year’s Teopoli Summer Experience will be doing more than outdoor sports, making new friends and the usual summer camp fare. They’ll also be introduced to Sr. Carmelina Tarantino of the Cross, the late Passionist Sister of St. Paul whose cause for sainthood is underway. At the Teopoli camp in Gravenhurst, Ont., students will learn about Sr. Tarantino’s story “in a gentle way” and how she was able to endure her trials through her faith in God, says Luca Mirenzi, a Teopoli youth minister. Sr. Tarantino suffered unexplained illness but maintained a devout life of prayer through it all. For 24 years, she was bed-ridden at Toronto’s Riverdale Hospital (now known as Bridgepoint Health) and was visited by thousands of people seeking spiritual direction. She died in 1992 at the age of 55. The official inquiry into her cause for sainthood began two years ago. Youth will also visit the memorial at the camp built in Sr. Tarantino’s honour, said Mirenzi.

Young women keeping the faith alive in Victoria

June 29, 2011

VICTORIA - Young people are learning how to defend their faith in Victoria thanks to a new Catholic apologetics group — and it’s just for girls. Real Women in Christ was founded this spring and meets once a month to discuss the reasons behind Church teachings. Laura Pearse, a mother of nine, was inspired to start the group after she noticed her older kids were being challenged to defend their faith by atheist arguments at the secular universities they were attending. “I realized that they had a lot of faith, but they were unable to really know their faith and have answers when they were faced with a lot of criticism,” she said. Pearse set out to form the group so that her youngest daughter, Olivia, who will be entering Grade 9 in the fall, will be prepared post-graduation.

It’s easy to be green at annual Hike and Prayer

June 29, 2011

TORONTO - Young adults in Toronto will have the opportunity to be stewards of the Earth at this year’s Hike and Prayer. Run by Faith Connections, a ministry for young adults run by the Sisters of St. Joseph, this year’s annual hike takes place July 9 with the theme, “The Green Spirit of the City.” Participants will have an opportunity to hike and reflect at the newly renovated Evergreen Brick Works, a community environmental centre in Toronto’s Don Valley. “Young adults are eager to learn and share with each other about how they can better care for the Earth and all of creation in their daily lives,” said Kelly Bourke, interim program director of Faith Connections. “The hike will give young adults an opportunity to meet new friends with similar concerns and to learn and share about ways to connect ecology, faith, good food and a greener approach.” Evergreen Brick Works, run by Evergreen, a national charity, has transformed the site from a collection of deteriorating heritage buildings into one of the top 10 finalists in National Geographic’s Geotourism Challenge in 2010. The site was recognized for connecting city dwellers with nature.

Letting actions speak louder than words

June 29, 2011

The Acts of the Apostles is quickly becoming my favourite book of the Bible. Yes, we have the Gospels, in which Christ shows and tells us how to live. And we also have the Letter of James, which is very practical in telling us how to live our Christian lives on a daily basis. But if you want to see what God can do to a person who opens up their lives to Him, look no further than the Acts of the Apostles. They receive the Holy Spirit at Pentecost and they are off to the races, converting thousands to the love and truth of Christ. But there is an interesting part of the book where St. Paul and his companions “went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia” (Acts 16:6). Here are the Apostles, on fire with the Spirit, ready to sacrifice their lives, and the Spirit says, “Don’t.” The Holy Spirit telling someone to not spread the Gospel might seem odd. But I take it a step further and imagine the Spirit not only telling Paul “don’t,” but also telling him “not yet.” Jesus’ last command to His Apostles was to “make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19). But the truth is that sometimes people are simply not ready to hear the full power of the Gospel. Whether it is because they are too stubborn, jaded or have hardened hearts from years of pain and struggle, sometimes people are not ready to be exposed to it. And in fact, sometimes openly telling someone a key point about the Catholic faith could push him or her further away from God.

God over gamma rays

June 29, 2011

VATICAN CITY - Raised Catholic by Jewish and Catholic parents, Msgr. Robert L. Stern loved his faith but never planned on becoming a priest. The outgoing head of the international Vatican agency Catholic Near East Welfare Association said that when he was in college, the priesthood seemed like a "gloomy road" and he had his eyes instead on the brighter path of becoming a nuclear physicist. "It was the 'in' thing at the time," he told Catholic News Service at CNEWA's central office at the Vatican. But God had different plans for the native New Yorker, and the "temptation" to enter ordained life grew while he was an undergraduate student. The tall, spritely 78-year-old clergyman said he only thought about the priesthood because he felt the Holy Spirit calling him strongly and "I wanted to do what God wanted." Yet it was with "fear and trepidation" that he started exploring a priestly vocation in his junior year at college.

Vigil rallies support for torture victims worldwide

June 29, 2011

TORONTO - Christians should be lobbying their Members of Parliament to put pressure on countries that exercise torture, Jesuit Father Valerian Shirima told a small group gathered at a 12-hour prayer vigil held by the Toronto chapter of Action by Christians for the Abolition of Torture (ACAT). Commemorating the United Nations’ International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, about 15 people attended the vigil at the University of St. Michael’s College, which ran from 7 p.m. June 25 to 7 a.m. the following morning, for various lengths of time. “We are collectively praying together, meditating and thinking of victims of torture,” Stephen Scharper, director of ACAT-Toronto, told The Catholic Register. ACAT is an ecumenical organization that campaigns for the abolition of torture throughout the world and lends support to victims. First established in Paris in 1974, the organization is now active in 30 countries. The Toronto chapter was founded in October 2010 by Scharper with help from his PhD student, Simon Appolloni.