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July 2011

July 1

The Church stands on the picket line

July 1, 2011

Unions, strikes and lockouts have dominated headlines and preoccupied the government as Canada eases into summer. So how many sermons are being preached about the right of workers to unionize? How often do Catholics recall the teaching of successive popes that workers have a right to a just wage that will provide for their families and old age? Windsor and District Labour Council chaplain Fr. Bill Capitano — Fr. Cap down at the union hall — is convinced those sermons need to be preached. “You might lose some people, but I think you would gain more,” Capitano told The Catholic Register. “The Church is talking about decent, living wages and the right to unionize. Maybe I’m dreaming, but I think that would be good for the Church.” Beginning with the Canadian Auto Workers’ brief strike against Air Canada in mid-June, the Conservative government has taken an aggressive stance against strikes which Labour Minister Lisa Raitt said threaten the economy. The CAW and Air Canada decided to arbitrate their pension dispute before back-to-work legislation could take effect. Legislation imposed on Canada Post and its locked-out workers has saddled workers with lower pay raises than the employer had initially proposed in bargaining. Meanwhile, the Public Service Alliance of Canada is predicting a bitter fight over government plans for job cuts.

July 2

Father prepares daughters for the dating world

July 2, 2011

TORONTO - Dating is the farthest thing from nine-year-old Aramayah Ocol’s mind. She prefers walking to the ice cream store with her dad. No one matches up to “Daddy.” That’s just how Noel Ocol hopes it will be, that is until Aramayah is old enough to be courted by potential suitors. Ocol, a 39-year-old parishioner at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in downtown Toronto, started a blog “Like Father, Like Daughters” for Our Kids Media, an online magazine for private schools. “So how can I as a dad be proactive against a world where modern pop-culture causes girls to see themselves as a sexual objects and packages love as something from a vending machine where you put your money in, get what you want and throw the rest out?” he asks in his blog.

July 3

Parishes gearing up for launch of new Missal

July 3, 2011

TORONTO - Toronto Catholic parishioners will be getting a sneak peek at the new Roman Missal in their parishes as early as this summer. A number of parishes will be preparing their flocks for the third edition of the Roman Missal which is set to launch in Canada on Nov. 27, the first Sunday of Advent. Msgr. Brad Massman, pastor of St. Paul’s Basilica, said the parish’s musicians are already taking courses in preparation for the new Missal. And parishioners will receive more information this summer through parish announcements. “We’re going to talk to people about the new Missal. It’s a good time to refresh all of us as far as the Mass is concerned,” said Massman. According to the new Missal, the structure and order of the Mass will not change, but there will be new texts for prayers and new observances for saints in the Church calendar. Other additions include a Mass in thanksgiving for the gift of human life and an extended vigil for Pentecost.

July 5

Exhibit for anniversary of Vatican archives to include WWII material

July 5, 2011

VATICAN CITY - Documents from the still-sealed Second World War section of the Vatican Secret Archives will be part of a major exhibition of Vatican papers hosted by the city of Rome. The exhibit marking the 400th anniversary of the Vatican archives will be open February-September 2012 at Rome's Capitoline Museums. Bishop Sergio Pagano, prefect of the Vatican Secret Archives, said that with special permission from the Vatican Secretariat of State "a very limited number" of documents related to the Second World War would be among the 100 documents and objects from the eighth to the 20th century placed on public display. "The exhibit certainly will not be able to shed new light on Pius XII because (the archival papers from) this pontificate are still closed," the bishop said July 5 at a news conference announcing the exhibit.

Budget surplus at Vatican, but worldwide giving down

July 5, 2011

VATICAN CITY - The Vatican reported a budget surplus for the first time in four years in 2010, but said contributions from Catholics and dioceses around the world had gone down. The budget of the Holy See, which includes offices of the Roman Curia and related agencies, ended 2010 with a surplus of about $13.1 million. The separate budget of Vatican City State, which includes the Vatican Museums, ended 2010 with a surplus of about $28 million, according to a Vatican statement July 2. The figures were released following a three-day meeting of a council of cardinals charged with reviewing Vatican finances. The statement said the Vatican's financial picture continued to improve, but it cautioned that the global financial picture still presented "elements of uncertainty and instability."

Court ruling reaffirms family rights in end-of-life care conflict

July 5, 2011

TORONTO - An Ontario Court of Appeal ruling that makes it harder for doctors to withdraw life support when such a decision goes against a patient's family's wishes is "fabulous" news to the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition. Alex Schadenberg, executive director of the coalition, said the June 29 ruling in the case of Hassan Rasouli was exactly what the coalition was hoping for. "Doctors were interpreting their power as being that they could withdraw treatment without consent and that they only required consent to treat," said Schadenberg. The withdrawal of life support now requires the consent of a substitute decision maker — and if that's not satisfactory to the doctor, he or she must go to the provincial Consent and Capacity Board to try to have the decision overturned, said Toronto lawyer Gardner Hodder, who represented the Rasouli family.

Parents' group seeks apology from TCDSB superintendent

July 5, 2011

TORONTO - A Toronto-based parent group is crying foul over comments made by a Toronto Catholic board superintendent which they claim makes light of Catholic parents' concerns about the board's new equity policy and “appear to mock the teaching of authentic Catholic doctrines.” The Ontario Catholic Parents' Association criticized remarks by superintendent Patrick Keyes to Xtra, a gay and lesbian magazine. In a June 22 article, Keyes was quoted as saying, “every time a teacher spoke about homosexuality they had to also say to students, ‘By the way, you’re intrinsically disordered.’ ” OCPA is seeking an apology from the board. "I cannot envision any Catholic teacher ever saying what Keyes imagined," said Teresa Pierre, spokesperson for the OCPA. "This is a caricature of what the catechism teaches, and it is unacceptable to find it attributed to an administrative officer charged with handling the Church’s doctrines in a respectful manner.” Pierre added that “the catechism does not teach people that people are disordered by homosexuality, only that the acts are disordered.”

Church wants to be part of recovering native identity

July 5, 2011

INUVIK, N.W.T. - The Church in the north can help native people recover their languages and cultural identity, but it won't be easy, said Oblate Archbishop Sylvain Lavoie at the conclusion of four days of testimony about the damage residential schools did to native families, communities and culture. Justice Murray Sinclair, chief commissioner of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada with a five-year mandate to investigate the history of the schools, wrapped up the TRC's Northern National Event in Inuvik July 1 with a warning to aboriginal participants in the Commission's hearings that they will have to take responsibility for the future of native culture. "The Church can't give you back your language. The Church can't give you back your culture," Sinclair told about 400 people who attended the closing ceremonies for the event. Sinclair told churches they would have to tell people they don't have to be Christian if they really want reconciliation.

Pope asks artists to fill the world with beauty

July 5, 2011

VATICAN CITY - Greeting 60 artists who were honoring him on the 60th anniversary of his priestly ordination, Pope Benedict XVI asked them to give witness to the beauty of truth and love. Meeting the artists July 4 at their exhibit in the atrium of the Vatican audience hall, Pope Benedict said the church and artists must intensify their dialogue and collaboration to make the world "more human and more beautiful." The Pontifical Council for Culture organized the homage by the 60 artists -- the vast majority of whom were from Italy because of time constraints and the cost of shipping art, Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, council president, told Vatican Radio. Pope Benedict celebrated the anniversary of his ordination June 29.

July 6

God expects the righteous to be kind

July 6, 2011

16th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A) July 17 (Wisdom 12:13, 16-19; Psalm 86; Romans 8:26-27; Matthew 13:24-43) The use of force and violence — despite our denials — is widely admired by many people. Just look at movies and video games, as well as the heroes and idols adored by our culture. Restraint and refusal to resort to force is readily seen as a sign of weakness. And strange as it may seem, there are those who prefer a God who is rather violent and quick to punish evildoers (as long as it is someone else!) in the severest ways. They see God’s wrath lurking behind every natural or human disaster and every personal tragedy. The author of wisdom does not deny for a moment that God is sovereign and has the power to do whatever He wants. But God’s true greatness and strength lies in His restraint and reluctance to resort to such responses. This patience and mildness is borne of God’s intense concern and care for all people and the fervent wish that all have a change of mind and heart. This does not mean that God is a pushover or just turns a blind eye to our injustice, unkindness and downright cruelty. We live in a moral universe. We will meet ourselves in our experience — what we deal out to others will return to us in one form or another.

Order accuses Fr. Corapi of sexual, financial wrongdoing, falsehoods

July 6, 2011

WASHINGTON - Fr. John A. Corapi, a highly visible speaker and preacher who had his own television show, was involved in "years of co-habitation" with a former prostitute, repeated abuse of alcohol and drugs and "serious violation" of his promise of poverty, according to a fact-finding team appointed by his religious order. Corapi, who recently announced he would leave the priesthood because he could not get a "fair hearing" on misconduct allegations against him, has been ordered by the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity to return to live at the order's regional headquarters in Robstown, Texas, and to dismiss a lawsuit against the woman whose accusations prompted the investigation. "Catholics should understand that (the order) does not consider Fr. John Corapi as fit for ministry," said a July 5 news release from Fr. Gerard Sheehan, regional priest servant for the order, commonly known as SOLT.

July 7

Vatican says ordinations for traditionalist society 'illegitimate'

July 7, 2011

VATICAN CITY - The ordinations of 20 new priests for the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X are "illegitimate, period," said the Vatican spokesman, Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi.

TCDSB seeks funds for rebuild of Dante Alighieri

July 7, 2011

The Toronto Catholic District School Board is looking for a new school building at Dante Alighieri Academy as opposed to the addition the province wants to fund to alleviate overcrowding at the Toronto high school. The board will be making a business case to the Ontario Ministry of Education this month for additional funding for a new building for students at the current site near Dufferin Street and Lawrence Avenue West, said local trustee Maria Rizzo. The TCDSB is seeking at least $12 million on top of the $16.4 million allocated by the province for an addition so that Dante Alighieri will be able to accommodate all of its 1,300 students at a single site. For years, Rizzo said students have been dispersed over three locations, with the board renting space at Bathurst Heights Secondary School, Sir Sanford Fleming Academy and the Columbus Centre.

July 8

Ontario CWL convention taking place in Hamilton

July 8, 2011

Catholic Women’s League [images/stories/logos/cwllogo.jpg]Three hundred Catholic women from across Ontario will meet from July 10-13 in Hamilton for the 64th annual Ontario Catholic Women’s League Provincial Convention.

Ontario CWL names new provincial president

July 8, 2011

Three hundred Catholic women from across Ontario met from July 10-13 in Hamilton for the 64th annual Ontario Catholic Women’s League Provincial Convention, where Marlene Pavletic of Thunder Bay was chosen as the new provincial president. This year’s four-day conference, which concluded with the election of a new provincial executive including Pavletic, was themed “Centred on Faith & Justice — Led By The Spirit." Held at the Sheraton Hotel in Hamilton, the convention offered representatives of the CWL, which has 54,000 members in 13 dioceses across Ontario, a chance to reflect on the past year, deepen and celebrate their faith and set their goals for the future. Those goals consisted mainly of this year’s three resolutions, each focused on health. The resolutions, submitted by Ontarian dioceses, aim to provide clean water for First Nations communities, limit sodium use in food and raise awareness of colorectal cancer. These resolutions, which were passed at the provincial level, will be submitted to the national CWL, which will gather Aug. 14-17. A final set of resolutions will be chosen at the national convention and set as initiatives for the CWL over the next year.

Ireland wants religious orders land, property to pay abuse victims

July 8, 2011

DUBLIN - The Irish government has asked religious congregations implicated in the 2009 Ryan Report on abuse to transfer land and properties worth hundreds of millions of dollars to the state as part of a revised package to compensate victims. Education Minister Ruairi Quinn insisted that the 476 million euros ($681 million) already offered by the 18 congregations was not enough. He said he expected the congregations to pay 680 million euros and, if they are unable to do so, they should transfer the ownership of many of their schools to the state. None of the 18 religious congregations concerned would speak on the record about the latest proposal. However, a number privately expressed reservations about the land transfer.

July 9

Whatcott case could determine fate of religious freedom and free expression

July 9, 2011

OTTAWA - Bill Whatcott will be before the Supreme Court of Canada in October hoping to strike down the laws that allow human rights commissions to limit freedom of speech and religious expression.

July 10

Catholic groups join unions seeking work-free Sundays in Europe

July 10, 2011

OXFORD, England - Catholic Church groups have joined trade unions in the European Sunday Alliance, which will campaign to protect Sundays and ensure fairer conditions for family life. "Some people say there can never be a return to work-free Sundays — but the many working together in this alliance don't share this view," said Anna Echterhoff, legal adviser for institutional and social affairs at the Commission of the Bishops' Conferences of the European Community, one of the organizations supporting the alliance. "That so many stakeholders from different backgrounds are involved is something new and unique." The alliance was launched June 20 in Brussels by 65 Church organizations, unions and civil associations. Among them are Europe's Catholic Youth Network, the Central Committee of German Catholics, representatives of the German bishops and the European Jesuits, Poland's Solidarity union, France's Force Ouvriere and the Danish food workers' union. It also includes family organizations from a dozen countries. In a July 4 interview with Catholic News Service, Echterhoff said Sundays were protected under EU law as a rest day for children and adolescents. She said she hoped work-free Sundays would be reinstated under an EU directive now being prepared.

July 12

Free The Children refutes allegations it supports abortion

July 12, 2011

TORONTO — Free the Children, the international children’s rights group founded by Craig and Marc Kielburger, has denied a web site allegation that their charity supports abortion. “The policy of the organization has never changed or wavered,” said Marc Kielburger. “To be very clear, Free The Children is apolitical, and does not promote abortion, nor has it ever.” Kielburger was forced to respond to allegations published by LifeSiteNews that accused the organization of taking a “direct stand in favour of abortion.” The accusation was based on two fact sheets that briefly appeared 13 months ago on Free The Children’s web site. The documents criticized the Conservative government’s failure to include abortion funding in the maternal health care initiative it presented at the G20/G8 summits in 2010. The most contentious sentence read: “There is a consensus that family planning, including abortion, is crucial to reducing maternal deaths and improving the economic status of women in the poorest parts of the world.”

July 13

The internal battle for our souls

July 13, 2011

Two contraries cannot co-exist inside the same subject. Aristotle wrote that and it seems to say the obvious, something can’t be light and dark at the same time. However, in terms of what’s happening inside our souls it seems that contraries can indeed co-exist inside the same subject. At any given moment, inside us, we are a mixture of light and darkness, sincerity and hypocrisy, selflessness and selfishness, virtue and vice, grace and sin, saint and sinner. As Henri Nouwen used to say: We want to be great saints, but we also don’t want to miss out on all the sensations that sinners experience. And so our lives aren’t simple. We live with both light and darkness inside us and for long periods of time, it seems, contraries do co-exist inside us. Our souls are a battleground where selflessness and selfishness, virtue and sin, vie for dominance. But eventually one or the other will begin to dominate and work at weeding out the other. That’s why John of the Cross picks up this philosophical axiom and uses it to teach a key lesson about coming to purity of heart and purity of intention in our lives. Because contraries cannot co-exist inside us, there’s something vital we need to do. What?