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November 2011

November 29

Mind God’s gift

November 29, 2011

It was hardly news on Nov. 28 when federal Environment Minister Peter Kent dismissed the Kyoto protocol as a “big blunder.” Like the Liberals who signed the climate-change treaty in 1997, the Conservatives have made little effort to honour Canadian promises to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But Canada is not alone. As 190 nations gathered in Durban for a climate conference, the spirit of Kyoto, if not the treaty itself, was vanishing faster than the icebergs it was supposed to save. Kyoto was doomed by the many countries that cynically signed on and then did nothing and by a handful of big countries, such as the United States and China, that snubbed the treaty all along and gave big polluters like Canada an excuse to renege.

Author mines the deepest truth of our faith

November 29, 2011

The world has few writers with the fervour to publicly trash the covers of their own books. The world has even fewer writers like Heather King. For that reason alone, King’s newly released Shirt of Flame: A Year With Saint Thérèse of Lisieux is the one book I’ve read this year that I would suggest as a guidebook for the pilgrimage of ordinary life.

A common faith... and perhaps craziness in common

November 29, 2011

My fellow Catholic Register columnist Peter Stockland and I may just be crazy. After writing thousands of columns between us, we certainly know that some readers think so! But this craziness is somewhat different. We have decided to start a magazine. It’s called Convivium (www.cardus.ca/convivium), and a special preview issue was launched in October. We start bimonthly publishing next February. Convivium literally means life together, though the word is often translated to mean banquet or festive meal; hence the “convivial” person is one who would enliven such an occasion. Our subject is just that — our common life together as Canadians. Specifically, we claim to be about faith in our common life.

Weekly Catholic Crossword #10 - Dec 4th 2011

November 29, 2011

"Patron Saints of Cities" See how you get on with the latest crossword in our new series. Select "file > print" in your browser to print off your own copy.

Anglican archbishop’s claim of rape has no substance, investigation finds

November 29, 2011

ADELAIDE, AUSTRLIA - A prominent Church-appointed lawyer who investigated an Anglican archbishop’s claims of rape against a Catholic priest has found there is no substance to the allegations. The primate of the Traditional Anglican Communion, Archbishop John Hepworth, claimed in September that a still-living Catholic priest had raped him more than 40 years ago when Hepworth was a young Catholic priest. He also claimed he had been a victim of two other priests who have since died.

TCDSB looks to appoint ombudsperson

November 29, 2011

TORONTO - The Toronto Catholic District School Board voted unanimously to look into creating the board’s first independent ombudsperson. Vice-chair Jo-Ann Davis, who sponsored the motion at the Nov. 24 board meeting, said an independent ombudsperson would “ensure further transparency” and a system that’s “responsive and accountable.” The TCDSB policy and governance committee will be looking into the motion and will be inviting experts to speak on the issue, she said.

Section 13 repeal in for a fight

November 29, 2011

OTTAWA - A Conservative MP’s private member’s bill to repeal the controversial hate crimes section of the Canadian Human Rights Act is facing opposition in the House of Commons. Though Justice Minister Rob Nicholson recently threw his support behind Brian Storseth’s private member’s Bill C-304, when it came up for second reading Nov. 22 Storseth was unable to find anyone from the NDP or the Liberal Party to speak in its favour. Members of both parties spoke against the bill, with NDP Associate Justice Critic Francoise Boivin accusing the government of scaring people and “leading them to believe that good citizens will be cheerfully brought before the courts to have their right to freedom of expression challenged and that it will cost them a fortune.”

Catholic agencies fear damage from cuts to settlement agencies

November 29, 2011

Catholic agencies that help immigrants and refugees settle in Ontario don’t know how they will cope with their share of a $31.5-million funding cut to settlement agencies in Ontario. This year’s cuts come on top of $42.5 million shaved off Ontario’s allotment for settling and retraining immigrants last year. Over two years, Ontario has lost 20 per cent of its funding from Citizenship and Immigration for services to newcomers, according to the Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants. “We’re trying to make some plans and think through how we would react to a variety of different levels of cutbacks,” said Catholic Cross-Cultural Services executive director Carolyne Davis.

November 30

Violence mars Congo's election

November 30, 2011

KINSHASA, Congo - Catholic officials called for calm after a tense day of polling in which violent incidents claimed the lives of nearly a dozen people during Congo's presidential and legislative elections. "The electoral campaign that took place in a tense atmosphere has ended with a funereal note," the Congolese bishops' conference said in a Nov. 29 statement that deplored deaths in a polling station in the southeastern city of Lubumbashi. Armed men in civilian clothes, reportedly members of a local Katanga separatist movement, attacked the polling station, killing two police officers and one female voter. In the same area, police also opened fire and killed seven or eight men who attacked a convoy carrying electoral materials.

Third World ethical challenges for the First World

November 30, 2011

When I began work as a health care ethicist more than 20 years ago, the discipline was focussed on two main issues: respecting the rights of individual patients, particularly through the practice of informed consent, and working through issues posed by the growth in medical technology. Artificial organs, gene-altering therapies, conceiving children in Petri dishes sounded like the stuff of science fiction. But they were real and ethicists grappled with questions of limits, of preserving human dignity, of trying to understand what death meant when a body could be kept warm and breathing almost indefinitely. This was medical ethics in the first, or developed, world.

D&P pushing for sustainable, small-scale farming

November 30, 2011

The Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace believes Canadians may be eating the planet to death, so they’re going to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to nudge the world into a whole new food system. Next June the United Nations Development Program will host Rio+20, a conference aimed at evaluating progress since the landmark Rio Earth Summit of 1992. Development and Peace is one of several Catholic organizations planning on attending. “For us, responsible care of the planet is part of our campaign. It’s part of our five-year theme. We see it as a priority issue,” said Development and Peace program officer Mary Durran.

Youth-run charity to help one good cause at a time

November 30, 2011

Change, one year at a time. That is the idea behind 1Focus, a charitable organization founded by Toronto students Miranda Dela Cruz and Isabel Ng-Lai. Their goal is to focus on one issue every year. This year, 1Focus announced its first mission would be to promote education by raising $10,000 for three schools run by the Loretto Sisters in Darjeeling, India: Loreto Panighatta, Loreto Lolay and Loreto Sadem.

Keeping the faith can help young families

November 30, 2011

It seems the number of teenagers having children is on the rise. It is not an ideal circumstance to have teen parents raising an infant, but it doesn’t mean something good cannot come out of it, and while it is a struggle, young parents can turn to their Catholic faith. My mother gave birth to me one month shy of her 16th birthday. I was baptized a few months later and when I was old enough, I was sent to Catholic schools. There, I learned about God and my faith. My mother and I went to church sometimes, but she worked a lot and went to school, so we didn’t often go together. Instead, it was left to my grandparents to take me.

Toronto school steps up for Sudan girls

November 30, 2011

TORONTO - An all-girls Toronto Catholic high school is looking to raise $20,000 this school year to help sustain South Sudan’s first secondary school for girls. “We are trying to raise enough funds to help (the Loretto Sisters) open that school so young women can continue to be educated,” said Loretto Abbey High School principal Alda Bassani. Toronto’s Loretto Abbey is partnering with another Loretto Abbey in Dublin, Ireland, to raise funds for the Loreto Secondary Boarding School in South Sudan. The school is run by the Irish province of the Loretto Sisters, also known as the Institute of the Blessed Virgin May (IBVM). Students and staff will be donating proceeds from charity events throughout the school year. Planned so far are a pasta night, Christmas concert and multicultural event.

Fr. Frank Portelli takes up challenge as new head of Toronto's youth office

November 30, 2011

TORONTO - Fr. Frank Portelli is embracing a new challenge in his priestly life, taking the reins as the director of the archdiocese of Toronto’s Office of Catholic Youth. “Successful youth ministry is when you’ve engaged the young person,” Portelli told The Catholic Register. “Not imposing something but finding out what their desire is, what their questions are and trying to meet that need.” Portelli was assigned as director of the OCY Nov. 1 and is currently in a transition period as he works between his new post and as associate pastor at St. Luke’s parish in Thornhill. As of January, he will be able to focus his efforts solely on his new ministry. Replacing Christian Elia, his posting is for three years.

At audience, Pope praises groups for efforts to ban death penalty

November 30, 2011

VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI gave a special greeting of encouragement to delegations meeting in Rome -- including a group from Illinois -- to promote the abolition of the death penalty. During his weekly audience Nov. 30 at the Vatican, Pope Benedict said he hoped the work of the delegations would "encourage political and legislative initiatives being promoted in a number of countries to eliminate the death penalty" and promote progress in penal law that speaks equally to "the human dignity of prisoners and the effective maintenance of public order." The 12-person Illinois group, members of the Illinois Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, was led by state Rep. Karen Yarbrough. Under Gov. Pat Quinn, Illinois became the 16th state to abolish the death penalty in March.

Stopping the stigma in the TCDSB

November 30, 2011

TORONTO - Jeremy Taggart, drummer for popular Canadian rock band Our Lady Peace, wants to help stop the stigma around mental health issues. On Nov. 25, he did just that, relating his personal story as keynote speaker for the third annual “No Health without Mental Health” symposium run by the Toronto Catholic District School Board. Taggart spoke about his brother’s battle with schizophrenia. “We’re here because we’re trying to gauge what is crazy and what is normal,” the former Catholic school student told the audience of about 300 students and teachers. “And it’s a struggle that we all try to gauge every single day.”

Toronto parishioners seem to accept new Missal

November 30, 2011

TORONTO - Toronto’s first run at the new Sacramentary hit a few rough spots but didn’t upset many parishioners. “I didn’t notice a lot of difference. It was more what the priest says, I think,” noted Our Lady of Lourdes parishioner Peter Maigher at the end of the 11:30 a.m. Sunday Mass. Maigher’s reaction was typical of what churchgoers told The Catholic Register at Nov. 26-27 Masses.

Vatican says seat-belt complaint drew papal smile

November 30, 2011

VATICAN CITY - The Vatican said Pope Benedict XVI greeted with a smile the news that a German citizen had filed a complaint against him for not wearing a seat belt in his popemobile. The Vatican spokesman, Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, said Nov. 30 that the complaint was not being taken seriously at the Vatican. "It continues to provoke curiosity and smiles of amusements, beginning with the Pope himself," Father Lombardi said.

Audits of six Irish dioceses show better handling of clergy abuse cases

November 30, 2011

DUBLIN - Audits of six Irish Catholic dioceses reveal "a marked improvement" in how the church is handling clerical abuse allegations. However, the reviews, carried out by the independent National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church and released Nov. 30, also show that, in the past, too much emphasis was put on the rights of accused priests and protecting the reputation of the church. Each review found evidence that insufficient attention was paid to the suffering of victims and the long-term consequences of abuse.