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December 2011

December 20

Praying so as not to lose heart

December 20, 2011

One of the reasons we need to pray is so that we don’t lose heart. We all do sometimes. We lose heart whenever frustration, tiredness, fear and helplessness in the face of life’s humiliations conspire together to paralyse our energies, deaden our resiliency, drain our courage and leave us feeling weak in depression. Poet Jill Alexander Essbaum gives us a poignant example in her poem, “Easter.” Reflecting on the joy that Easter should bring into our lives, she shares that Easter can instead be a season of defeat for us because its celebration of joy can highlight the shortcomings of our own lives and leave us with the feeling that “Everyone I’ve ever loved lives happily just past my able reach.” And this feeling can drive us to our knees, in bitterness or prayer; hopefully prayer.

A Scottish family Christmas, Cummings style

December 20, 2011

The biggest challenge is the flour. It is difficult to bake traditional Canadian Christmas recipes in Edinburgh because British flour is so different from Canadian flour. Canadian flour is much higher in protein, and the laws of chemistry seem to dictate that any Canadian recipe prepared with British flour will fail horribly. The same can be said of Polish recipes, and when a Polish friend taught me how to make pierogies last week, we sent another Polish friend on his bicycle to the Polish grocery store to buy us Polish flour. Sadly there is no Canadian grocery store in Edinburgh, and so when it comes to Canadian baking, the only thing I can do is wait for a representative of my family to show up, stunned and jetlagged, with a big bag of economy all-purpose flour in her luggage. This year that was my eldest sister; last year it was my mother. My husband Mark and I had convinced my parents and my youngest brother and sister to spend their Christmas in sunny Scotland. Being in a hospitable mood, Scotland decided to have an epic blizzard before they arrived, and thus my family was treated to a familiar landscape. My sister, who had come from her job in Spain, was ebullient.

Shahbaz Bhatti - Martyr of faith

December 20, 2011

The Catholic News Service, which provides The Register with Vatican reports and international news, has named Pope Benedict XVI the top newsmaker of 2011. There is no disputing that Benedict dominated Catholic headlines as he passed his fifth anniversary as pontiff with another year of tireless service and faithful ministry. But in terms of a Catholic person of the year we respectfully nominate the Pakistan martyr Shahbaz Bhatti. Bhatti, Pakistan’s minister of minorities, was ambushed on his doorstep on March 2 because he lived openly as a Catholic in a hostile anti-Christian environment. He died because following in Christ’s footsteps compelled him to denounce his country’s detestable blasphemy laws and defend a Christian woman condemned to death on trumped-up blasphemy charges.

Pray for the souls of two vastly different priests

December 20, 2011

Gaudete Sunday must have been rather memorable at the throne of judgment. On Dec. 11, Cardinal John Patrick Foley died at the age of 76, after a long and distinguished life of service as Christian disciple and a Catholic priest. On the same day, Fr. Karl Clemens, a priest of the archdiocese of Kingston, died after a life marked by scandal and estrangement from the Church he served so poorly. Cardinal Foley was a pioneer in the Catholic media, going to Columbia Journalism School soon after his ordination in 1962. A priest of the archdiocese of Philadelphia, he edited their Catholic newspaper from 1970 to 1984, and then was called to Rome to be president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications. It was there that he became known as the “Vatican’s voice of Christmas,” providing the commentary for some 26 years for midnight Mass, the world’s most watched religious broadcast. For those who knew him in person, rather than as a journalist, it was his kindness, humour and deep faith which made him an exemplary face of the Church. At a vigil Mass the night before his funeral, Bishop Daniel Thomas, for whom he was both a friend and a spiritual father, spoke of Cardinal Foley as the “best of Philadelphia, the best of the priesthood, the best of the Church.”

2011 will certainly be a year to remember

December 20, 2011

Life can be like wine. Some years are simply better than others. And 2011 was a wonderful vintage for me. Don’t get me wrong, there were some bitter tannins at the bottom of the glass at times, but overall the bouquet was exceptional and the taste robust. It had to be after beginning the year with a remarkable trip to the Holy Land in January, my first time to walk where Jesus walked 2,000 years ago. It began as a business trip and quickly morphed into a spiritual journey.

Merry Christmas dad, for all that you did for me

December 20, 2011

When I was a small boy, I could never quite understand why my dad, God rest his soul, was always so tired on Christmas morning. For me, it was the day of sparkle and splendour that came just once a year, and every moment was to be relished and cherished to its utmost. My mum would come into my room late on Christmas Eve and tell me not to go to sleep. “Keep your eyes open Mike, stay awake.” It was reverse psychology in a cockney accent. I was asleep within moments. I would awake briefly at around 1:30 a.m., and in that twilight assumed it was Santa at work. I wanted to wake properly and see him, but I was just too tired.

Faith leaders help advance moral arguments

December 20, 2011

Vibrant public discourse is highly desirable, but it demands thoughtful application. During climate negotiations at December’s UN conference in Durban, the discourse was sour. On Day 1, disgruntled environmental activists presented Canada with a “Colossal Fossil” award after Environment Minister Peter Kent declared “Kyoto is the past.” Following media reports that the Canadian government planned to withdraw from the Kyoto Protocol, Kent clarified on Dec. 5 that Canada was not actually withdrawing but would simply not agree to a second commitment period. That was followed by a torrent of exaggerated invective launched in Canadian media in response to a full-page ad published in the Globe and Mail. The ad, signed by South African dignitaries, including the Nobel Peace laureate, Anglican Archbishop emeritus Desmond Tutu, praised Canada for its role to end apartheid in South Africa but also questioned Canada’s current commitment to prevention of climate change, which was called “a life- and-death issue” for Africans. The ad went on to criticize the sacred cow of Canadian energy policy: the Athabasca oil sands.

Bishops move ahead on two-stage pastoral plan for life and family

December 20, 2011

OTTAWA - The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) will proceed with a pastoral plan for life and family that will launch nationally in 2013 after a preparatory year in the dioceses. In a mid-December letter to his brother bishops, CCCB President Archbishop Richard Smith confirmed the CCCB’s Permanent Council has given the proposed plan a green light after reviewing the practical aspects of the decisions made at the bishops’ annual plenary meeting in October. “I am happy to confirm that we will proceed, as we had all agreed, with the elements of the pastoral plan for 2013 and for a preparatory year during 2012,” Smith wrote.

December 21

Bishops hope North Korea's regime change will bring peace, unification

December 21, 2011

VATICAN CITY — The death of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has opened a window of opportunity for renewed dialogue and possible reunification of the peninsula, said two South Korean bishops. Bishop Peter Kang U-il of Cheju, president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Korea, said the leader's death Dec. 17 "may be the beginning of a turning point for the path of the reunification of the Koreas." "We hope that the Lord gives the light and strength to the North Korean brothers so that there is a return for a policy focused on dialogue, peace and reconciliation," he said in an interview Dec. 19 with Fides, the Vatican's missionary news agency. Bishop Lazzaro You Heung-sik of Daejeon, South Korea, told the Rome-based AsiaNews Dec. 19 that "we must focus on dialogue for peace but remain alert." He said he feared the leader's death would prompt "a period of great confusion." "Inside the regime, there will (be) a clash between the party and the army. The young age of the heir will not help a smooth transition," said You. Kim's youngest son, 27-year-old Kim Jong-un, was declared the country's next leader. Kim, who suffered a stroke in 2008, had ruled the reclusive communist state since 1994, following the death of his father, Kim Il-sung. You said the new leader lacks the political experience needed to guide the country's relations with the United States, South Korea and China. He expressed concerns that the transition would not be smooth and that "a harsh conflict will break out now between the party, which is in the hands of the heir's uncle, and the military that are answerable to Kim Jong-un." Too much political wrangling would mean the citizens of North Korea end up paying the price with continued poverty and deaths from hunger, he said. "We must do our utmost to start sending humanitarian aid again and prevent more deaths from the situation. It is too soon to say what will happen on the Korean Peninsula, but we must pray and work so that peace wins," said You. "We need to focus on dialogue now that a certain window of opportunity has opened up. We must pray for peace in Korea and the world, and use the Christmas season to remain vigilant but with a hand extended to our brothers in the North." Fr. Baptist John Kim Hun-il, executive secretary of the Korean bishops' Subcommittee for Aid to North Korea, expressed hope that Kim's death would not plunge North Korea into further chaos, the Asian Church news agency UCA News reported. He also said that the bishops want to continue the committee's aid program to the North and that there might be the possibility of more openness within the secretive state that could lead to progress in reconciliation efforts. After Korea was freed from Japanese rule at the end of the Second World War, it was split into the Soviet Union-backed communist North and the U.S.-supported South. There have been no permanent resident priests or religious in North Korea since the Korean War started in 1950. In 1988, the government created the North Korea Catholic Association and built a Catholic church the following year. Occasionally, when Catholic clergy are allowed to visit the North, they are permitted to celebrate Mass in the church, but no one knows how many Catholics remain in the North. The North is deeply impoverished and although churches are tightly controlled, Caritas Internationalis — the Vatican-based confederation of national Catholic charities — has been working in the North for more than 15 years. The help began when a series of floods in 1996 led to severe famine that lasted for years.

Prague archbishop remembers Havel as friend, 'fellow prisoner'

December 21, 2011

PRAGUE — Calling former Czech President Vaclav Havel a "friend and fellow prisoner," the president of the Czech bishops' conference said the entire nation owes Havel a debt of gratitude for its freedom and the new flourishing of Czech life and culture. Archbishop Dominik Duka of Prague, who was imprisoned with Havel by the communists, asked that the bells of all Catholic churches in the Czech Republic ring at 6 p.m. Dec. 18 in memory of the former president who died that morning at the age of 75. The archbishop, who met Havel in prison in 1981 and continued to meet with him after the end of communism in 1989, was scheduled to celebrate Havel's funeral Mass Dec. 23 in St. Vitus Cathedral. "He knew the loss of freedom, the denial of human dignity, oppression and imprisonment," Duka said in a statement posted Dec. 18 on the Czech bishops' web site. "I am convinced that everyone across the country, regardless of political or religious beliefs, owes him honour and thanks." Havel, a playwright and essayist, was one of the founders of the Charter 77 movement, which began criticizing the communist government of then-Czechoslovakia, particularly for its lack of respect for human rights, in 1977. He served four years of hard labour and nine months in prison for dissident activities before becoming head of state after the 1989 "Velvet Revolution" that toppled communism. He resigned in 1992 when Slovakia declared its independence, but was elected president of the Czech Republic six months later. Havel met Pope Benedict XVI during the Pope's trip to Prague in 2009. He met Blessed John Paul II at least five times, three of them in Prague, and Havel attended the late pope's funeral at the Vatican in 2005. The two men admired one another and saw each other as participants in the same battle for freedom, human rights, human dignity and respect for the cultures of Eastern Europe. In an interview with a Polish Catholic news agency in 2000, Havel said, "John Paul II is someone very close to me, who continually startles me with his personality and inspires me. "His language, constantly stressing human dignity and recalling the rights of man, has been a novelty in the papacy's history. If the pope had been someone else, from another part of the world, without the historical experience of Poland, he probably wouldn't have had such a clear attitude to totalitarianism. John Paul II's services in this area are undeniable," he said. He also told the interviewer that in April 1990 he made his confession to Pope John Paul during the pope's first Czech pilgrimage while under the spell of the pope's "charismatic personality." "I suddenly realized I was in fact confessing in front of him, even though I'm not accustomed to going to confession, since I'm not a practising Catholic. I felt the need because of the great will to understand the other person that emanates from the person of the pope," Havel said. L'Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper, noted that Havel attended a Mass of thanksgiving in St. Vitus Cathedral immediately after his inauguration in 1989, restoring a practice Czech leaders had followed for centuries until the communists came to power. "That ceremony was not only the recovery of an ancient liturgy that united politics and tradition, culture and religion, but represented the beginning of a new history, a history of freedom of which Vaclav Havel was the most important symbol," the newspaper said.

December 22

A passion for creches

December 22, 2011

Markham, Ont. - When you arrive at the Patton home in Markham, there’s no mistaking that Christmas is coming. Not only are visitors greeted by a Nativity scene on the front lawn and a manger scene on an entire side wall, inside the house are more than 900 crèches. Nativity scenes are a passion for Gwen Patton. She has some 450 of them on the main floor. They’re everywhere — in the living, family and dining rooms, the kitchen and along hallways. There are another 450 or so in the basement, with a few scattered in bedrooms. Patton knows the story behind each one of them. Asked to name her favourite, she’s reluctant.

New Chancellor of Temporal Affairs appointed

December 22, 2011

TORONTO — The new year will bring a new Chancellor of Temporal Affairs for the archdiocese of Toronto. James Milway is to join the archdiocese in the spring, replacing outgoing chancellor John McGrath. Milway is certainly no stranger in archdiocesan corridors. Over the past decade, he has had extensive consulting assignments with the archdiocese, including projects related to World Youth Day 2002, ShareLife, Catholic Charities and Catholic Cemeteries. He is currently working on the archdiocese's strategic planning process, and "his knowledge and experience working with us both past and present will be a tremendous asset as he begins his new assignment," said Toronto Archbishop Thomas Collins in a statement. Though Milway currently lives in the Hamilton diocese, his connection to Toronto runs deep. His formative years were spent here and he was educated at the University of St. Michael's College. His five children were born at St. Michael's Hospital and all were baptized in the archdiocese. "I've been fortunate to work with many parts of the Chancery Office in my consulting career and look forward to reconnecting with the many friends I have there," said Milway. "It will be tough to follow John McGrath — he's been such an effective Chancellor and I know he will be missed. But he and his predecessors have developed a strong foundation for someone like me to build on. I hope to follow well in their footsteps." Milway has been executive director of the Institute for Competitiveness and Prosperity, a think-tank sponsored by the province of Ontario and the Rotman School at the University of Toronto, and spent 15 years with the Canada Consulting Group & Boston Consulting Group, including three years as vice-president. McGrath will continue working with the archdiocese "for a reasonable period" to ensure an orderly transition, said Collins.

December 23

Psychiatrist says disgraced Bishop Lahey not a pedophile

December 23, 2011

OTTAWA - Disgraced Bishop Raymond Lahey engaged in a number of homosexual “one-night stands” before settling into a 10-year relationship with a man, according to testimony Dec. 19 at Lahey’s sentencing hearing on child pornography charges. Court also heard that Lahey has an addiction to Internet pornography but is probably not a pedophile and poses a next-to-zero chance of offending sexually or violently against children, according to a forensic psychiatrist. Dr. John Bradford, who examined Lahey, said Lahey has gay sadomasochistic fantasies where he is the submissive partner, although Lahey claims he has never acted on them. The former Antigonish bishop, 71, pleaded guilty last May to possession of child pornography for the purpose of importation. He opted to go directly to jail before sentencing and has served seven and a half months.

New homes help tsunami survivors adjust to changed circumstances

December 23, 2011

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia - Squatting inside his small home in the fishing hamlet of Alua Naga near the city of Banda Aceh, Hussein Sweid knitted together a fishing net, preparing for his next venture out to sea. "This is a new life and I am slowly coming in terms with it," Sweid, 45, said, surrounded by his family: a wife of four years and two daughters, both now almost 3 years old. Tears welled up in his eyes as he recalled how he lost four of his five children and first wife in the Dec. 26, 2004, tsunami when the sea rose up to 38 feet, submerging much of westernmost Indonesia's island of Sumatra. "Only my (10-year-old) daughter survived because she was with the grandparents (in another city) at the time," Sweid said.

Pope points to joyful lessons learned from World Youth Day, Benin trip

December 23, 2011

VATICAN CITY - Knowing one is loved by God gives life meaning and gives one the energy needed to carry on with joy, even in difficult personal or societal situations, Pope Benedict XVI told top Vatican officials. Meeting members of the Roman Curia Dec. 22 for his annual exchange of Christmas greetings, the pope said the "faith fatigue" seen in various areas of church life contrasts sharply with the faith and joy he witnessed during World Youth Day in Madrid and during his November trip to Benin. The two trips, he said, hold lessons for church leaders and for the faithful.

Midnight Masses canceled in Iraq because of growing security concerns

December 23, 2011

LONDON - Chaldean Catholic officials have canceled traditional Christmas Eve midnight Masses because of security risks. Chaldean Archbishop Louis Sako of Kirkuk in northern Iraq told the agency Aid to the Church in Need that Christians will spend Christmas in "great fear" because of the risk of new attacks. All services and Masses have been scheduled for daylight hours, he said in an interview with Rome-based AsiaNews.

Love of drawing unites Register Christmas contest winners [w/ slideshow]

December 23, 2011

Jade Cruz entered The Catholic Register’s Christmas drawing contest to show that we celebrate Christmas because it’s Jesus’ birthday. Her drawing was one of more than 700 entries to the inaugural contest. Cruz, 11, is one of the three contest winners depicting the Nativity of Jesus at the first Christmas of Bethlehem. The Holy Spirit Catholic School of Scarborough student took the top spot for the Grades 4 to 6 category. “We should be thankful for Him because He always protects us and blesses us,” she said. “We should also learn who His parents are and why He is the right hand of our Lord.” Jade Cruz, 11 [images/stories/_larger2011/winner4-6.jpg]

Christmas is alive across the city

December 23, 2011

TORONTO - Christmas has not been banished to churches and pious homes. Commercial Christmas may be everywhere — bigger, brighter and louder than any tale of how Christ came into the world — but the insanely jovial Santas and blizzard of inane holiday songs on the radio are not the end of the story. There are Christmas creches in businesses, out on the street, in offices, in all kinds of places around the city. At Casa Manila in North York the only thing owners Rizalde and Mila Cuachon need to evoke the birth of Jesus is a star — or a couple dozen stars — hanging from the ceiling of their restaurant. The traditional Filipino parol is a lantern made from bamboo and Japanese paper. It evokes the star that led magi to Bethlehem. The Cuachons’ collection of parols joyously declare, “Christ is here.”

Combining faith and business ethics

December 23, 2011

Christina Leurer has a question that speaks to Catholic business students across the country. The fourth-year commerce student at the University of British Columbia wonders if faith and business can co-exist and if business can put faith before profit. “There are a lot of people focused on the bottom line,” said Leurer. “I’m worried I’d have to make a decision I’m opposed to. I certainly believe the business world does compromise faith.”

Youth at the heart of this year’s World Day of Peace

December 23, 2011

VATICAN CITY - When young people recognize the dignity and beauty of every human life, including their own, and are supported in their natural desire to make the world a better place, they become agents of justice and peace in the world, Pope Benedict XVI said. Peace and justice are built on “a profound respect for every human being and helping others to live a life consonant with this supreme dignity,” the Pope said in his message for the World Day of Peace 2012. The Catholic Church celebrates World Peace Day Jan. 1. The Pope’s message for the occasion was released Dec. 16 at the Vatican and sent, through Vatican ambassadors, to the leaders of nations around the world.