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February 2012

February 28

The common good is the choice we must make

February 28, 2012

In a time of high unemployment, jittery stock markets and worrying news about the European and American fiscal crises, many Canadians have been lowering their debt loads. Their federal government is planning to do the same. Its challenge is to implement cuts without stalling a fragile recovery while also making the investments necessary to protect the next generation of Canadians.

Protect Syria’s Christians

February 28, 2012

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is a despot whose shooting and shelling of his own people cannot be defended, yet he may be the last line of defence for Syria’s Catholics. For that reason, Syrian Church leaders are taking a cautious approach to the nearly year-long rebellion to topple Assad. They have been pleading for calm, for dialogue and for Western assistance to find a peaceful solution to Syria’s popular uprising as the nation moves ever closer to all-out civil war. So far, the dispute is political, but churchmen fear the fighting may quickly turn religious.

Who needs parents when we are blessed with government?

February 28, 2012

Credit Air Canada with cluing me in to the bracing effects of the state sticking its imperious snout so deeply into Canadian society. There I was on a recent cross-country flight waiting for someone in authority to give the malfunctioning in-flight entertainment system a good whack when the little screen was suddenly alight with visual metaphor. From the depths of one of the boundless bureaucracies that spend our quarter-trillion-dollar federal budget, we strapped in travellers were shown a videographic public service announcement on a matter so urgent it was deemed essential viewing for an audience that cannot escape.

Anonymity and ignorance

February 28, 2012

On Feb. 17, the Supreme Court of Canada rendered its decision on a case that tested the right of parents to exempt their children from Quebec’s Ethics and Religious Culture (ERC) course. The case attracted many intervenors because the decision could impact other cases that question the lengths government can go to impose curriculum against parental wishes. About one month earlier, the Ontario Catholic School Trustees’ Association released a report, “Respecting Difference,” which set guidelines for promoting equity and respect for all students in Catholic schools. It followed months of controversy surrounding “gay-straight alliances” in Ontario’s publicly funded schools. While there are differences between the two scenarios, both concern a provincial government trying to impose a school policy despite objections from parents.

Sunday’s shifting solemnities

February 28, 2012

VATICAN CITY - Consistories for new cardinals are usually held on major feasts, and the most recent one had a lesson for the liturgical life of parishes. Blessed John Paul II held six of his nine consistories on Petrine feasts — three for Sts. Peter and Paul (June 29), two for the Chair of Peter (Feb. 22) and one for his silver jubilee as Successor of Peter in October 2003. Benedict held his first consistory in 2006 on the Feast of the Annunciation, and his next two on Christ the King in 2007 and 2010. This year he chose the Chair of Peter, the feast which highlights the role of Peter and his successors in authoritatively teaching the deposit of the faith.

February 29

London diocese severs ties with Assumption fundraising company

February 29, 2012

WINDSOR, Ont. - The diocese of London has fired the company charged with raising funds for an extensive restoration and expansion of Windsor’s oldest and most historic church, Our Lady of Assumption. In a statement posted on the diocese’s web site Feb. 22, the diocese and Assumption Church stated they were “not satisfied with the results achieved so far and have decided to end our relationship with” Philanthropic Management Consultants Inc. (PMC) to manage a $9.8-million campaign to pay for the restoration.

Hamilton fundraiser a success

February 29, 2012

About 900 guests filled all four halls inside Hamilton’s Carmen’s Banquet Centre Feb. 25 to sip cocktails, enjoy a four-course meal and bust a move at the Bishop’s Charities Dinner Dance. The annual event with Bishop Douglas Crosby helps raise money for a number of charities. Organized by the Knights of Columbus’ Fred Miscio, with help from fellow members, this year marked the 27th anniversary of the annual event which Miscio coined successful as always.

Parents fight to save Kingston school

February 29, 2012

After educating Catholic youth for 60 years in the Strathcona Park community in Kingston, Ont., the doors to St. Paul Catholic Elementary School, among others, may permanently close following the local school board’s accommodation review process. But there is a voice to St. Paul which is not letting the school be put to rest quietly. Shortly after word filtered out in 2011 that St. Paul could be among the schools targetted for closure by the Algonquin and Lakeshore Catholic District School Board, Sarah Mignault and several other concerned community members began the Save St. Paul Action Committee.

Fatima students witness to Christ in aiding Attawapiskat brethren

February 29, 2012

TORONTO - There is the poverty, the high cost of food, lack of clean water and acceptable housing, the lack of concern for the people’s wellbeing, the high rate of disease and of course the whole situation around the school. Nobody has the silver bullet that will fix education in Attiwapiskat in northern Ontario. But that doesn’t mean we do nothing. Mother Teresa most often gets credit for telling us that we’re not called to be successful. We’re called to be faithful. As a Toronto Catholic District School Board teacher, I’ve been working with Attawapiskat for 10 years. It started when I was a literacy resource teacher heading up our early reading intervention program. The principal of Attiwapiskat’s JR Nakogee School contacted me. The challenge at his school was and still is raising the literacy skills.

Anonymous Toronto donor to match the donations of new ShareLife contributors

February 29, 2012

TORONTO - A Toronto parishioner who wishes to remain anonymous has committed to matching up to $650,000 of donations collected during ShareLife’s 2012 campaign. “We have a parishioner in the archdiocese of Toronto who has come forward to offer to match all new and increased gifts to the ShareLife campaign this year,” said ShareLife’s executive director Arthur Peters. “This person’s only goal is to see the campaign succeed.”

Bringing youth closer to Christ at IVE weekend

February 29, 2012

TORONTO - Young people today often have misconceptions of what a Catholic should be and it is up to the older generation to show them what the faith truly means, said Sr. Inmaculada. Sr. Inmaculada, 28, is one of the driving forces behind this year’s youth weekend hosted by the Institute of the Incarnate Word (IVE). This annual event on March 10-11 offers opportunities for Catholics, both lay and religious, to share their faith experiences with youth through talks about topics ranging from sexuality to theology to the sacraments along with fellowship, games and sports.

Getting ‘clarity of mind’ at Hike & Prayer

February 29, 2012

God had a different plan in store for the Faith Connections’ Snowshoe & Prayer event and its 18 young adult participants held on Feb. 25 at the Ignatius Jesuit Centre in Guelph, Ont. Due to the warm weather, and the lack of snow, the event was changed to Hike & Prayer. The event is a unique way for participants to continue along their Catholic journey, said Vanessa Nicholas-Schmidt, Faith Connections’ program director.

Treat your body right through a healthy lifestyle

February 29, 2012

Corinthians tells us we should treat our bodies with respect because they are temples of the Holy Spirit given to us from God. According to the Childhood Obesity Foundation, approximately one-third of normal weight 20-year-olds will become overweight within eight years. So, with that in mind, I wonder why more of us don’t treat our bodies with the respect they deserve?

Ecumenism talk coming to Toronto

February 29, 2012

TORONTO - The man charged with bringing unity to the body of Christ by 350 churches world-wide is coming to Toronto to speak about “The unity we seek: Exploring the hopes and challenges of modern ecumenism.” Rev. Dr. Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the World Council of Churches, will talk about the state of ecumenism at St. Andrew’s Church, next to Roy Thomson Hall in downtown Toronto, March 14 at 7 p.m.

Toronto parish gets jump on Vatican’s call for apologetics

February 29, 2012

TORONTO - The Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has recently encouraged a more widespread effort to get apologetic material into the hands of Catholics, but Toronto’s St. Benedict’s parish is way ahead of the game. Eliseo Zompanti started the St. Benedict’s Catholic Apologetics and Bible Study group a year-and-a-half ago at St. Benedict’s parish. He said apologetics — being able to explain and defend the faith — is like a 2,000-year-old armoury that the Church has amassed.

MPs vote unanimously to fulfill Shannen’s dream

February 29, 2012

OTTAWA - Shannen Koostachin had a dream for “safe and comfy” culturally sensitive schools for First Nations children like herself. On Feb. 27, a vote in the House of Commons brought that dream closer to reality. The House of Commons voted unanimously to “adopt Shannen’s Dream” by declaring First Nations children’s “equal right to high-quality, culturally relevant education” and to provide the necessary policy changes, consultation and funding support to make a First Nations’ education system “at a minimum” equal in quality to provincial systems.

Holocaust lesson one penny at a time

February 29, 2012

Mississauga, Ont. - Wrapping your head around a number like 13 million can be a daunting task to say the least. But one history teacher from St. Marcellinus Secondary School is trying to make such a figure a reality for students while at the same time teaching them about the Holocaust. It’s been three years since Susan Carey initiated The Penny Project, which aims to collect and roll one penny for each of the lives lost in the Holocaust. The money, all $130,000, will be used to fund genocide education programs.

Scottish court: Midwives can't object to managing staff for abortions

February 29, 2012

MANCHESTER, England - A Scottish court ruled that two senior Catholic midwives have no right to conscientiously object to overseeing staff involved in late-term abortions in a state-run hospital. The Court of Session, Scotland's supreme civil court, ruled that Mary Doogan, 57, and Concepta Wood, 51, could not invoke the conscience clause of the 1967 Abortion Act to opt out of their duties at Glasgow's Southern General Hospital because they were not directly involved in performing the abortions.

Building democracy harder than toppling dictators, Tunisian leader says

February 29, 2012

VATICAN CITY - Muslims and Christians throughout North Africa and the Middle East recognize that "building a democracy is more difficult than destroying a dictatorship," but they are committed to realizing their dream, said one of the leaders of change in Tunisia. Rashid Ghannushi, known as the intellectual leader of Tunisia's Ennahda Movement, now the key party in the coalition governing Tunisia, was one of the speakers at a conference in Rome Feb. 29 on the Arab Spring movement.

Family, charity, compassion must be priorities in 2012 budget process, EFC says

February 29, 2012

OTTAWA - The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada (EFC) is urging the federal government to make families, compassion and charities priorities in its upcoming 2012 budget. Though the national association for Evangelical Christians does not usually engage in pre-budget consultations, it stressed that “a budget is fundamentally a moral document.” In a budget, political leaders “decide what is ‘right and wrong’ for public expenditure, and as such biblical principles are relevant to the budgeting process.” The budget should shore up the key building blocks of Canada, it said.