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March 2012

March 12

Vatican says number of Catholics, priests, bishops worldwide increased

March 12, 2012

VATICAN CITY - The number of Catholics in the world and the number of deacons, priests and bishops all increased in 2010, while the number of women in religious orders continued to decline, according to Vatican statistics. At the end of 2010, the worldwide Catholic population reached 1.196 billion, an increase of 15 million or 1.3 percent, slightly outpacing the global population growth rate, which was estimated at 1.1 percent, said a statement published March 10 by the Vatican press office. Catholics as a percentage of the global population "remained stable at around 17.5 percent," it said.

Catholics, Anglicans need to renew commitment to unity, Pope says

March 12, 2012

ROME - Remembering the common roots of the Christianity they share, Roman Catholics and Anglicans should renew their commitments to praying and working for Christian unity, Pope Benedict XVI said. The Pope and Archbishop Rowan Williams of Canterbury, spiritual leader of the Anglican Communion, held an evening prayer service March 10 at Rome's Church of St. Gregory on the Caelian Hill, the church from which Pope Gregory the Great sent St. Augustine of Canterbury and his fellow monks to evangelize England in 597.

March 13

Bishop in Kuwait criticizes legislation restricting Christian churches

March 13, 2012

OXFORD, England - The bishop who administers the Church in Kuwait criticized legislation that would restrict Christian places of worship in the country. "There'll be problems if the government adopts this proposal; it's out of step with the traditions of Kuwait, which seeks to be an open, tolerant country welcoming other religions besides Islam," said Italian-born Bishop Camillo Ballin, apostolic administrator of Kuwait. Such proposals come "from ideologies which want to divide the world between Muslims and non-Muslims," he told Catholic News Service March 12.

Cardinal Brady promises full cooperation with abuse investigation

March 13, 2012

DUBLIN - Cardinal Sean Brady said the Catholic Church will cooperate fully with a government-led investigation into institutional abuse being launched in Northern Ireland. A similar inquiry in Ireland -- the Ryan Commission -- reported in 2009 and found that physical abuse was widespread and sexual abuse was endemic in many institutions for boys run by members of religious congregations.

Most Quebeckers oppose mandatory nature of Ethics and Religious Culture program

March 13, 2012

OTTAWA - Most Quebeckers oppose the compulsory nature of the province's controversial Ethics and Religious Culture program (ERC), with 29 per cent saying it should be "scrapped altogether" in favour of improved mathematics or French-language courses. In a Leger Marketing poll conducted for the Coalition for Freedom in Education (CLÉ), only four out of 10 Quebeckers want the controversial course to stay mandatory. A quarter would keep the course but make it optional. The poll also discovered 55 per cent of Quebeckers would prefer the government introduce school vouchers that would allocate a fixed amount for educational funding per child that parents could use to choose the school they wish, whether public or private, CLÉ said in a March 7 news release.

Toronto's prayers offered on anniversary of Japanese earthquake

March 13, 2012

TORONTO - Though they’ve watched from a distance, Toronto’s Japanese Catholic Community has prayed with intensity for Japan as the country continues to rebuild following the devastation of the 9.0 earthquake and tsunami that struck March 11, 2011. The small group gathered on the first anniversary of the disaster for its regular monthly Mass, and special prayers for Japan. Many of the Japanese Catholics at Mass had come from an ecumenical and interfaith prayer service earlier in the day at the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre.

New LifeSite accusations target D&P Haitian partner APROSIFA

March 13, 2012

Canadian bishops are once again facing embarrassing questions about an overseas organization that received funding from the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace (D&P). This time, the issue involves a Haitian organization, APROSIFA, that allegedly dispenses free contraceptives and promotes access to abortion, according to an online report.

Consecrated by circumstance and need

March 13, 2012

We can lose our freedom for different reasons and, sometimes, for the best of reasons. Imagine this scenario: You are on your way to a restaurant to meet a friend for dinner, a perfectly legitimate agenda, but en route you witness a car accident. Some of the people in the accident are seriously hurt and you are the first to arrive at the scene. At that moment your own agenda, dinner with a friend, is put on hold. You’ve lost your freedom and are, by circumstance and need, conscripted to remain there and help. You phone for an ambulance, you call for the police and you wait with the injured until help arrives.

Church officials decry suicide bombing at Nigerian parish

March 13, 2012

LAGOS, Nigeria - The suicide car bombing of a church in Jos was an "evil, irrational, beastly and criminal" act, said the president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Nigeria. Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama of Jos also called on Christians to remain calm after the bombing March 11 -- during a Mass -- claimed the lives of three worshippers and led to retaliatory violence that resulted in at least seven deaths around the city. "We want those that are behind this crisis to come and seek dialogue rather than attacks," Archbishop Kaigama said hours after the bombing.

There is no new life without death

March 13, 2012

Fifth Sunday of Lent (Year B) March 25 (Jeremiah 31:31-34; Psalm 51; Hebrews 5:7-9; John 12:20-33) Human history is the story of broken promises. People break promises to one another; nations break covenants and treaties; and people let God down in very big ways. The result is shattered relationships and societies, and the most devastating of all, a sense of alienation and separation from God.

You will find the Lord in the People of God

March 13, 2012

When I became a Catholic several years ago I understood that I was joining a family. I knew what that meant intellectually, I understood it in theory, but I did not feel it in my bones — even though at the time I thought I did. Now I feel it in my bones and in my heart, and the feeling will never escape me. Like Elijah, I found God’s still voice but in a different way than the grand Old Testament prophet.

Respond with love to all that God brings us

March 13, 2012

My mother has always said that many Catholics “go looking” for specific penances to perform during Lent although God Himself will bring opportunities for sanctification right to our doorstep. She has often suggested that rather than pre-determining specific resolutions, prayers, sacrifices or donations, why not approach the grace-filled season of Lent with openness and a commitment to lovingly respond to that which God brings? Her basic premise is this: while someone is spending time searching how to best serve God, they might be overlooking an opportunity to serve Him that lies right in front of them.

Insult to the cross

March 13, 2012

In promoting new evangelization, Pope Benedict has lamented what he calls an “eclipse of the sense of God” in society. In 2009 that eclipse was exposed in a very public way when an atheist won a much-publicized case (subsequently overturned on appeal) to have crucifixes removed from Italian classrooms. Since then, cases have abounded in which the state has sided with individuals clamouring to expunge religious symbols, holidays, prayer and even Christian conscience from public life. But recent actions by the British government elevate state-sponsored religious intolerance to a new level. The coalition government of David Cameron has declared that citizens have no right to wear a cross around their necks at work and can be required to remove their cross if ordered by the boss. If they refuse, they can be fired.

Preston Manning on the failure of right thinking

March 13, 2012

Preston Manning had an astringent warning for Canadian conservatives at the annual gathering sponsored by his eponymous think-tank. “For conservatives, being right must mean more than just being right of centre. It must mean doing the right thing. There is no substitute for rock solid personal integrity,” he told the large “C” and small “c” faithful at the recent Manning Centre conference in Ottawa. Though the words were delivered with Manning’s characteristic personal geniality and intellectual charity, their sting was palpable, particularly among those Conservative Party members still writhing after being flayed by National Post columnist Andrew Coyne. Coyne had carved the Conservative government’s political, policy and ethical failings with the surgical scrupulousness of an assembly line sadist handling the Friday night crowd at Mistress Cheri’s House of Pain and Shame.

New heights for anti-Catholicism in America

March 13, 2012

WASHINGTON, DC - In the long history of anti-Catholicism, the epithets vomited at the Church and Catholics are numerous and colourful: Whore of Babylon, anti-Christ, mother of harlots, heretical, pagan, idolatrous, satanic, alien, ignorant, anti-intellectual, slavish and a personal favourite, the “two-horned monster of Rome,” which is how a few rabid Orthodox monks protested Blessed John Paul’s visit to Greece. So it was a novelty to encounter another anti-Catholic image: the battered woman. Last week Catholics were told: “You’re better than your Church, so why stay? Apparently, you’re like the battered woman who, after being beaten down every Sunday, feels she has no place else to go.”

March 14

From Timmins to Taizé

March 14, 2012

TORONTO - Like any adolescent Brother Emile grew up full of wonder, questions and a desire to answer what had otherwise been unknown to him. While the topics varied, his exploration of one, the Taizé Community in France, left a permanent impression on the then 17-year-old Canadian. Brother Emile shared his story on March 7 surrounded by members of Toronto’s Catholic school board before facilitating a Taizé prayer service at St. Clare’s Church.

Making green choices

March 14, 2012

TORONTO - Parishes looking for a green path to God, or even just lower heating bills, can explore the possibilities at the fourth annual Green Choices for Faith Communities Forum March 25. Green Party leader Elizabeth May will be the keynote speaker at this year’s event, organized by the Green Awakening Network and Greening Sacred Spaces. The noon to 5:15 p.m. conference costs $35 per participant with the deadline for pre-registration falling March 21.

‘No doubt’ Caritas is Catholic

March 14, 2012

OTTAWA - The Catholic identity of Caritas Internationalis has “never been put into doubt” and the influence of the international federation of Catholic charities has continued to grow on the world stage, said general secretary Michel Roy. “In this present globalized world it is important to carry the voices of the poorest that come up through the Caritas network to the right people in the international organizations,” Roy said during a recent visit to Ottawa. These organizations include UN organizations, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the International Labour Organization, governments and various private sector actors. Overall, Caritas represents Catholic charities operating in 164 countries.

Texting through Lent

March 14, 2012

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,” reads the Gospel of John. While this opening verse will always be true, I wonder what John would have to say about taking the Word and, well, texting it. That was the challenge I embarked on this Lenten season with the “Texting through Lent” calendar. Designed as a daily devotional calendar for teens and young adults, it attempts to incorporate various multimedia devices, especially cellphones, into Lenten reflections. When I saw this calendar hanging in the walls of my former high school, I knew it was a challenge I had to accept.

Seeing Scripture come to life in the Holy Land

March 14, 2012

There are many graces a young Catholic pilgrim might expect to receive from visiting the Holy Land. In his Jubilee letter, Pope John Paul II stressed that walking in our “travelling companion” Jesus’ footsteps could transform our own spiritual journeys immeasurably. So a pilgrim might hope that Scripture would come alive in the streets or that faith might be affirmed by experiencing the enormous history of the sights.