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May 2012

May 1

Pope's trip to Cuba led to "profound reawakening" according to bishops

May 1, 2012

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - The March visit to Cuba by Pope Benedict XVI has helped reawaken people's interest in the Catholic Church, according to two Cuban bishops visiting the United States. But it also has stirred criticism of the church's efforts to work with the government more and may be connected to a fire of suspicious origin that gutted a travel agency that organizes charter flights from Florida to Cuba. Remarks at an April 24 forum at Harvard University by Havana Cardinal Jaime Ortega Alamino about the church's role in Cuba riled some of the outspoken critics of the Castro government in both Havana and Florida.

Don't let fear, search for the superficial deafen God's call, Pope says

May 1, 2012

VATICAN CITY - God is always calling people to dedicate themselves fully to serving him, but they often don't hear because they are either too distracted or afraid they would no longer be free if they answered the call, Pope Benedict XVI said. "Let us pray that all young people pay attention to the voice of God, who speaks to their hearts and calls them to detach themselves from everything in order to serve him," he said April 29 -- the World Day of Prayer for Vocations.

Wikipedia head Jimmy Wales joins Vatican meeting, talks about abortion controversy

May 1, 2012

VATICAN CITY - The co-founder of Wikipedia told a Vatican audience that his online encyclopedia could contribute to peace by promoting "a more thoughtful world," even as the site was under fire for how it referred to those who oppose and support legalized abortion. Jimmy Wales, who co-founded Wikipedia in 2001, was invited to address the annual assembly of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences. The meeting at the Vatican April 27-May 1 focused on Blessed John XXIII's 1963 encyclical "Pacem in Terris" and continuing challenges to promoting peace and justice in the world.

Pope says quest for peace must also be quest for truth

May 1, 2012

VATICAN CITY - The quest for justice and peace will bear fruit only if it's also a quest for the truth about the human person, created by God and "endowed with intelligence and freedom, capable of knowing and loving," Pope Benedict XVI said. Intelligence enables people to discover what is good and beneficial -- "the right order that is inscribed within creation itself" -- the Pope said in a message April 30 to the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences.

Human trafficking bill moves on to Senate

May 1, 2012

OTTAWA - A bill that would make it possible for Canada to prosecute human trafficking offenses committed by citizens or permanent residents outside the country has passed in the House of Commons. Conservative MP Joy Smith's private member's Bill C-310 passed a third reading vote April 27 and has gone on to the Senate.

Priests must live holy lives to be effective ministers, Vatican says

May 1, 2012

VATICAN CITY - Ten years after a historic papal response to clerical sex abuse, the Vatican urged priests to strive for greater holiness in their own lives so that they might effectively minister to others and reverse the tide of atheism. In its annual letter to priests for 2012, the Vatican's Congregation for Clergy focused on Blessed John Paul II's 2002 Holy Thursday letter to clergy, in which the late pope responded to the growing revelations and scandal of sexual abuse of minors by priests.

Nigerian archbishops say government is failing to protect its citizens

May 1, 2012

LONDON - The leader of the Catholic Church in Nigeria has criticized his government for allegedly failing to protect Christians in the north of his country from attack by Islamist terrorists. Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama of Jos, president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Nigeria, said he could not understand why the government appeared powerless to prevent the killings of Christians. Speaking April 30, a day after 21 people were killed and 20 others injured in co-ordinated attacks on Sunday services at a university campus in Kano and a Protestant chapel in Maiduguri, the archbishop said the incidents showed "that government security is not working."

Abortion debate setback as little support shown for Stephen Woodworth's Motion M-312

May 1, 2012

OTTAWA - Conservative MP Stephen Woodworth’s motion proposing a committee study the legal definition of when life begins is not likely to gain much traction in the House of Commons. The Kitchener, Ont., MP’s Motion 312 was debated in Parliament April 26, but gained no support from other MPs, including Prime Minister Stephen Harper who has said repeatedly that he will not support the motion, which most believe is aimed at getting Parliament to reopen the abortion debate. Chief Government Whip Gordon O’Connor made the case for the status quo — which is no legal protection for the unborn from birth until the baby leaves the birth canal.

Montreal’s Archbishop Lépine latest appointment in ‘rejuvenated’ Quebec

May 1, 2012

OTTAWA - Archbishop Christian Lépine’s installation April 27 as archbishop of Montreal inaugurates a new era for the Quebec episcopacy, said a McGill University historian. “Now there’s a new generation of bishops who are very much in tune with the needs of young people in their dioceses, and this is crucial for the new evangelization,” said John Zucchi. A generation of bishops who were in their 70s, “many of them concerned with a 1970s and ’80s way of looking at the Church,” have retired, replaced in recent years by a new age cohort that has “rejuvenated” the episcopacy and brought fresh perspective, Zucchi said.

Human rights conflict resolution policy launched

May 1, 2012

TORONTO - When religion bumps up against somebody's human rights, the best safeguard of religious freedom is reasoned, calm and respectful dialogue, said Ontario Human Rights Commissioner Barbara Hall said. More than two years of consultations with religious and other groups has produced a new OHRC position on how to decide cases where the rights of one party conflict with the equally recognized rights of another. The commission's 65-page "Policy on Competing Human Rights" is aimed at encouraging employers, institutions and other groups to resolve conflicts before they wind up in a tribunal hearing or a court room.

Familiar with controversy, 'Catholic Oscars' honor their heritage

May 1, 2012

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. - At the 19th annual "Catholic Oscars," it wasn't only the honorees who were in the spotlight -- but the controversy that their selection had generated. Catholics in Media Associates -- which presents the awards each year -- is known for having "questionable, even controversial" honorees, said founding member Barbara Gangi, honorary chairwoman of the event. "Even among our own group!" she added.

Living our lives in the light

May 1, 2012

Several years ago, I was approached by a man who asked me to be his spiritual director. He was in his mid-40s and almost everything about him radiated a certain health. As we sat down to talk, I mentioned that he seemed to be in a very good space. He smiled and replied that, yes, this was so, but it hadn’t always been so. His happiness had its own history ... and its own pre-history. Here’s how he told his story:

A child-like openness to God can help us grow in faith

May 1, 2012

Her hands covered her face. She was weeping inside herself, her body shaking. “I know I need to let go,” she cried, “but I don’t know how. I can’t.” Before she was 14, Marie already experienced tragedy, not once but several times: violence, betrayal. It’s buried deep within her. She carries it like an interior mountain without realizing the weight. No wonder she can’t stop clinging to the person who’s been for her a little life raft in the middle of the Pacific, but who is pulling her under the roaring waters. How can she let go of him, even though he’s harming her?

Jesus’ sacrifice was the highest form of love

May 1, 2012

Sixth Sunday of Easter (Year B) May 13 (Acts 10:25-26, 34-35, 44-48; Psalm 98; 1 John 4:7-10; John 15:9-17) There is never a dull moment when the Holy Spirit is involved. The Spirit was probably the most exhilarating and disconcerting experience of the first generation of Christians. It has a mind of its own and cares little for our prejudices, opinions, preferences or theologies. That is probably why we try to keep it under lock and key. The Spirit had already shocked Peter and his companions by commanding them to eat foods without distinction — nothing that God created was to be called unclean.

The feminism of John Paul II

May 1, 2012

I’ve been invited to give four talks to Polish women on retreat at the Redemptorists’ retreat centre in Krakow, Poland. One of my topics is “John Paul II and Mulieris Dignitatem,” and if you are wondering if the thought of giving a talk — in English — to Polish women in Krakow about Blessed John Paul II is intimidating, the answer is “Yes.” Canadian Catholics know how beloved John Paul was and is to his fellow Poles. What we might not remember is how much respect he had for women. When I was a child — and a teenager and a young adult — I constantly heard muttering of how John Paul II didn’t like women. Even Catholic women complained about the Pope’s lack of concern for women. This usually meant his refusal to magically declare that it was now okay to ordain women priests. Thus, when I finally got around to reading John Paul II’s theology of women, I was blown away by how radical it really is.

The healing power of forgiveness

May 1, 2012

The other day, I finished a terrific page-turner and then picked up the newspaper to read about the latest attacks on the Christian faith, this time in Saskatchewan. They were two seemingly unrelated things that really got me thinking, searching deep down. The book is best-seller Unbroken written by Laura Hillenbrand about a courageous American airman during the Second World War. If you’ve not read it, pick it up because it’s difficult to put down. But let’s talk about Saskatchewan first.

Wither free speech

May 1, 2012

It’s difficult to judge which was the sadder sight in the House of Commons on April 26, Conservative MP Stephen Woodworth being ridiculed from all quarters for standing in defence of human life or the bleakness of him standing there alone. The one certainty is that Woodworth has won our respect for rising as a lone voice in a hostile environment to promote values that are widely belittled in society, but also for rising, perhaps inadvertently, as a champion of the right to speak freely in Parliament.

Here’s hoping that I can make a difference

May 1, 2012

“My kind of town, Chicago is.” Isn’t that how the song goes? It’s my kind of town now, because it’s where I was when I received a telephone call from my publisher, Doug Pepper of McClelland & Stewart, telling me that my book Why Catholics Are Right was entering a third printing and could I write a book in the same vein by the end of the summer. Here’s a tip for aspiring authors. The answer is always yes. The theme was easy for Heresy: Ten Lies They Spread About Christianity — which was launched April 24 — in that I’ve been responding to nonsense and nastiness thrown at Christianity for years now. I’d answer those incredibly common, always toxic, seldom challenging myths about the Christian faith. Jesus never existed; if God was good, bad things wouldn’t happen to good people; Hitler was a Christian; Christians supported slavery; Christianity is for the stupid; Christians oppose science and progress; Christians are obsessed with abortion; The Da Vinci Code is accurate, and so on. Give it a catchy, one-word title with an explanatory subtitle, a nice dust jacket, and you’re off.

Politics needs faith’s blessedness

May 1, 2012

On May 1 in Ottawa I had the pleasure of delivering a speech to politicians and others at the annual National Prayer Breakfast. Below is an abridged version of that address. My topic is “Faith in our Common Life: Why Politics Needs Religion.” But permit me to say a few words first about why politicians need religion. Exactly one year ago, many of you were in the final moments of a federal election campaign. It was a Sunday and the people’s verdict was to be rendered the next day. On a typical Sunday morning I am found in my parish on Wolfe Island, in the St. Lawrence River across from Kingston, but a year ago I was in Rome awaiting the pronunciation of a rather different judgment. Pope John Paul II was declared blessed.

May 2

Ontario Catholic principals recognized

May 2, 2012

TORONTO - Six of the province’s 21,000 principals were recognized April 27 by the Catholic Principals’ Council of Ontario for their contributions to the education community. The 2012 Principal of the Year Award recipients are Nola Collins from the Bruce-Grey Catholic District School Board, Janet Demaiter from the Algonquin and Lakeshore Catholic District School Board, Andrea Iserhoff from the Northeastern Catholic District School Board, Romolo Villani from the York Catholic District School Board, and Odilia Pariselli and Maria Pereira from the Toronto Catholic District School Board. Selected by their respective principal associations, winners were honoured with a gala dinner and a spherical glass trophy.