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August 2012

August 1

Lawsuit aims to end Lord's Prayer at Grey County council meetings

August 1, 2012

Atheists are taking Ontario's Grey County to court to force county council to stop praying the Our Father at the start of meetings. Peter Ferguson of Kimberly, Ont. — one of nine municipalities in the county on the shores of Georgian Bay — served legal papers on the county July 30 alleging the practice of reciting a Christian prayer at the beginning of a government meeting is illegal. In 1999 the Ontario Court of Appeal ruled that Penetanguishine, Ont., was violating constitutional guarantees of freedom of religion under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms by starting council meetings with The Lord's Prayer. Ferguson is seeking an end to the practice along with $5,000 in damages. As far as Catholic Civil Rights League executive director Joanne McGarry is concerned, going to court over prayer is just sad. "I always find it very distasteful or off-putting when prayer turns into something people are just battling about," she said. Ferguson's court case is backed by Secular Ontario, an offshoot of the Humanist Association founded in 2005 with about 20 members. Secular Ontario president Sheila Ayala told The Catholic Register an important principle is at stake in the case. "Council meetings are open to the public. It's important that everybody is included," she said. "The principle is that we all pay taxes to where we live. We ought to be included but we're being excluded." No disrespect is being aimed at the traditions of Ontario or religious conviction of three-quarters of Ontarians who align themselves with Christian faith, said Ayala. "We're not stopping anybody from going to their synagogue or their mosque or whatever. We're not saying you can't practise whatever religion you want." But Ayala does believe expressions of religious faith have no place in the public sphere. Secular Ontario has sent letters to about 28 municipalities where reciting the Our Father at council meetings persists, said Ayala. "We're having to take them to court again. They're not complying with what in fact is the law. They are breaking the law," she said. "Court challenges of this kind are unfortunate. It just causes a lot of grief to people that we don't really need to have," said McGarry. McGarry supports councils that wish to pray at the start of their meetings. "It's like grace before meals," she said. If there's a need to be more inclusive, then rotate the prayers among the faith traditions of the community, she said. "One week it might be Christian and the next week Muslim and the following week it could be more secular, a moment of reflection," McGarry said. When the issue came up at the Ontario Legislature in 2008, Toronto's Cardinal (then Archbishop) Thomas Collins argued against a simplistic, ahistorical interpretation of the word secular. "It is important not to be befuddled by a distorted view of the secular, one which holds that all life in the public realm must be meticulously sterilized lest a hint of faith intrude," he told legislators. Collins was not against non-Christian prayers being used to open public debates, but argued tradition and the large Christian majority ought to assure the Our Father remains. "It is highly appropriate that the deliberations of those whom we elect as our representatives should begin with prayer," he said. "Religion is not alien or dangerous. It is fruitful and life-giving and any effort to eliminate evidence of it in public assemblies is misguided... The Lord's Prayer has the advantage that it is part of our historical tradition, it is a contribution from the spiritual heritage of almost three-quarters of our citizens and it is at the same time open to wider application by any people of faith, and in fact by anyone."

Catholics support plan to reduces mother-to-child transmission of HIV

August 1, 2012

WASHINGTON - Catholic health care workers are offering enthusiastic support to an ambitious global plan to stop the transmission of the virus that causes AIDS from pregnant mothers to their children. Discussed during the XIX International AIDS Conference July 22-27 in Washington, the plan involves increasing the availability of the drugs that reduce HIV levels in the body so that transmission does not occur. In wealthy countries, the availability of such drugs has lowered transmission rates to virtually zero, but that's not the case in countries most heavily affected by the HIV epidemic. "We really do have hope that we can stop AIDS in children," said Msgr. Robert Vitillo, a special adviser on HIV and AIDS to Caritas Internationalis who sits on the 15-member international steering committee that is supervising the program. In 2010, 390,000 children were born with HIV and more than 700 children died each day, almost all of them in India and 21 countries of sub-Saharan Africa, according to the United Nations. As a result, the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS — known as UNAIDS — in 2011 announced a plan to prevent transmission of the disease to children by assuring that pregnant women get the testing, treatment and counselling they need to stop the virus from spreading. With funding from the UN and the U.S. government, The Global Plan towards the Elimination of New Infections among Children by 2015 and Keeping their Mothers Alive takes aim at the 22 hardest hit nations. Vitillo said an important key to the program's success is testing women early, so that any who are found to carry the virus can be put on antiretroviral medications. The women then continue the medication through birth and breast-feeding. While initial programs had discontinued women once the child stopped nursing, Vitillo said that approach has been largely discarded in favour of keeping the woman on antiretroviral drugs indefinitely. "We don't want to save the children and then have them lose their mothers," Vitillo told Catholic News Service. Another part of the program involves early testing of children so that if any are infected, they can receive prompt medical treatment. Vitillo said the program faces challenges that bedevil the entire response to HIV. "To make this work, we have to figure out what obstacles women face, why they cannot access testing or if they do get tested why they may not come back for the results. It's often a problem of stigma and discrimination, and we need to combat that by involving the entire community in the HIV response," he said. Health planners say the program can succeed only by becoming "male friendly" in order to prevent male partners from discouraging women of getting involved or from continuing treatment. Men have been a focus of voluntary circumcision programs in several African countries since studies revealed that the procedure drops their susceptibility to infection by more than 50 per cent. Catholic participation in the program was detailed in a report by the Catholic HIV/AIDS Network, released during the conference. According to researcher Becky Johnson, the survey included 40 Catholic programs in the target countries. While 95 per cent of the programs were involved in the national AIDS programs within their respective country and thus follow national guidelines for treating the virus, only 17 per cent of the programs had been previously involved in planning or implementing the global plan. Vitillo, one of four civil society representatives on the global steering committee, said that while the Church's role was well respected both internationally and in local communities, there often was resistance in the middle — national governments — where officials, "concerned about losing funding or losing control of the programs, have a mixed record of including civil society in designing their response." Catholic agencies face several challenges in implementing the program. The survey found a need for resources beyond just what is needed for testing and treatment. Johnson said many of the agencies also need funding to help women travel to testing and treatment. Nutritional support also was identified as a critical need. Maryknoll Father Richard Bauer, who until this year ran a wide-ranging HIV education and treatment program in Namibia, said that country's experience proves that combining the Church's reach with an emphasis on mothers will yield significant results. "With more than 2,500 Catholic AIDS Action volunteers, every time one of them saw a pregnant woman on the street they would grab her and say, 'Do you know where the clinic is? Do you know there's a medicine that can help your baby be born HIV-negative?' It has become a joke of sorts that if you're pregnant you have to watch out for the AIDS volunteers," Bauer said. "But that enthusiasm has made Namibia a success story in combating AIDS." The priest explained that the Church is well-suited to carry out such a program. "In order to inform women of the choices they can make to have their baby be HIV-negative, we need the community's involvement," Bauer said. "We especially need the churches, and we need to preach about this on Sunday. This is the work that the Church has always done well, and its involvement makes me hopeful it will really happen."

August 2

U.S. judge upholds Arizona law banning late-term abortions

August 2, 2012

PHOENIX - The executive director of the Arizona Catholic Conference praised U.S. District Court Judge James Teilborg for upholding Arizona's recently enacted ban on abortions after 20 weeks except in cases of medical emergency. Ron Johnson said he was "absolutely thrilled with the decision from the federal court." Johnson, who worked with Arizona legislators to help get the measure passed, said that "it's been frustrating at times" when courts overturn hard-won legislation. "It's extremely rewarding when we get the legislation passed and the court upholds (it)," Johnson said, calling the new law "sensible and very positive legislation." In his July 30 ruling, Teilborg wrote that the Arizona Legislature had written the law — known as H.B. 2036 — based on "the substantial and well-documented evidence that an unborn child has the capacity to feel pain during an abortion by at least 20 weeks gestational age." Supporters of the law said that it also protects women from increased risks incurred in late-term abortions. Three doctors who provide abortions, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union and the New-York based Centre for Reproductive Freedom, had asked the court for a temporary restraining order or an injunction to prevent the law from going into effect Aug. 2. Teilborg's ruling denied both and declared Arizona's law constitutional. The decision sent shock waves through the abortion industry, and opponents of the law said they would immediately appeal the ruling, calling the restrictions "extreme." Alabama, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Nebraska and Oklahoma have similar laws restricting late-term abortions based on the scientific finding that fetuses experience pain. Pro-life organizations throughout the country praised the ruling. Dorinda Bordlee and Nikolas Nikas, attorneys with the Bioethics Defense Fund, advised Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery, who was named as a lead defendant in the emergency injunction action filed by the abortion providers, the ACLU and the New York centre. "This ruling should be studied by everyone in the pro-life movement," Bordlee said, "because it foreshadows the day that the Supreme Court will return the abortion issue back to the state legislatures to act on their legitimate interests in protecting women and unborn children from the unspeakable violence of abortion." Steve Aden, senior counsel for the Arizona-based Alliance Defending Freedom, agreed. "Every innocent life deserves to be protected. That certainly includes the most vulnerable of all: children in the womb who experience horrific pain when being torn apart in the womb during a late-term abortion like those this law prohibits," Aden said. "The ACLU and the Centre for Reproductive Rights, who filed this lawsuit, apparently don't care about any of that, preferring to pursue their own agenda. The court was right to thwart their attempts to stop this law." Fr. Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life in the United States, similarly welcomed the court's decision and called for an end to "dismemberment abortions" known as "dilation and extraction." "The abortion debate should not be so abstract that we forget we're talking about pulling the arms and legs off of babies," Pavone said. "To those asking for our vote in November, I ask, do you or do you not think dismemberment should be legal? Every voter should ask the same."

August 7

MaterCare drums up support for maternal rights charter

August 7, 2012

MaterCare International has created a “Charter of Maternal Rights” it hopes will be adopted by leaders and decision makers around the world to help stem the high number of maternal deaths. According to MaterCare’s Dr. Robert Walley, mothers in most of the world are treated with neglect, and changing this has “hardly been a high priority with anybody.” Walley is the executive director of the St. John’s, Nfld.-based MaterCare International, an international group of Catholic obstetricians and gynecologists that treat mothers and babies around the world that’s hoping to do something about this. The preamble to the charter makes the case that “Mothers and their babies are among the poorest of the poor and are the most vulnerable physically.” “They’re marginalized,” Walley told The Catholic Register. “There’s about 330,000 mothers (that) die every year, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa” from complications during pregnancy, labour and delivery, and the six weeks following. The charter, which pulls its substance from statistics as well as Catholic documents including the Catechism of the Catholic Church and the Second Vatican Council, focuses on the human rights of mothers, maternal health care and necessary steps that must be taken by obstetricians and midwives. It says, “The causes of maternal deaths are well known, are readily preventable and can be successfully treated at comparable low cost. Proper measures, availability of skilled personnel at the time of birth and prompt emergency obstetrical care if things go wrong may save the lives of 90 per cent of the mothers.” But Walley said too many world leaders are focused on population control as opposed to making giving birth safer and healthier worldwide, and he is not hopeful that world leaders will hear MaterCare’s message. That said, he does point positively to Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s statements at the 2010 G8 Summit in Huntsville, Ont. There, Harper announced Canada would pledge $1.1 billion towards a new global effort to improve maternal and child health in developing countries (dubbed the Muskoka Initiative). In January 2011, the United Nations created the Commission on Information and Accountability for Women’s and Children’s Health, co-chaired by Harper and Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete.

August 8

OECTA-province agreement under fire from local boards

August 8, 2012

Upset by some key terms of the recent contract negotiated between the teachers’ union and the provincial government, two Ontario Catholic school boards have filed for conciliation and are intent on making their own deal with the teachers. The London Catholic District School Board and the Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board believe the government deal strips the boards of important hiring and managerial rights. They want to make their case before a conciliator from the Ministry of Labour as the next step to reaching a new collective bargaining agreement. London board chair Philip Squire, a lawyer, says the deal reached between the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association and the Ontario government is not legally binding unless school boards agree to the terms individually or it is legislated by the province. “We want to go to conciliation with OECTA and we want to work out an agreement with them which will be an agreement negotiated between us and OECTA, the two parties that should be negotiating,” Squire said. “OECTA went to the weakest link, which was the government — desperate to save money — and they made an agreement with them which transferred pretty significant rights to the teachers’ union.” That agreement included a two-year wage freeze, changes to the sick leave gratuity and a cut in sick days. But the London and Windsor-Essex boards are upset that the deal stripped them of rights pertaining to hiring practices and the administration of diagnostic testing. “This is the piece that people are missing, that the vital checks and balances that are part of our success are being removed,” said Barb Holland, chair of the Windsor-Essex board. “I find it interesting that these are non-monetary issues so I don’t understand why we cannot simply just address them and find a common ground on that.” The boards are requesting the intervention of a conciliator from the Ministry of Labour. If an impasse remains after 17 days, the door could be opened for a legal strike by teachers or a lockout of teachers by the board. Squire said agreements signed under the government’s guidelines would make seniority the overriding qualification when hiring a permanent teacher from the occasional teachers’ list. “Let’s say we need a teacher to hire in a secondary school for a particular subject. We wouldn’t have the right any more to go hire the teacher best suited for that job, we would just have to hire the teacher who is most senior on the list,” said Squire. “That’s something that we cannot agree to for students in our schools. It’s not the best thing for students.” Likewise, giving teachers control over diagnostic testing is wrong, said Squire. He said these tests evaluate individual students and the classroom as a whole and are a reflection of the overall effectiveness of the teaching. Squire fears teachers may now simply refuse to administer the tests. “Now if we want to go into a classroom to do that testing there is a veto there for teachers to say, ‘No we don’t want to do that, we are doing just fine, I’m a good teacher and my kids are doing just fine,’ ” he said. “Parents want to know that there is some responsibility on teachers to make sure kids are learning. “The teachers should have to show to the principals and superintendent that they’re doing a good job.” But this type of compare-and-contrast evaluation isn’t the purpose of diagnostic testing, said Kevin O’Dwyer, OECTA’s provincial executive. “Diagnostic testing isn’t about evaluating a teacher,” he said, adding that he’d have to talk further with Squire about it. “I hope it is not being used to evaluate teachers.” Squires’ fears regarding teachers vetoing the tests are unfounded, said O’Dwyer, who said encouraging a student’s success — not hiding poor grades — is in a teacher’s best interest. “We didn’t get fifth in the world by teachers doing what Mr. Squire is alleging they’re doing,” O’Dwyer said of the ranking given the Ontario school system by PISA, the Program for International Student Assessment. As for the hiring practice, O’Dwyer said the boards still retain considerable control. When a position opens, the new agreement requires boards to use seniority as the basis to identify five qualified occasional teachers. From that select group, the board can then assess a teacher’s specific skills and other qualifications before it fills a position. “Mr. Squire is incorrect when he says it’s based on seniority only. That’s false. It’s also based upon qualifications as it always has been,” said O’Dwyer.

Education ministry investigating Windsor school board

August 8, 2012

For the second time in a year the Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board (WECDSB) is under financial investigation. “A financial investigator has now been appointed to our board,” acknowledged Barb Holland, board of trustees’ chair. “I don’t know where this is going to end up. I know we have said that we will co-operate fully with the people that are being sent in to do the investigation and we have been.” Grahame Rivers, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Education, said a poor financial track record is what caused the investigation. "Windsor Catholic has a long history of developing overly optimistic annual budgets. They've failed to balance five out of the past six years," said Rivers. "Given the serious ongoing financial issues at the Windsor board, the Minister has brought in an investigator to look at the Windsor board's finances." It could end with the ministry appointing a supervisor to overtake control of the board from the trustees and thus removing Holland from the picture. Last year WECDSB invited an auditor from the ministry as a response to the Ontario English Catholic Teachers' Association concerns regarding wages. "OECTA was pointing out or suggesting that there were (financial) difficulties because the people at the top of our organization were overpaid,” said Holland. “We asked the ministry to come in, look at our books and they did so. It showed that what we’d been saying all along was correct, that we are under budget on all the items that we said we were.” Despite filing a balanced budget for 2011-2012, which had a small surplus, said Holland, the board did overspend in certain areas — specifically on occasional teachers. This happened due to a higher number of teacher absences than were predicted when drawing up the budget in 2011. It's an issue Holland believes shouldn't constitute an audit because the board is already addressing it with an attendance management program. Declining enrollment has been blamed for the WECDSB's financial struggles as ministry funding is provided on a per student basis. Costs associated with maintaining under-utilized space also influenced the board's decision to close and consolidate several schools this June. Savings are estimated at $11 million. But Holland said she thinks this second audit isn't about financial instability as much as it relates to the board filing for conciliation to resolve collective bargaining difficulties it is having with its teachers. “I do feel that it is a retaliatory measure and it is retaliation because we spoke out on this issue,” said Holland. “If this goes to our board being put under supervision, what happens to our community of Windsor-Essex is that the ratepayers lose their voice.”

TCDSB ratifies labour deal

August 8, 2012

The Toronto Catholic District School Board is the first Ontario board to ratify a deal signed by the province and Catholic teachers aimed at ensuring labour peace this school year. At an emergency meeting Aug. 7, the TCDSB agreed to the tentative deal signed by the Ontario English Catholic Teachers' Association and the province earlier this summer. The agreement includes a two-year wage freeze for teachers, changes to the sick leave gratuity and a cut in sick days. The province has been pressuring teacher unions to sign the agreement as part of its austerity measures in dealing with a $15-billion budget deficit. "I'm proud of the leadership our board has taken," said Ann Andrachuk, TCDSB chair. "By working with the Ministry of Education and our labour partners, we will be able to both balance our budget and continue to provide an enriched Catholic education in Toronto schools." Vice-chair Sal Piccininni said the agreement allows the board to "maintain the healthy fiscal outlook we have worked so hard to achieve." He added, "The only responsible thing to do was to act in the best interest of the board, students, parents and the community by signing the OECTA agreement." Education Minister Laurel Broten praised the Toronto board for its decision. "I know the TCDSB trustees have the best interests of students at heart," said Broten in a statement. "That's why I commend them for leading the way and doing what's best to put our education system on a sustainable financial footing while protecting the gains we've made in education together. I look forward to other boards across Ontario doing what is right for the students, parents and communities they serve." While the Toronto deal raises hope for labour peace when the school year begins in September, a number of Catholic boards have said they are intent on making their own deal with the teachers. The London and Windsor-Essex Catholic boards have rejected the agreement and filed for conciliation as they try to hammer out a deal with the teachers. (A Ministry of Labour conciliator will determine if there is enough common ground for a settlement. If not, then teachers could go on strike or could be locked out by the board.) The boards argue the government deal strips them of important hiring and managerial rights. There are reports that another 10 school boards have or will file for conciliation. Premier Dalton McGuinty is pressuring other school boards and unions to use the OECTA deal as a template for negotiations. He has said if agreements aren't reached, his government is prepared to use legislation to avoid any disruption to the school year.

Belief in Jesus is a way of life

August 8, 2012

20th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B) Aug. 19 (Proverbs 9:1-6; Psalm 34; Ephesians 5:15-20; John 6:51-58) The Bible has a master metaphor for describing the blessings of God, especially those blessings that focus on sustenance, transformation and inspiration: good food and fine wine. So much for asceticism! We can only wonder if the metaphor works in an age of fast-food or food of questionable nutritional value. These symbols represented not only the fundamentals of life but also something that would immediately pique the interest of the listener. The seven pillars of Lady Wisdom are portrayed in terms of a lavish banquet but it has a very specific guest list: only those who are simple and willing to lay aside immaturity are invited. Simplicity is openness and a lack of arrogance and cunning. The know-it-all, the cynic, the zealot or fanatic, the ideologue and those fearful of change or newness need not apply. Wisdom urges the prospective guest to lay aside immaturity but it is amazing how many people have failed to do that. Brilliance or competence is not necessarily linked to maturity. Living and walking in the way of insight — wisdom — is the ability to be patient, just, balanced and compassionate in a variety of situations and to be able to apply spiritual principles to everyday life. In a sense, becoming aware of how much one does not know is the first step to attaining wisdom. As Socrates said, “I know one thing — that I know nothing!” Christianity needs to become less of a religion about getting to heaven and more a path of holy wisdom in this life. Lady Wisdom’s invitation still stands — she is the personification of a divinely inspired and guided life. The author of Ephesians was well aware of this. His advice was simple: don’t waste your lives! Time goes by so quickly and time is infinitely precious. Once spent, or wasted, it cannot be replenished. He advised his readers to make the most of their time and not squander it on foolishness. Today we might add to that list compulsive overwork and addictive behaviour. A life of wisdom includes spending ample time cultivating healthy human relationships and virtues as well as one’s relationship with God. Jesus continued the tradition of Wisdom — indeed, the image of Wisdom virtually merges with the portrayal of Jesus in the New Testament. Jesus offered food and drink, beginning innocuously enough with the image of bread. The image abruptly changed into something jarring and shocking — flesh and blood. We are so used to them that the shock value has worn off, but the words sounded outrageous to His listeners. They were intended to be so — it was John’s habit to use language to separate those who were spiritually astute from those who were clueless. John’s images are meant to be interpreted on a deeper spiritual level rather than a literal and superficial one. Contrasting that which is temporary and limited with the gift of God that is eternal, Jesus offered His own divine being to all who were willing to receive it. When we eat food we assimilate it and it becomes part of who and what we are. In a similar way, Jesus must be taken in as food and assimilated, He must become part of our very physical, psychological and spiritual makeup. This can come to us through many paths: the Eucharist, prayer, meditation, spiritual study, good works and in what we say, think and do. John is quite clear throughout the Gospel: faith in Jesus is not a mere religion but a total way of life — Jesus must be taken into us with the same urgency and regularity as food, drink and breath. Just as filling ourselves with questionable food and drink damages our health and can lead to death, so it is with many of the things we use to give us a sense of strength, security and meaning. Nothing less than the sustaining power of Jesus Christ will provide what we seek and need.

Sighs too deep for words

August 8, 2012

Their parents discovered the two small girls going from house to house in their neighbourhood, up stairs to porches, down stairs to the next front door. On their knees. The family had taken a trip to Martyrs’ Shrine at Midland, Ont. Pilgrims there pray their way up the great staircase to the shrine, on their knees. So taken were the young sisters with this unusual experience that, back home, they instituted a prayer pilgrimage of their own. Prayer seems to come easily to children, though the rest of us frequently report finding it difficult. As a friend said to me, “We’re trying to communicate with someone we can’t see, hear or touch.” Difficult! James finds it so. His daughter Sara’s life-long health struggles have been hard on both, and James often feels desperate and alone. He also has a life-long habit of prayer, daily, regularly, incessantly beseeching God. James has a habit of measuring himself. “I wonder,” he says. “Is it because I’m not praying enough that Sara isn’t getting better? Or am I praying the wrong way?” He looks for new ways to pray, asks priests and spiritual guides, and does spiritual reading. What’s he doing wrong? If he knew, he’d change it. In the meantime, he keeps praying. Despite his worries that he doesn’t know how to pray, James has established and maintained a habit of prayer. Sometimes it gives him comfort, sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes he can connect it with change, sometimes he can’t. He’s prayed in different ways, alone, with others, at church, but he’s never stopped. There’s no substitute for a habit of prayer. My spiritual father began each day with three hours of prayer. Naturally a nighthawk, he eventually developed the practice of retiring early so he could rise early and keep that three-hour tryst. “Don’t you ever take a day off?” people would ask; he invariably replied, “Do you ever take a day off breathing?” You might call James a student of prayer. You might also call him an expert at prayer. He doesn’t see it that way. But mystics, theologians, teachers down through the centuries have told us in various ways what John Paul II said succinctly: “Prayer is understood through prayer.” James is in a good position to understand prayer. In the silence of prayer, we may discover a few surprising voices within us. We may find we approach God as if He were a tyrant and we His slaves: “He’s in charge and I’m in need, so I’d better beg.” Or as though God were a vending machine for our use: “if I say nine Hail Mary’s every day for nine days, he’ll produce what I ask for.” Or we might be treating Him rather like a parking meter: “I’ll put in a rosary a day to fulfill my obligation so I can go about my business.” In such ways, we may limit or misunderstand God. That doesn’t mean we aren’t really praying, or our prayer is bad or useless. It probably means we’re growing in our relationship with God — and need to keep up the habit of prayer! How else can we learn that God is not a tyrant, a vending machine or a parking meter, that our prayer time is a doorway to eternity, a moment of intimate presence such as all human hearts long for? How else can we discover that God really is God — and we aren’t? Even if we should pray perfectly, we don’t replace God, much as we might wish to when He doesn’t do our will. We need to grow in prayer. Yet there’s no way to measure it. James doesn’t pray well or pray poorly. He prays. He prays because God is seeking him. The prayers we say, the words, gestures, hymns, are necessary and important, but they themselves aren’t prayer. When we don’t know how to pray, St. Paul tells us, “the Spirit intercedes, with sighs too deep for words” (Romans 8:26). There’s a deep, still place, underneath it, where our heart is always simply present to God — whether or not we’re aware of it. The habit of prayer can help us bring our whole selves to this intimate place where the heart dwells with God. That’s Paradise, Adam and Eve naked and unashamed with God. That’s heaven, you and me fully alive and fully revealed in God. Here on Earth, it’s hard to understand when prayers like James’s for his daughter don’t bring about what he hopes. And it’s awe-inspiring to see the depth of faith and love, love of Sara and abiding love of the God he can’t understand, can’t control, can’t stay away from. My hospitalized mother said to me recently, as she struggled with pain: “You can’t have prayer without love.” If prayer helps us “abide in His love” (John 15:10), then no wonder “more things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of” (Alfred Lord Tennyson, Morte d’Arthur).

Rumour mill forever spins tales of gay Christ film

August 8, 2012

Given that movies owe their existence to our taste for fantasy, escapism and entertainment, it’s not surprising that rumours are a big part of the business. Most of them involve the romances and fortunes of the big stars, but from time to time a story about a pending movie takes on a life of its own. A rumour that reaches my desk about every three months involves a supposedly upcoming film portraying Jesus Christ as a gay man, complete with various story lines involving the apostles. Usually there is an invitation to sign a petition to let “them” know we won’t stand for it. Earlier versions — and this rumour goes back to the 1980s — encouraged letter-writing campaigns to senators and the governor in Illinois, the state where one film was allegedly going to be made. In the 30-odd years that this story has been making the rounds, no evidence for the film’s existence has ever been found. In the early days, there was a low budget, art-house film with roughly the same theme that played for a very short time before disappearing. It was probably seen by only a few hundred people. Years later, there was a stage play similar to the one described in the petition. Terrance McNally’s 1998 dramatic offering Corpus Christi previewed at the Manhattan Theatre Club in New York. As described by The New York Times, it “retells the biblical story of a Jesus-like figure — from his birth in a Texas flea-bag hotel with people having profane, violent sex in a room next door, to his crucifixion as ‘king of the queers’ in a manner with the potential to offend many people.” It did indeed offend many people and was shut down after a few weeks of massive protest. It continues to play in smaller theatres from time to time, often fuelling another round of rumours that the work is soon to be released as a major motion picture. The spread of rumours and misinformation tends to accelerate when a desire for information is greater than the availability of verifiable facts. Studies of how news travels often find that rumour intensity is high when both the interest in an event and its ambiguity are great. The Internet has made all rumours and misinformation spread much faster, but some stories, such as this one, were able to spread quickly before the medium was even invented. That may have something to do with Hollywood’s not-always-smooth relationship with religion in its film portrayals. While there have been such epics as The Ten Commandments or Greatest Story Ever Told, and more recently The Passion of the Christ and The Nativity Story, there was also Martin Scorsese’s The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), which reaped massive publicity — and long lines at the box office — after strong protests at theatres. The uproar concerned a Jesus who both questioned His fate and who had a dream about a sexual relationship with Mary Magdalene. The film remains controversial, as do Angels and Demons, The Da Vinci Code, Priest (1994) and others that focussed on attacking the fundamentals of Christianity’s origins or the personal failings of clergy and religious. Against that backdrop it is no wonder that many people could believe a “gay Jesus film” might be in the offing. (A Canadian would probably assume there was a government grant involved.) I suspect the rumour, and the petitions, will continue as long as there is any news that might spark it. As it happens, there is indeed a new movie about Jesus Christ in production. Chris Columbus’ 1492 Pictures and CJ Entertainment have acquired the rights to the Anne Rice tome Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt, which tells the story of a seven-year-old Jesus who departs Egypt with His family to return to Nazareth. Along the way He discovers the truth about His birth, who He is and His purpose in life. The movie is expected within a year. According to Variety magazine, Columbus says: “This film has the potential to be a cinematic classic, a picture that will appeal to all ages, all around the world. I am proud to be part of this incredible production.” Given Hollywood’s history with religious subjects, we’ll have to wait to see whether the enthusiasm is justified. Chances are there will be more than a rumour or two between now and release day!

Modern Quebec caught up in post-Christian nothingness

August 8, 2012

Anyone who doubts that haunted nothingness comprises the core of post-Christian societies needs to spend some time in Quebec. It would be particularly productive, from the perspective of witness, if they could arrive before the current provincial election concludes. Mere days after Premier Jean Charest launched the campaign on Aug. 1, the spiritual emptiness at the heart of Quebec life opened itself for inspection against the background of electoral rhetoric. It is an emptiness that has nothing to do with language or ethnicity or historical origins, or even political fever. It has everything to do with being a jurisdiction in which the snake oil of the all-encompassing self has been aggressively sold and swallowed holus-bolus. For two generations at least, people outside the province have winked knowingly and observed that Quebecers of the late 1950s and early 1960s traded, straight up, obsessive belief in religion and hockey for obsessive belief in language and hockey. At the beginning of the 20th century, Henri Bourassa called for Quebec to be a beacon of light for French Catholic North America. By mid-century, Quebecers simply sheared off the Catholic part and kept the rest. The truth, experienced though certainly not confessed to by everyone who lives in Quebec, is that you cannot simply cut the Catholic life out of a Catholic people without creating a void into which an infinity of bread and circuses will inevitably tumble. Its existence disproves the statement erroneously ascribed to G.K. Chesterton that people who stop believing in God don’t believe nothing, they believe anything. In fact, they do believe nothing because they believe nothing is worth believing. So an otherwise good and decent man such as Jean Charest finds himself, cynically and in the worst of faith, fighting an election campaign against a gaggle of university students over their sophomoric refusal to pay higher tuition fees. The dispute, and its attendant antics, is really nothing but a Janus mask hiding the deplorable underlying state of this province — a malfeasance caused partly by the bankruptcy of treasury, but primarily by the evisceration of Catholic (Christian) charity among Quebecers. To cite one small but telling example, people in Quebec’s public long-term care facilities receive one bath a week. If they are bedridden or incontinent, their adult diapers are changed a maximum of once a day. There is simply not enough money, apparently, to pay unionized staff to give them even marginally more adequate care. Neither, however, is there a rush of charity-conscious students knocking at the doors of such facilities to volunteer to alleviate such appalling neglect. Though the students have demonstrated a superabundance of time for idly marching up and down the street, they have, as yet, shown themselves no more capable of a positive charitable contribution to reality than has their enraptured shaman, Parti Quebecois leader Pauline Marois. Indeed, out of the gate, Marois has ululated a campaign theme that, elsewhere, would be assumed to originate from hallucinogenic plant consumption rather than the braintrust of a democratic political party in 2012. Marois will make political, financial and jurisdictional demands that Ottawa will be forced to refuse. She then intends to use the refusal to lead Quebec out of Confederation. This, as the Globe and Mail’s sober-minded and understated Konrad Yakabuski has pointed out, is occurring at a time when Quebec’s government debt places it between Portugal and Italy in the economic basket case sweepstakes. The seriousness of this silliness is its self-absorption. Locked in the neurotic idée fixe that has obsessed her — and the political class around her — since the Church was vanquished in Quebec, Marois has nothing else to offer an electorate that so desperately needs something to rouse it from its malaise. In fairness, she is little more deficient there than CAQ leader François Legault, who was supposed to be a breath of fresh air but has so far managed only to promise that he will not speak of sovereignty or referenda or constitutional quarrels for a decade. Political silence, it seems, is a virtue in a spiritual vacuum. No one outside Quebec should feel smug, however, about Quebec’s spiritual vacuum. It may be more evident in la belle province, but it is everywhere else as well. Post-Christian nothingness haunts us all.

Waters of death and life

August 8, 2012

Summertime and we head out on the waters. We have tamed them, made them safe for splashing, floating, swimming, boating. The beach and the lake beckon us away from the city. The waters promise refreshment and relaxation and recreation. They were not created so. They were not made tame and tranquil. The Spirit hovered about the waters in the beginning, and there was chaos and darkness and the void. The biblical waters speak of the depths, down into which one descends, away from light and life. Our technologically advanced life is rather distant from the biblical world now, and the waters no longer conjure fear. We have tamed the waters, flattened out the depths. Yet the depths and the darkness cannot be altogether banished, for life in this world has not the power to tame death. Kenton Van Pelt, 15, died in the waters at his family cottage on July 28. His parents, Michael and Deani, are friends of mine. We have worked together, as Michael is president of Cardus, the think tank that publishes our new magazine, Convivium. Michael and Deani and I have been on pilgrimage together in the Holy Land. We have laughed together and prayed together. They are an exemplary Christian couple. Now their world has been overwhelmed by the destructive power of the waters, the darkness and chaos crashing down upon them and their son. Summertime has come, and the wreckage of the waters with it. The Christian is inclined toward those biblical passages that speak of the refreshing, restful waters of Psalm 23 beside which the Lord leads us. We are shaped by the vision of Ezekiel, where the waters from the temple flow out into the Judean wilderness, bringing forth life in abundance from the arid desert. Yet we forget that in the ancient world the waters were occasions of danger. The fear of the apostles amidst the storms on the Sea of Galilee was real enough. It is not Psalm 23, but Psalm 69 that speaks more truly about the biblical sense of the waters: “Save me, O God! For the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold; I have come into deep waters, and the flood sweeps over me.” The biblical waters are the realm of death. They have not been tamed. This is the meaning of our baptism. The water of baptism has different meanings, and today we tend to think more of the symbol of washing. The waters poured gently over the head of a baby wash away the stain of original sin. Or we might think about the waters providing refreshment and nourishment as an apt symbol of grace being poured into the soul. We neglect the waters as a symbol of death. Perhaps if immersion baptisms were more common we would see that more clearly, for to be immersed too long means death not life. The children of Israel, marching through the Red Sea, knew that they were passing through death, towering upon either side of them, as the Pharaoh and his chariots and charioteers would soon discover. We are baptized into Christ Jesus, and into His death. St. Paul writes to the Romans that “we believe that having died with Christ we shall return to life with Him. Christ, as we know, having been raised from the dead will never die again. Death has no power over Him.” The answer to the waters of death is the waters of baptism. The answer to the mystery of death is the death on the cross. We are baptized into Christ crucified so that He might draw us through the waters to His resurrection. The Christian is not asked to pretend that the waters cannot bring death; to the contrary the disciple knows better than others that the waters of this vale of tears cannot be definitively tamed. Yet the waters of baptism give him confidence that life, not death, has the final word. Even in the face of the death of a young man, the Christian hears the Lord Jesus, who walks across the waters to say to His apostles, “Be not afraid.” There are few sufferings more intense than the agony of parents who must bury their own child. Suffering is proportional to love. And it is the love — of parents for their son, of God for the world, of the Lord Jesus for those baptized into His body — that remains to give life, and life eternal. “Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it” (Song of Songs 8:7).

Maybe it’s time that we turn the whole conversation to Jesus

August 8, 2012

Every so often a conversation resonates with far greater power upon reflection than when it occurred. A friend recently visited me at home. We spoke about how the Catholic Church, and to a large extent Christianity, is presented to society. She expressed frustration that the Church is usually discussed in relation to “pelvic issues” — birth control, abortion and homosexuality. And those topics have become the breadth and width of Catholic teaching, at least to those who only follow religion in the media. The discussion has to return to a focus on Jesus, she said. The Church gets attacked, she noted, but Jesus never gets attacked. She suggested that maybe the answer to every question should always come back to Jesus. Her comments make sense even when not discussing faith. There is probably no individual who has had more influence on the world than Jesus. Yes, there have been great people who have moved the world in immeasurable ways, even in modern times, but Jesus represents 2,000 years of adoration and fascination. Does anyone not know the name Jesus? Even the most ardent atheist would respect what Jesus had to say and how He acted. Even those who do not believe He was the Son of God or that He was in any way divine, would not likely dismiss His message. In the Beatitudes, Jesus spoke about love of the poor, those who mourn and the merciful. He spoke about a love of neighbour and that our neighbour is everyone, not just members of our own class or race or even religion. He spoke about breaking the cycle of violence by turning the other cheek. And He said laying down one’s life for a friend was the epitome of love — something He actually did. He left stories that nearly everyone knows but no longer attach to the author. Try to find a flaw in the story of the good samaritan. It is impossible. Likewise, the story of the prodigal son is perfect. Even if you resent the miserable child who blew the father’s fortune on booze and hookers, the story raises up a deep well of emotion. And everyone can relate to the older son, the good son, who stayed home and did what was right. Moreover, Jesus said to repent and to change our ways because they were corroding our hearts with those things which do not make us happy. Read this in Matthew: “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on Earth where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there will be your heart also.” How true this would ring to the most ardent secularist being crushed under mountains of debt or to all those trying to fill empty spaces in their lives with goods rather than God. Matthew also spoke about forgiveness. It is why a woman who has had an abortion will find love and understanding in the Church rather than scorn and banishment — despite what those outside the Church think. I realize there is a problem in all this. Nuanced thinking is a lost art. How can something be labelled a serious sin and yet be forgiven? It does not seem to make sense. Doesn’t it have to be one or the other?. To which Jesus would say: not quite. Maybe my friend is right. Maybe pelvic politics is obscuring the abundant beauty of our faith. Maybe it is time to take a break from talking about gay-straight alliances and birth control and remind people what moves us to work at shelters, help the poor, sponsor refugees and hold the highest respect for life. After our talk, this is what my friend wrote to me. I am thinking of framing it: “In any case, I wish you the best as you journey more deeply into your Catholic faith. As time passes, I hope you come to see, as many Catholics do, that we try our best, often fail, but remain steadfast in our faith that God is a merciful God, and that Jesus and His mother Mary are much closer than all the noise our current world allows us to sense. We are unwavering in our belief that Jesus is Eucharist and that we are called to praise and worship before Him together at Mass.”

Positive change

August 8, 2012

The Vatican has made commendable efforts to integrate modern communication tools into its daily routines. Even the Pope has embraced the Internet and encouraged such social media innovations as blogs, Twitter and Facebook. Yet it’s been like entering a Ferrari in the Formula 1 racing circuit without hiring a professional driver. That has changed, however, with the recent appointment of a seasoned journalist who brings impressive newspaper and television credentials into the new role of senior communications advisor in the Vatican’s Secretariat of State. Greg Burke, 52, left Fox News to take the wheel of the Vatican’s communication machine. His daunting challenge is to steer the Church clear of the public relations potholes that, in recent years, have so often jarred all Catholics. Hiring a qualified professional for this critical role is long overdue. The Church has been hammered in the international media almost from the day in 2005 that Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, chided in the press as the Vatican’s bulldog, became Pope Benedict XVI. In countless media accounts, the new Pope suffered in comparisons to his popular predecessor, John Paul II. It has been a losing battle since then to usher the secular media past its bias and stereotyping and have them report fairly and accurately on the Pope and Church events. That now become’s Burke’s job. His resume suggests he is up to the challenge. He came to Rome in 1988 as a correspondent for the U.S.-based National Catholic Register and has covered the Vatican ever since. After a decade as a Time magazine correspondent, he joined Fox News in 2001 and has covered the papacy extensively, developing a reputation for fairness and accuracy. Burke, a member of Opus Dei, calls himself an old-fashioned mid-western Catholic. A sense of what he faces was evident in a snide account of his hiring in a prominent London, England, newspaper. It read: “The scandal-plagued Vatican has hired a U.S. news specialist to drag its public-relations operations out of the dark ages.” The Vatican is hardly “scandal-plagued” or stuck in the “dark ages” but those types of messages are consistently delivered to Catholics and non-Catholics by the secular media. Burke’s unenviable task is to not only reverse the negative messaging but, in a dizzying world of media overload and sound bites, he must show Vatican leaders how to effectively communicate the Church’s message. That won’t be easy. It requires a confident communications strategy to rebuild the Church’s image, but also a resolve to respond quickly, directly and candidly to harmful, often inaccurate stories about the Church. Burke acknowledges that counselling the Pope and his advisors is “a little bit scary.” He says any turnaround will take time, but putting a qualified professional behind the wheel is a positive start.

August 9

Canadian attitudes skewed in favour of physician-assisted suicide

August 9, 2012

Canadians and Britons are more open to physician-assisted suicide than Americans, a recent poll by Angus Reid Public Opinion has found. Eighty per cent of Canadians and 77 per cent of the English said that doctors should be allowed to assist terminally ill, fully informed and competent patients to kill themselves. But only 56 per cent of Americans agreed. The poll found 10 per cent of Canadians and nine per cent of Britons firmly opposed to physician-assisted suicide no matter who asks for it. Nearly one third — 29 per cent — of Americans said it should never be allowed. On the flip side, three-quarters of Canadians and Britons said physician-assisted suicide should always be allowed under specific circumstances, whereas only half of Americans thought so. The problem with polls is that few respondents understand what’s meant by physician-assisted suicide, said Rita Marker, Patient Rights Council executive director. “Those who are answering this poll could be viewing it as removing life support,” she said in an interview from Steubenville, Ohio. The Patient Rights Council is independent, but closely aligned with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Murky notions of palliative care and its availability fuel a fear-based response to polls on physician-assisted suicide in Canada, said Alex Schadenberg, executive director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition. “Most Canadians support euthanasia or assisted suicide because they fear dying in pain or experiencing uncontrolled symptoms,” he wrote in an e-mail to The Catholic Register. “Fear is a normal human response and it should be respected.” The poll reveals nothing new about British attitudes to physician-assisted suicide, said Charles Wookey, assistant general secretary of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales. “So far as the UK is concerned, in terms of opinion surveys this doesn’t surprise me,” he said. “What we’re seeing here to a degree is an instinctive, compassionate response from a society that prizes individual autonomy very highly.” The Angus-Reid survey found 86 per cent of Canadians, 84 per cent of Britons and 69 per cent of Americans agree with the statement that “Legalizing doctor-assisted suicide would give people who are suffering an opportunity to ease their pain.” People who believe laws against assisted suicide protect the vulnerable from social, economic and medical pressure to commit suicide face a major education challenge, said Wookey. “It means there’s a very, very clear job for the Church to do, particularly in secular society,” he said. But the Church can’t do it without allies, according to Wookey. “What’s essential in this debate in this country is for it to be conducted in secular terms,” he said. “It’s an unfortunate fact that the religious argument or arguments based on the appeal to faith tend clearly not to persuade people who do not share the faith. They invite the response, ‘Don’t impose your faith-based views on the rest of us.’ ” British bishops have teamed up with disability rights organizations and palliative care professionals to form an alliance called Care Not Killing — a purely secular platform to engage the public policy debate. “When people are taken through the arguments and begin to understand first of all the quality of palliative care and what palliative care can provide, and secondly what the public policy consequences are for the most vulnerable members of society of a change in the law — what it might actually lead to — then very many people do actually change their minds,” said Wookey. Getting people educated about the issue is essential because without a full debate economic issues will enter the equation, said Marker. “We have to recognize the fact that all health programs are trying to save money,” she said. “By trying to save money the question is, will those health programs — if you say assisted suicide is a medical treatment — will they then do the right thing or the cheap thing?” In Canada, availability and understanding of palliative care is key, said Schadenberg. He points to a 2010 Environics poll that found 71 per cent of Canadians want governments to prioritize palliative care over euthanasia and assisted suicide. The 2011 Parliamentary Committee on Palliative and Compassionate Care report Not To Be Forgotten is a start, he said. “The real answer is to care for the needs of Canadians who are living with terminal conditions, chronic pain or disabilities,” said Schadenberg. Angus-Reid’s online survey polled 1,003 Americans, 2,019 Britons and 1,003 Canadians between July 4 and 5. The margin of statistical error is plus or minus 2.2 per cent for Great Britain and plus or minus 3.1 per cent for Canada and the United States.

Justus George Lawler defends popes, outs critics

August 9, 2012

Were the Popes Against the Jews?: Tracking the Myths and Confronting the Ideologues by Justus George Lawler (Wm. Eerdmans Publishing, 405 pages, hardcover, $38.99.) Any book that attacks another book, especially if the target has been controversial and has burrowed under a few skins, walks a tightrope. The aggressor risks coming off as defensive and paranoid — ultimately lending credence to his prey. Justus George Lawler’s Were the Popes Against the Jews? suffers from no such shortfall. In nearly 400 dense, carefully argued and eloquent pages, Lawler delivers a jeremiad against David Kertzer’s 2001 book The Popes Against the Jews, a book that styled itself as a scathing indictment of modern pontiffs. Kertzer gave us an image of the popes as gleeful anti-Semites who paved the road to Hitler’s gas chambers and even helped deliver the goods. Kertzer’s book made a lot of people squirm. It quoted one modern pope publicly calling Jews “dogs.” Two other modern pontiffs are portrayed referring to Judaism as “Satan’s synagogue.” According to Kertzer, at the beginning of the 20th century, another pope refused to save the life of a Jew accused of ritual murder, despite knowing the man was innocent. Only a decade before the rise of Hitler, it is alleged another pope supported priests who called for the extermination of all the Jews in the world. The Popes Against the Jews was hailed in the secular press and has been translated into nine languages. It also spawned a veritable cottage industry of similarly themed works slamming the Vatican, including A Moral Reckoning: The Role of the Church in the Holocaust and Its Unfulfilled Duty of Repair by Daniel Jonah Goldhagen (2003) and Hitler’s Pope: The Secret History of Pius XII by John Cornwell (2008). Lawler’s response is a relentless carpet-bombing. Rather than being “America’s foremost expert on the modern history of the Vatican’s relations with the Jews” (as Lawler dryly quotes from Kertzer’s own web site), Kertzer is presented as guilty of a litany of literary and scholarly sins: Omissions, doctoring of texts, truncations, “slanted” and “intentional” mistranslations, at least one “whole-cloth fabrication,” factual errors and various instances of “shocking rhetorical subterfuge” that approach the “wearisome.” There’s even Kertzer’s “bewildering” grammar. As if that isn’t enough, Kertzer is accused of a general proneness to hyperbole, non-sequiturs and mind reading, which he exercises “when (he) is attempting to clinch an otherwise implausible argument.” In his more caustic moments, Lawler hears “a Monty Python voice” in reading Kertzer, and says the author, in places, “cannot but evoke Charlie Chaplin.” All of which “raises question of whether Kertzer actually saw the text of documents he keeps referring to or whether he lifted the information — as proved to be true — from secondary sources.” Lawler can be plodding and pedantic but his attack is careful and does not deviate from Kertzer’s presumably anti-Jewish popes; their deriding Jews as “dogs” and the Jewish religion as the “synagogue of Satan” under Pius IX; their approval of blood libels and ritual murder during the reigns of Leo XIII and Pius X; and their emboldening of the exterminators of Jews under Pius XI and Pius XII (also considered is Benedict XVI, to a lesser degree). Lawler does betray a defensiveness when he firmly pronounces that popes publicly calling Jews dogs is “a well-established myth.” But he then feels the need to add that at one time, Jews called Samaritans dogs; St. Paul referred to gentiles as dogs; the mishnaic rabbis called Christians dogs; and the ruling classes have for centuries referred to riff-raff or the mob as dogs. Why the other examples if the first never happened? Examples of Kertzer’s supposed shoddiness abound in Lawler’s account. While serving as a papal envoy to Poland in 1921 the future Pope Pius XI “was not only guilty of perversely failing to envision the slaughter of millions of Jews two decades later, but he was also guilty of complicity in that slaughter.” The duplicity of Leo XIII in ritual murder “is entirely of Kertzer’s making.” Lawler quotes a historian who found that the vast majority of uprisings against Jews occurred in predominantly Protestant towns, while later in Russia, “it was the czarists not the papists who safeguarded the blood libel.” The fact that Kertzer is preoccupied with Jews does not mean that every seemingly negative expression by anyone connected to the Church represents an attack on them, Lawler argues. Neither does it mean that Jews were the intended objects of the evil wrath of the pope. Lawler, a liberal Catholic, emphasizes that nothing in his book is primarily (italics his) about correcting blunders and distortions. Neither is it about refuting serious errors of fact. Rather, Kertzer is motivated by a personal, obsessive, “almost pathological antipathy to these popes.” As one reviewer supportive of Lawler put it, Kertzer and his admirers “are endeavouring to replace an authentic historical narrative with an ideologically driven polemic.” Lawler makes a convincing case in debunking Kertzer. (Csillag is a freelance writer in Toronto.)

I’ve come a long way on my faith journey

August 9, 2012

Two years can really change a person. Faith-wise, anyway. During my time as Youth Editor, I have been blessed with the opportunity to go to World Youth Day in Madrid to see the Pope in person. I’ve read YOUCAT: The Youth Catechism of the Catholic Church. I’ve met with a spiritual director a couple times. I even hopped on a plane and travelled to Connecticut for a retreat with the Sisters of Life. But what is more astounding (to me, anyway) is the fact that I now like praise and worship music, even uploading some of these songs onto my iPod. This is all a pretty big deal for me. I think things started changing after World Youth Day. Being in a climate where everyone was so open about their faith was really strange and amazing. Whereas before that the Catholic and non-Catholic worlds were always separate to me, for once, they were blended together. There was no filter. I remember throwing around the term “faith journey” now and then over the years, but I don’t think I truly understood the term until this past year, when I was actually actively on one. To be open to God isn’t an easy task. To have a genuine desire to listen is equally as challenging because it’s easier not to try to listen. But I’ve learned to try to be open, come what may. My spiritual director shared a Bible verse from Jeremiah with me, and it has given me much food for thought: “I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans to give you a future with hope... when you search for me you will find me, if you seek me with all your heart, I will let you find me, says the Lord.” This really stuck with me. Once I heard it, I wanted to hear it again. It was encouraging, exciting. Through covering the Catholic community and getting to know many faith-filled people, I’ve learned a lot. We are the company we keep, after all. YOUCAT was really helpful, too. Included in our pilgrim backpacks at World Youth Day (although you can buy them at Catholic bookstores, too), sections range from “What We Believe” to “How We Should Pray” to “How We Are to Have Life in Christ.” It has been a great resource for me and helped me to understand the basic tenets of the faith, which I assumed I knew. The answer to the question, “Why do we need faith and the sacraments in order to live a good, upright life?” is one of the most relatable parts of the book. “If we were to rely only on ourselves and our own strength, we would not get far in our attempts to be good,” it reads. “Through faith, we discover that we are God’s children and that God makes us strong.” If I’ve learned one thing, it’s to trust in God. It sounds easy, but it’s surprisingly hard to let go and do. For now, I’ll just keep trying.

Volunteer program allows students to do unto others

August 9, 2012

TORONTO - A Toronto Catholic school board initiative has kids off their couches and away from their computers this summer and has them scrubbing walls, planting flowers and helping out those who need it. It’s called the Summer Community Service Hours Program — a simple title for a program that’s affect has been anything but. Anna Paolitto-Primiani from Monsignor Fraser Alternative Secondary School and Linton Soares from Neil McNeil High School are the two teachers in charge. Both have experience helping high school students finish their mandatory 40 service hours before graduation. This year, Paolitto-Primiani became aware of how many graduating students were getting stuck on their service hour requirements. “What they do, they stay in their school and ask their teacher, ‘can I help you do this,’ ‘can I stay after school to do that,’ ” she said. “There’s so much more. There are non-profit organizations out there that need another pair of hands or eyes, energy, smiles.” So the board, Soares and Paolitto-Primiani put together a summer program for these kids to head out to different places around the city to roll up their sleeves and really help. Half of the 30 students that came out weekly spent their days at either the Good Shepherd Centre, an overnight shelter, or the Good Neighbour, a day shelter for homeless people in downtown Toronto. The other half rotated between several organizations including the humane society, a food bank, seniors homes and shelters and transitional homes. Originally the program was just open to students who needed their 40 service hours, such as Martha Sanusi, from Father Henry Carr Secondary School. She came out to volunteer at the Good Shepherd homeless shelter to complete her hours so she could graduate by January. But in reality, Sanusi has gained so much more. “I like the opportunity to give a helping hand to the needy,” Sanusi said. “The Lord said do unto others how you want me to do unto you, so I’m living up to that expectation of the Lord. “It’s also giving me a chance to work with other teens.” And those other teens are no longer necessarily trying to graduate as soon as possible. Soares and Paolitto-Primiani opened up the program to younger high school students who wanted to get a head start on their hours or just do something productive this summer. Chelsea Oosthuizen, a Grade 10 student from Notre Dame High School, was in the rotation group. Though many students only stayed for one week, Oosthuizen participated all four weeks, with a goal of getting 100 hours by the time it came to an end. But in the beginning, she didn’t even want to come out. “My summer school got cancelled so my mom (told me) I had to do something,” Oosthuizen said. “I started not knowing or believing that I would enjoy this program (but) honestly it’s changed so much. “As Canadians and as Christians and Catholics we all… have to get out in the community. You always have a purpose to give.” It’s a sentiment reflected by Aaron Benwic, a Grade 10 student from Marshall McLuhan Secondary School, who wants to continue to volunteer throughout the summer. “This whole program has been a really great opportunity to … give back to the community,” Benwic said. “I realized that there is, in fact, a need in downtown Toronto.” Soares and Paolitto-Primiani hope the program can continue next summer. “It’s a new program, so it’s going to be trial and error,” Paolitto-Primiani said. “But it’s gone really well.” “The students have loved it,” Soares added. “This was a perfect way for a lot of students to get their foot in the door (to volunteer opportunities).”

Webb chose to live among the poor

August 9, 2012

Every Jesuit chooses poverty. They all vow to live their lives poor, chaste and obedient. But Fr. Jim Webb kept choosing poverty – over and over. The former provincial superior of the Jesuits in English-speaking Canada died 6:30 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 9 surrounded by his Jesuit brothers in Rene Goupil House, the Jesuit infirmary in Pickering, Ont. A long dormant cancer came back and metastasized, forcing him to resign as provincial superior and enter palliative care in May, 2012. "One of the things that was most amazing about watching him the past few months was that, regardless of what was going on with his body, there was a radiance in his face. He was very much at peace," said Jesuit Fr. Philip Shano, the director of Rene Goupil House. As provincial superior Webb moved out of the six-bedroom home in a leafy west-end Toronto neighbourhood which had once served as home base for the Jesuit leadership team. He and his socius moved into a small apartment in St. James Town – Canada's most densely populated neighbourhood and one of the poorest parts of Toronto. Living his vow of poverty among poor people was important to Webb. "If you say that material things are not important but then there's no sign of it, it lacks credibility," Webb told The Catholic Register in 2009. "Our commitment to social justice and solidarity with the poor is very strong. In terms of vocations, I think that is one of the things that is attracting younger people to the Jesuits." But moving into St. James Town wasn't the first time Webb chose a more unambiguous sort of poverty. In over twenty years of service in Jamaica, the elegantly educated Canadian chose to spend every minute he could with the poor. Between 1986 and 2008 he was pastor of St. Peter Claver Church in Kingston, chair of the St. Mary's Rural Development Project, founding director of Citizens Action for Free and Fair Elections and regional superior of the Jesuits in Jamaica. In 2009 he received the National Union of Co-operative Society Award for helping to found the St. Peter Claver Women's Housing Co-operative. He always believed there was more that could be done, however difficult it might seem, said Shano. "Where others saw missions impossible, Jim was eternally optimistic about how things could work out," he said. As superior in English Canada, Webb responded generously to the request for a greater Jesuit presence in Vancouver. It was a decision that may yet stretch Jesuit resources thin elsewhere, but thin resources and trusting in God make up a good portion of what it means to be poor. Webb chose to live among the poor and work for the poor as soon as he was ordained in 1973. He and Jesuit Fr. Michael Czerny moved into South Riverdale just east of the Don River, long before gentrifiers began installing wine cellars and stone countertops in what had once been crowded boarding houses. There he helped found the Jesuit Centre for Social Faith and Justice, became a founding director of the Taskforce on Churches and Corporate Responsibility, helped get The Catholic New Times newspaper up and running, worked to bring the South Riverdale Community Health Centre into existence and founded the Canadian Alternative Investment Co-operative. Of his 68 years, Webb spent 48 living the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. He was born in Halifax to J. Hilus Webb and Mary Somers July 29, 1944. He earned a B.Sc. from St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, N.S. before entering the Guelph, Ont. novitiate in 1964. He made final vows in 1979 and along the way studied philosophy at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Wash., taught high school at Brebeuf College in Toronto and studied theology at Regis College in Toronto. In January of this year, as his own cancer spread, Webb was at Fr. Bill Addley's side when Addley died. "He said that in those few minutes in the hospital as Bill died he realized that Bill was teaching him how to die," said Shano. "I noticed this Sunday, the (Feast of the) Transfiguration, you could look at Jim and see him being so, almost literally and physically, transparent because he was so thin. But his face still shining." Webb was consistent his whole life long, said Fr. Michael Czerny – one of Webb's closest friends for 50 years. "Jim understood that the Gospel drove us out into those worlds where, by being honest and helpful, we could encourage others to know God's love in their lives. This he did, his life long, and this he inspired many young Jesuits to do, too," said Czerney in an email to The Catholic Register

August 10

Pastor worried by ‘structural osteoporosis’ to historic St. Mary's Church

August 10, 2012

TORONTO - When Fr. Fernando Couto talks about St. Mary’s Catholic Church in downtown Toronto, it’s as if he’s talking about a beloved friend. “The building is talking, if anyone is listening,” he said. “It needs our help.” One of the oldest churches in Toronto, St. Mary’s is crumbling, said Couto, who has been pleading with the archdiocese since he arrived at the parish in 2008 for more money to complete its restoration. “It has structural osteoporosis,” Couto said of his church at Bathurst and Adelaide. “We’ve been basically ignoring it. “The damage every year is great.” The current St. Mary’s is the third building of the historically Portuguese parish. Built in 1885 and completed four years later, it is older than Casa Loma, the Ontario Parliament buildings and City Hall, and is one of the oldest Catholic churches in Toronto. But there hasn’t been much upkeep, Couto said, evidenced by the sinking foundation and crumbling walls, rotten wood and cracked slates. “One day, bricks fell from the tower,” Couto said. “Rain (was) coming in through the windows. “We (had) to address this sooner or later before (the) structure (became) too damaged or people got hurt.” For his part, Couto would like to see St. Mary’s restored to its former glory. “There’s lots of history here,” said Couto, who has been collecting old photographs of the building, both inside and out. He said he would like to put the outer pews back to their original position, facing into the middle of the church, as well as fix up many other nooks and corners. But first, the basics, like the tower, the roof and the outer structure. “It’s like a car,” Couto said. “I can live without a phone, a good radio, leather seats. (But) I need good brakes, an engine.” The archdiocese of Toronto lent St. Mary’s $3 million, which helped to fix most of the tower, and the parish itself has raised an additional $1.2 million. But according to Couto, it’s not enough. “It’s like trying to buy a car with (enough) money for a bicycle,” he said. “The work we’re doing is not curtains and flowers. This is serious structural work.” Couto said the church will need a minimum of $6 million to be properly restored, which is why he is still appealing to the archdiocese as well as parishioners, who, he said, have been very generous and understanding despite many not having much to give. “St. Mary’s (is) one of the nicest buildings in Ontario, in Toronto,” Couto said with obvious pride. “It’s time to pay back for the neglect on many years.” Couto acknowledges that times — and demographics — have changed: this church that used to be filled with Portuguese Canadians is becoming more and more English as the cost of living downtown has increased and condominiums have “sprung up like mushrooms after the rain.” But all the more reason, he said, to preserve St. Mary’s. “We’re losing it,” he said. “And once we lose it, we can’t get it back. “There’s the busy downtown (right there),” he said with a wave to Bathurst Street. “And you come in here, and here’s the peace.”