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August 2012

August 30

Pope Benedict the first to sign up for WYD Rio 2013

August 30, 2012

VATICAN CITY - Germans are known for being punctual, so perhaps it should be no surprise that Pope Benedict XVI was the first person signed up for World Youth Day 2013. Registration officially opened Aug. 28, and, according to organizers, the Pope was the first pilgrim to be registered for the event, which will be held in Rio de Janeiro July 23-28. Organizers said that more than 220 groups of young people from five continents signed up in the first 24 hours after registration opened. Pilgrims from Canada, the United States, Australia, China, Aruba and the United Arab Emirates were among the first of the early registrants. Groups of up to 50 people are encouraged to book early, organizers said. Registration should be done online on the official WYD Rio 2013 web site, www.rio2013.com. The missionary outreach of young people is set to be a key focus of next year's gathering, as the theme is from the Gospel of St. Matthew, "Go and make disciples of all nations!" The opening Mass, the papal welcoming ceremony and the Way of the Cross celebration will be held at Copacabana Beach, according to organizers. The youth vigil and closing Mass will be held at the city's Santa Cruz military air base. The last World Youth Day was held in Madrid in 2011 and was attended by more than 1.5 million people.

August 31

Judge delays bail for Pakistani Christian girl accused of blasphemy

August 31, 2012

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - A Pakistani court considering the case of a Christian girl allegedly found with burned pages of the Quran, the Muslim holy book, adjourned Aug. 30 without granting bail. The girl, Rimsha Masih, 11, who has Down syndrome, was charged under the country's strict blasphemy law and has been held since Aug. 18. Chances for her release received a boost Aug. 29 when district court Judge Jawad Hasan confirmed she was a minor suffering from a mental disability, reported the Asian church news agency UCA News. Medical tests had determined Rimsha was about 14 years old. Under Pakistani law, children under 15 must be tried in a juvenile court, while those under 12 are deemed to be incapable of taking responsibility for their own actions and cannot be found guilty. Although medical examinations presented to the court countered claims by the girl's parents that she is only 11, her lawyer, Tahir Naveed Chaudhry, said he was confident the court would release her during the Aug. 30 hearing. "The proof of her illiteracy, being underage and mental illness increase the prospects for her freedom," he said. "All facts and figures support her." However, the court did not grant bail and continued the hearing until Sept. 1 to get further clarification of the medical tests, the Associated Press reported. After the adjournment human rights activists renewed calls for the girl's release and repeated their criticisms of the anti-blasphemy laws. The case has sparked international condemnation of a country whose anti-blasphemy laws remain among the strictest in the world. Those found guilty can be sentenced to death. Peter Jacob, executive secretary of the Catholic Church's National Commission for Justice and Peace, said cases such as Rimsha's were rarely clear-cut, and authorities often were afraid to take a stand. Last year, two officials were killed for expressing opposition to Pakistan's anti-blasphemy laws. "A change in the blasphemy laws is only possible with pressure from the international community," Jacob said.

American Catholics filling stands for Notre Dame-Navy game in Dublin

August 31, 2012

BALTIMORE - Jim Bolduc has two favourite pieces of college football memorabilia — a Fighting Irish photo montage of its famed 1988 win over the University of Miami, and a football autographed by Navy quarterback and 1963 Heisman Trophy winner Roger Staubach. As a 1990 University of Notre Dame graduate and a U.S. Naval Academy football season ticket holder, Bolduc, a parishioner of St. Mary in Annapolis, planned to root for both teams as he watched them play in Ireland Sept. 1 for the Emerald Isle Classic. About 35,000 Americans were expected to be in the stands of Dublin's sold-out Aviva Stadium — the largest ever influx of Americans to Ireland for a single event, according to reports. Among them will be Catholics who have deep allegiances to Notre Dame or Navy — or, like Bolduc, both. Taking sides in the Notre Dame-Navy rivalry feels practically patriotic for some, and perhaps for good reason. The matchup is the longest continuous nonconference series in college football, with an annual game every year since 1927, including a previous Dublin-hosted game in 1996. The schools' history has engendered a robustly sportsmanlike atmosphere at their games, even during Notre Dame's 43-year winning streak, according to Jim Coolahan, a 1971 Notre Dame graduate and parishioner of Church of the Resurrection in Ellicott City. Navy broke the streak in 2007 and won again in 2009 and 2010. Ken Goldman, who earned a master's degree in business administration at Notre Dame in 1976 and tries to attend a few games each year, said the atmosphere of the games is so collegial that "it's almost like playing football within your family in the backyard on a holiday," but it's "still a step above all the other rivalries that Notre Dame experiences." Both active members of the Notre Dame Club of Maryland, Goldman and Coolahan are travelling to Ireland for the game together, with their wives. Having the game in Ireland will "allow ND fans to more closely identify with the Irish roots or traditions of the school," Goldman said. "Many would say the Notre Dame fans are looking forward to the Guinness beer," he added with a laugh. Coolahan expects the game's atmosphere to be "electric," he said. As for Navy fans, there is no team they would rather beat than Notre Dame, besides beating Army, which is a given, said Mike Morrell, business manager at St. Mary in Hagerstown and 1971 Naval Academy graduate who plans to attend the game with his son Brett. The teams' mutual esteem is evident in the design of the game trophy, which was recently commissioned by the Notre Dame Club of Maryland while Notre Dame was still on its winning streak. Instead of a single trophy inscribed with the game score, the trophy has two halves, which are reunited during games and inscribed with each year's team captains instead of the score. A former president of the local Notre Dame club and a regional alumni representative, Coolahan was instrumental in the trophy's commission. Some Catholics have chosen to frame their trip to the Dublin game with a pilgrimage led by three archdiocesan priests. Fr. Michael DeAscanis, archdiocesan vocations director and former pastor of St. Agnes in Catonsville and St. William of York in Ten Hills, emphasized the prayerful nature of the Ireland pilgrimage, but said that the Catholic faith includes celebration, as well.

Windsor board disputes findings that led to provincial supervision

August 31, 2012

The Ontario Ministry of Education's decision to place the Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board under provincial supervision is not sitting well with the board's trustees. Deloitte and Touche LLP, an independent auditing, consulting and tax firm, produced a report for the Ministry of Education that detailed the various deficit-reduction shortcomings for the board's most recent budgets. It suggested the board appeared willing to cause labour disruption to balance its budget this year. Despite board chair Barb Holland repeatedly going on record stating the board has no intention of forcing a labour disruption, the Ministry of Education accepted the Deloitte report Aug. 28 and promptly appointed Norbert Hartmann as supervisor. "The decision to place the board under supervision was the direct result of the WECDSB's inability to meet its financial obligations," said Gary Wheeler, a ministry spokesperson. "In addition, the minister was troubled by the concerns outlined in the Deloitte report about the willingness of the board to endure a strike in order to meet its financial obligations." The board has failed to balance its books in five of the past six years. Looking at the 2012/2013 budget, tabled with a projected $3.3-million surplus, the report "determined that there are significant risks in achieving all of the budget-reduction targets. Rather, we believe that there is a significant risk the school board will post a much smaller surplus of $0.7 (million) or even a deficit of up to $1.5 (million)." A main criticism was that the projected figures, while optimistic, place too much weight on the results of collective bargaining agreements. Holland doesn't agree with this point. "You don't do your budget based on goals you'd like to achieve with a particular employee group," she said, adding that much of the predicted surplus came from lean administrative wages. "When we went into the budgeting process this year we were fully aware that ... contracts would expire by the end of August. The majority of our budget was based on what we felt was easily achievable in other budget lines." What truly troubles Holland is not the accuracy of the statements made in the report, it is the speedy appointment of a supervisor just hours after the government received the report. "I continue to be frustrated by the fact that a report had been put out and that we had no opportunity to discuss that report with the writers to challenge the findings," said Holland. "There's a lot in that report that I would like to challenge because things that are very positive for our board over the last six years have been portrayed as very negative in an effort to diminish the standing of the board of trustees and in an effort to justify the ministry's actions." The Ontario Catholic School Trustees’ Association expressed similar sentiments. On Aug. 29 OCSTA president Marino Gazzola sent a letter to Minister of Education Laurel Broten. "Although we do not challenge the statutory authority, we most strongly object to the way in which it has been exercised," wrote Gazzola. "As a matter of procedural fairness, the Windsor Essex Catholic District School Board had a right to expect some dialogue with you and your staff before taking such a draconian step in implementing the recommendations of the investigator. "We wonder how it is possible, Madam Minister, that you could have had time on Aug. 28 to have given thoughtful consideration to the investigator's report before presenting your recommendation to the Lieutenant Governor in Council, and how the Lieutenant Governor in Council could have had time to give thoughtful consideration to your recommendation, all before the first 11 hours of Aug. 28 had elapsed." Despite their differences, both trustees and the government have one source of common ground — parents. "I want the parents to know that it is the board’s intent to continue to represent them," said Holland. "We have no intention of abandoning our ratepayers." "The Minister has asked the supervisor to work to ensure that parents continue to have input and a meaningful role in decision-making at this board," said Wheeler. "Parents will also be able to continue to work with local trustees who will be free to carry out individual responsibilities in local communities and at school events." Hartmann officially takes up his position with the board Sept. 4. In 2008 Hartmann was appointed supervisor of the Toronto Catholic District School Board when it became the first Ontario school board to be taken over by the province. Holland has already spoken with Hartmann about his plans. "I have just spoken to the supervisor and we have agreed to meet in the very near future to establish a fair and reasonable way to work within established parameters," said Holland. "I am pleased with that."