Browse › 2013 › March

March 2013

March 22

The power of protocol

March 22, 2013

“You’re kidding me” was the uneasy response of my fellow classmate as I explained in detail Church protocol pertaining to meeting with h i g h - r a n k ing clergy of the Catholic Church. On this instance, the protocols coincided with Cardinal Thomas Collin’s first liturgical service in Guelph since His Eminence’s elevation to the College of Cardinals.

New CCSA executives take the reins of leadership

March 22, 2013

A new team of students has taken leadership of the Canadian Catholic Students’ Association and is now in the process of setting its agenda for the year.

The Resurrection transformed our world

March 22, 2013

Resurrection of the Lord (Year C) March 31 (Acts 10:34. 37-43; Psalm 118; Colossians 3:1-4; John 20:1-18) If the Easter event occurred in our own day, how would the news be transmitted? We can imagine media blitzes, live interviews, endless analysis by “talking heads” and replay after replay. We would probably tire of the story, and as with most media events, it would soon be supplanted by something more exciting (at least for a time). Media can give us immediacy and a lot of “facts” but it often lacks sincerity, passion and the authenticity of one human heart speaking to another.

Humility, humour and simple kindness in Francis

March 22, 2013

Like most everyone, I’ve been fascinated and delighted with the election of Pope Francis. His simple, gracious acts during his first days on the job bode well for the Church.

Our new Pope is a servant of God unafraid to speak the truth

March 22, 2013

The Catholic Church teaches that the selection by cardinals of a new pope is guided by the Holy Spirit. Despite this teaching, many pundits (including some Catholics who should know better) prepared lists of favourites, debated frontrunners, discussed the pros and cons of each and sometimes even proposed odds.

Church of the poor

March 22, 2013

“Oh, how I wish for a Church that was poor and for the poor!”

A pontificate begins

March 22, 2013

VATICAN CITY - Perhaps St. Francis — who wrote poetically of Brother Sun praising God — provided the weather for Pope Francis on the day of his inaugural Mass. After two weeks in Rome where the weather was wet, overcast and dreary, the sun shone brightly on St. Peter’s Square as the Holy Father began his Petrine ministry on March 19, the Feast of St. Joseph, patron and protector of the universal Church.

Breath of fresh something

March 22, 2013

If anything epitomized the mainstream media’s coverage of the papal election it was the regarded, respected, even revered BBC’s performance. Britain’s Daily Mail summed it up. “The BBC came under fire this evening for its coverage of the election of the new Pope after viewers complained that the on-air translator could not even turn the Lord’s Prayer into correct English. Viewers were taken aback at the attempts of the translator to make the words of Cardinal Bergoglio, who will be known as Pope Francis, understandable to the audience.”

Obama lights candles, prays at Bethlehem's Church of Nativity compound

March 22, 2013

JERUSALEM - U.S. President Barack Obama, visiting the West Bank city of Bethlehem, stopped twice to light candles for his family and himself: first at the Church of Nativity grotto, where Christian tradition holds that Jesus was born, then at the adjacent Catholic Church of St. Catherine.

Young mothers find a home in God’s house

March 22, 2013

CALGARY - Good friends Janeillia Carr, 26, and Stephanie Paas, 24, have a lot in common. Both are single mothers of five-year-old boys — Malaki and Timothy — who were born six days apart. And both have struggled with faith, trying different Christian denominations before deciding to become Catholic this Easter.

March 23

Renaissance greats grace AGO

March 23, 2013

Matthew Teitelbaum, the director and CEO of the Art Gallery of Ontario, calls Revealing the Early Renaissance: Stories and Secrets in Florentine Art “the greatest exhibition of Italian art ever to come to Canada.”

Pope Francis to diplomats: Moral relativism endangers peace

March 23, 2013

VATICAN CITY - Moral relativism "endangers the coexistence of peoples," Pope Francis told diplomats March 22, and said a common ethics based on human nature is an indispensable condition for world peace.

‘Theology of dirt’ can stem ecological devastation

March 23, 2013

Sacred Acts: How ChurchesAre Working to Protect Earth’sClimate, edited by Mallory McDuff(New Society Publishers, 288pages, softcover, $17.95).

Pope chooses silver ring, pallium style in keeping with predecessor

March 23, 2013

VATICAN CITY - With his fisherman's ring and the pallium -- the main symbols of the Petrine office -- Pope Francis chose styles in continuity with two of his predecessors.

Vatican security scrambling, yet prepared for pope's love of the scrum

March 23, 2013

VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis' style of breaking away from his security detail and diving toward the crowds means his protectors have had to do a quick rewrite of strategy, sometimes on the spot.

Collins extends prayers of Canadians to new Pope

March 23, 2013

Cardinal Thomas Collins extended Pope Francis the best wishes and prayers of Canada in a brief meeting March 15 in the Clementine Hall of the apostolic palace.

Toronto’s Argentines rejoice in Pope Francis

March 23, 2013

TORONTO - Former priest Peter Doherty is happy a fellow Argentine was elevated to the papacy. But he’s even happier knowing the Church is in the good hands of the man who ordained him.

Keeping faith with past — and future

March 23, 2013

LONDON, ONT. - What does it mean to be a Catholic university in this day and age?

For Annaliese Carr, age is no barrier to helping out

March 23, 2013

TORONTO - For the second consecutive year Annaleise Carr, the youngest person to successfully swim across Lake Ontario, has been honoured as an Ontario Junior Citizen of the Year.

Jesuits shocked one of their own is Pope

March 23, 2013

If casual observers and ordinary Catholics were surprised by a Jesuit Pope, they weren’t alone. The world’s 17,000 Jesuits were surprised too.