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April 26, 2013
I visited the Art Gallery of Ontario in April to see the exhibit “Revealing the early Renaissance: Stories and Secrets in Florentine Art” that has been running since mid-March. The exhibit showcases a collection of religious panels, pages, books, stained-glass windows and altar decorations made by artisans in and around Florence, Italy, during the 14th century. Although these pieces were created centuries ago, we can still find a connection to God and the Catholic community through these works.
BRUSSELS - The Belgian bishops' conference criticized an attack on its president, Archbishop Andre Leonard of Mechelen-Brussels, during which he was soaked with water by half-naked women.
A Marian order priest on the cusp of returning to Canada within a week was shot and killed in Haiti's capital April 25.
April 27, 2013
In an industry where media plus young people equals entertainment, two Catholic production companies — Vocation Boom and Spirit Juice — are adding spirituality to the equation.
A high percentage of the 100,000- plus visitors who walked the grounds of Midland, Ont.’s Martyrs’ Shrine last year will begin pouring through the gates again when the shrine reopens on May 4.
TORONTO - Come August one of Toronto’s oldest parishes will enter its centenary year and its parishioners are doing what they can to ensure its future for another 100 years.
TORONTO - As Pax Christi members around the globe celebrate the 50th anniversary of Pope John XXIII’s epochal encyclical Pacem in Terris, the seven-year-old Pax Christi Toronto still has only a dozen regular members, has made no progress toward becoming a national Catholic peace movement and can’t name its international or national priorities.
April 28, 2013
TORONTO - Gambling is a cruel illusion that causes social harm and family breakdown and should not be promoted by governments, Cardinal Thomas Collins has written in a pastoral letter.
TORONTO - For 25 years the Interfaith Social Assistance Reform Coalition has gathered religious leaders at Queen’s Park to discuss the poor in Ontario. In their 26th year, ISARC dedicated its spring meeting to the middle class.
TORONTO - Ever since installing its Homeless Jesus sculpture outside its front door, Regis College has been getting second looks.
OAKVILLE, ONT. - Two years after Rogers Sportsnet fired anchor Damian Goddard after he penned a tweet in support of traditional marriage, he says the incident has made him the man he is today, and he’s launching a new online venture to prove it.
TORONTO - A half-million dollar donation from an alumnus is allowing the University of St. Michael’s College to continue offering its SMC ONE: Cornerstone program to its first-year students.
April 29, 2013
TORONTO - The new evangelization isn't about condemning our culture but healing it, Cardinal Thomas Collins told an audience of doctors, nurses and health care ethicists at the annual Cardinal Ambrozic Lecture in Toronto.
VATICAN CITY - Administering the sacrament of Confirmation to 44 people, including two teenagers from the United States and two from Ireland, Pope Francis encouraged them to "swim against the tide; it's good for the heart."
GUADALARJARA, Mexico - A shy woman stopped to pray in front of statue of Blessed Maria Guadalupe Garcia Zavala while visiting the Santa Margarita Hospital. She knew little about the founder of the facility, who will be canonized May 12, but, like many, she had heard stories from hospital patients who say the soon-to-be-saint still walks the halls providing care, attention and miracles to those in need.
SHANGHAI - Bishop Aloysius Jin Luxian of Shanghai, a prominent and controversial figure in the Chinese Catholic Church, died April 27 of pancreatic cancer. He was 96.
April 30, 2013
VATICAN CITY - Israeli President Shimon Peres officially invited Pope Francis to Israel and left their meeting at the Vatican telling the pope, "I am expecting you in Jerusalem and not just me, but all the people of Israel."
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - A suspect was being held on $75,000 bond after being arrested following the stabbing of four worshippers at an Albuquerque parish near the end of Mass April 28.
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic - Marianist Brother Richard E. Joyal, who was murdered in Haiti after withdrawing money at an ATM in late April, was a dedicated missionary who had worked in trying circumstances around the world, according to fellow members of the Society of Mary order.
VATICAN CITY - Retired Pope Benedict XVI is scheduled to move into a remodeled convent at the Vatican May 2, the Vatican spokesman said.