Browse › 2013 › August

August 2013

August 27

Canadian doctors vote against changing anti-euthanasia policy

August 27, 2013

OTTAWA - Even though the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) has reaffirmed its opposition to euthanasia and assisted suicide it’s only a matter of time before pro-euthanasia doctors force the issue back on the table, predicted ethics professor Margaret Somerville.

PQ ‘idealogues’ behind Charter of Quebec Values

August 27, 2013

OTTAWA - Religious freedom experts say the proposed Charter of Quebec Values that would ban religious dress and symbols from public institutions is unlikely to survive a Supreme Court challenge.

Pope to meet Jordan's king, discuss ongoing strife in Middle East

August 27, 2013

VATICAN CITY - As international leaders increasingly discussed the possibility of some form of armed intervention in Syria, the Vatican announced Pope Francis would interrupt the last week of his summer break in order to meet Aug. 29 with Jordan's King Abdullah II.

August 28

U.S., other nations weighing response to chemical attack in Syria

August 28, 2013

WASHINGTON - U.S. President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry were consulting with other world leaders about how to respond to Syria's apparent chemical weapons attack on civilians.

Syrian-born patriarch says, 'Enough with the intervention'

August 28, 2013

BEIRUIT - Syrian-born Melkite Catholic Patriarch Gregoire III Laham warned against armed intervention in his country, saying, "It has brought us to the tragedy we are now living in Syria."

August 29

Construction begins on holy door for Quebec cathedral

August 29, 2013

QUEBEC CITY - The archdiocese of Quebec has begun construction on a holy door for its Basilica-Cathedral Notre Dame de Quebec, the first Catholic parish in French-speaking North America.

Pope, Jordanian king say dialogue only hope for Syrian peace

August 29, 2013

VATICAN CITY - Dialogue and negotiations are "the only option for putting an end to the conflict and violence" in Syria, said Pope Francis and Jordan's King Abdullah II.

Polish people know true meaning of freedom

August 29, 2013

English is the lingua franca of the young of Europe. Perhaps they forget that it is understood by older people, too. Or so I thought as my Polish friend and I walked along the Motława River in Gdańsk one evening behind a young tourist determined to impress upon the young man to her right how sexually liberated she was.

100 years a treasure

August 29, 2013

On the feast of St. Augustine 100 years ago the doors to the Scarborough seminary named in the saint’s honour officially swung open to welcome 51 aspiring priests into this new masterpiece of the Canadian Church.

An addiction to comfort

August 29, 2013

Fifty years ago, Kay Cronin wrote a book entitled Cross in the Wilderness, chronicling how, in 1847, a small band of Oblate missionaries came from France to the American Pacific Northwest and, after some bitter setbacks in Washington State and Oregon, moved up the coast into Canada and helped found the Roman Catholic Church in Vancouver and in significant parts of British Columbia’s mainland.

World of ‘spiritual pygmies’

August 29, 2013

23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C) Sept. 8 (Wisdom 9:13-18; Psalm 90; Philemon 9-10, 12-17; Luke 14:25-33) Is human reasoning really so bad? The author of Wisdom seemed to think so — he insisted that it is worthless! As we look around at our world of technological marvels and progress, our first impulse might be to take issue with his statement. But Wisdom seemed to have our own age in mind.

Many questions need answers in police shooting

August 29, 2013

It’s difficult to find anything more perplexing than the tragic shooting death of teenager Sammy Yatim, the former Brebeuf College School student. It has caused a great gulf in the community with people lining up to either detest or defend police actions. One web site called the Toronto Catholic Witness Blog posted a story entitled “Sammy Yatim: A victim of the Toronto Gestapo Police.”

Sometimes, those picking the awards get it right

August 29, 2013

As the new academic year beckons, we ought not forget some of the happy news of the summer, namely that The Catholic Register won the Cardinal John P. Foley Award as the best national newspaper by the Catholic Press Association of the United States and Canada. Congratulations to my colleagues for this recognition.

Oh the hypocrisy

August 29, 2013

Recently a story about disability made the headlines. It’s the deep summer, of course, so newspapers and talk-radio stations are desperate for content. But this particular story genuinely bit hard and deep.

Russian Church taking no stance on Olympic boycott

August 29, 2013

WARSAW, POLAND - Calls for an Olympic boycott because of a Russian law banning “propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations” have become “highly politicized” and will not draw a response from the Russian Church, said an official of the Russian bishops’ conference.

August 30

Syriac parish rallies around slain teen Sammy Yatim’s family

August 30, 2013

TORONTO - The Syriac Orthodox parish of St. Barsaumo has rallied around Sammy Yatim’s mother and sister in the aftermath of the youth’s July 27 shooting at the hands of Toronto police.

Egypt not condemning hate speech, patriarch says

August 30, 2013

CAIRO - Egypt’s new interim government is doing nothing to prevent hate speech, which is inciting violence, said a prominent Egyptian Catholic leader.

Freedom from fear comes from love

August 30, 2013

I fastened a small Miraculous Medal of Mary on a chain hanging around my neck. I quickly tucked it under my shirt.

A match made in music

August 30, 2013

Before they were Juno nominees, Sheila Carabine and Amanda Walther were classmates 15 years ago in Mr. Jatiouk’s music room.

St. Augustine’s told the city, ‘We’re here’

August 30, 2013

A Presbyterian prayer around the turn of the 20th century rather summed up the position of Toronto’s Irish Catholics before the First World War.