Browse › 2014 › February

February 2014

February 6

Shedding pounds with a Christian-friendly diet

February 6, 2014

Candlemas, February 2, has passed and my husband has dragged the tree down the stairs, so the Christmas season is now well and truly over. Lent, with its sense of penance and renewal, hovers on the horizon. However, a secular Lent has begun for hundreds, if not thousands, of fad dieters, for the Fast Diet is all the rage.

Amnesty International faces backlash for draft prostitution policy

February 6, 2014

OTTAWA - Amnesty International would be “squandering its moral authority” and “abandoning victims” if it proceeds with a recommendation to legalize prostitution, said Conservative MP Joy Smith.

Police recover stolen relic of Blessed John Paul II

February 6, 2014

VATICAN CITY - Less than a week after a relic of Blessed John Paul II disappeared from a country chapel east of Rome, Italian police recovered the venerated piece of fabric stained with the late pope’s blood.

The imperative for wholeness inside Christ

February 6, 2014

For more than a thousand years, Christians have not had the joy of being one family around Christ. Although there were already tensions within the earliest Christian communities, it was not until the year 1054 that there was a formal split so as to, in effect, establish two formal Christian communities, the Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church in the West. Then, with the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century, there was a further split within the Western Church and Christianity fragmented still further. Today there are more than a hundred Christian denominations, many of them, sadly, not on friendly terms with each other.

We are not passive victims of fate

February 6, 2014

Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A) Feb. 16, 2014 (Sirach 15:15-20; Psalm 119; 1 Corinthians 2:6-10; Matthew 5:17-37) Accepting responsibility for one’s actions is a rather uncommon human trait. People love to blame everyone and everything — it’s the fault of my parents, my religion, my environment, my genes or even God. The role of victim is more comfortable than that of perpetrator.

Syrians fleeing to Jordan say Homs residents starving from lack of food

February 6, 2014

MAFRAQ, Jordan - Syrians fleeing to neighboring Jordan from the besieged central city of Homs said some people there are starving to death for lack of food.

February 7

Bishops’ letter to Baird urges action on Israeli wall

February 7, 2014

OTTAWA - The Canadian government should urge Israel to stop construction of a section of a security wall that threatens the livelihood of 58 Christian families and a Catholic religious order, said the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) in a letter to Canada’s foreign affairs minister.

To go or not to go above and beyond

February 7, 2014

To graduate from high school in Ontario, a student must complete at least 30 academic credits (18 compulsory and 12 optional), achieve the provincial literacy requirement and perform a total of 40 volunteer hours. All this information was given to me when I started Grade 9.

Diversity, not division for unity

February 7, 2014

Editor’s note: this is the third place entry in the annual essay contest for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity sponsored by The Catholic Register and the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement-Graymoor. Zita Lee, a Grade 12 student at Markham, Ont.’s St. Brother André Catholic High School, took third prize.

Filipino students go back to school

February 7, 2014

QUEZON CITY, PHILIPPINES - Biology major Seary Balliard is finding there’s a lot more to a university education than knowing how the parts of the human body function. She is also learning about the human psyche and the compassion it can share.

Student seeks hands-on social justice

February 7, 2014

If Sam Caldeira Slavec wanted a hands-on method of tackling global justice issues, she got one. On a trip to Nicaragua, she helped clean and repaint walls, put in a new roof and mixed cement for an addition to a school, a room for children with disabilities.

No Catholic too far for globe-trotting priest

February 7, 2014

Msgr. Edmond J. Putrimas says he lives his life, metaphorically speaking, with a Bible in one hand and a model airplane in the other.

Bishop linked to freedom

February 7, 2014

From his home in Winnipeg, the epicentre of the great Ukrainian immigration to Canada, the Church was always Bishop Cornelius Pasichny’s vital link to Ukraine’s struggle for freedom.

Feminists target Ottawa doctors’ rights

February 7, 2014

OTTAWA - A feminist group has targeted three Ottawa doctors who refuse to refer patients for abortions or prescribe birth control pills.

February 8

Papacy, despite its warts, is all good

February 8, 2014

Behind the anecdotes and centuries-long ups and downs presented here, Mike Aquilina constantly drives home his central point — the papacy never erred theologically.

Our Lady Seat of Wisdom taking next step

February 8, 2014

Now in its 14th year, Our Lady Seat of Wisdom Academy is seeking to step up its academic game by becoming a degree- granting institution.

Pope Francis’ message resonates on Canadian campuses

February 8, 2014

TORONTO - Timothy Keslick believes Pope Francis’s small gestures are making a big impact on Canada’s university students.

Ancient burial site near St. Peter’s opens to public

February 8, 2014

VATICAN CITY - In the first century B.C., a grassy hillside just north of what is now St. Peter’s Square was used as a burial place for local Romans.

Coffee to combat social justice apathy on campus

February 8, 2014

TORONTO - A Catholic education involves more than books and study. It means getting involved to make a difference. At least, that’s how Eman Cheema sees it.

Keep Catholic identity clear, says Pope Francis

February 8, 2014

VATICAN CITY - Catholic universities must give "uncompromising" and "unambiguous" witness to church teaching and defend themselves from all efforts to dilute their Catholic identity, Pope Francis said.