FREE access to the digital edition and archives until September 2. Click here. →
Browse › 2014 › August
August 23, 2014
The start of the school year is a time of excitement and anticipation for students, and a time of some anxiety for parents as they see their children off to a new school, a new grade or a new program. These feelings apply regardless of whether the students attend elementary or secondary school, or even if they’re off to college or university.
August 24, 2014
TORONTO - The last graduate from St. Michael’s College School to become a Basilian priest is now leading the Basilian-run high school as its president.
For decades, evangelical leaders have touted “virginity pledges” as a way for teens and young adults to “save themselves for marriage.”
SEOUL, South Korea - Since the end of the Korean War in 1953, no Catholic priest has resided in the North of this divided peninsula, where autonomous religious activity is effectively forbidden. And no enemy of the communist regime there is more detested or fiercely denounced than the United States.
Despite her comfortable life in Hamilton, Ont., fourth-year MacMaster University student Sherly Kyorkis comes from a long line of refugees.
August 25, 2014
VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis lamented "tension and conflict" in Ukraine and prayed for "peace and tranquility" there on the country's Independence Day.
VATICAN CITY - Although Christians, Muslims and Jews have struggled for hundreds of years to live peacefully alongside each other in the Middle East, "we have never seen the kind of 'religious cleansing' we are witnessing today," said the head of the region's Franciscans.
CAPE TOWN, South Africa - Hunger and panic are spreading among people unable to work because of restrictions aimed at containing the spread of Ebola in Liberia and Sierra Leone, say church workers in West Africa.
ROCHESTER, N.H. - Slain journalist James Foley, who sent images and copy from different war zones, was described as living his faith through his work.
WASHINGTON - Pro-life groups that have battled with the federal government since the first rules were issued on contraceptive coverage in 2012 derided the government's latest rules allowing religious institutions -- and potentially some for-profit companies -- to opt out of the contraceptive mandate in the Affordable Care Act.
VATICAN CITY - The Vatican denied covering up for a former papal ambassador accused of sexually abusing boys and suggested he might have to stand trial on the charges in the Dominican Republic.
August 26, 2014
TORONTO - After two consecutive record-setting years, ShareLife has come up just shy of meeting its $12.65 million parish goal. But the missing $389,000 isn’t upsetting Arthur Peters.
Updated 08/26/14 Toronto - Deacon Daniel Patrick Murphy was a pioneer in the Archdiocese of Toronto. As a member of the inaugural class of deacons in the archdiocese, ordained a permanent deacon in 1974, he helped shape how the Catholic community perceived its first deacons. He died on Aug. 21, at age 86.
VATICAN CITY - With "spiritual freshness and joy" despite his physical frailty, retired Pope Benedict XVI celebrated Mass and met briefly with his former doctoral students at the Vatican Aug. 24.
August 27, 2014
MISSISSAUGA, ONT. - Dufferin-Peel's Catholic school board honoured Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion with its Catholic Award of Merit for her years of dedication to Catholic education and its community.
BEIRUT - Returning from a visit to the Kurdish region of Iraq, Syriac Catholic Patriarch Ignace Joseph III Younan called the Islamic State invasion "pure and simple religious cleansing and attempted genocide."
JERUSALEM - Catholic aid organizations are hopeful that the most recent ceasefire between Israel and Hamas will hold as they begin to assess the needs in Gaza after 50 days of war.
The Canadian Medical Association has passed a new policy on conscience rights that supports a doctor’s right to choose whether or not to help patients commit suicide in jurisdictions where it may become legal.
VATICAN CITY - Poland’s ambassador to the Holy See has forcefully condemned the alleged sexual abuse of children by a Polish-born former archbishop and Vatican diplomat, and said Warsaw is considering a fresh request to extradite Jozef Wesolowski to face trial in his homeland.
August 28, 2014
Comments from crusading atheist Richard Dawkins offer a glimpse into a possible future world that rejects the intrinsic value of all human life. It is chilling.