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November 2014

November 3

Vatican official: Syria's war is part of regional humanitarian crisis

November 3, 2014

BEIRUT, Lebanon - A Vatican official who just returned from a visit to Syria said "the humanitarian situation is worse than I thought."

Praying for the dead, pope asks special prayers for victims of war

November 3, 2014

VATICAN CITY - The early November feasts of All Saints and All Souls call Catholics to contemplate their ultimate destiny, hope in the eternal happiness of their beloved dead and remember the thousands of innocent people dying each day because of human evil and selfishness.

Pope Francis to open Vatican conference on traditional marriage

November 3, 2014

VATICAN CITY - A month after closing a Synod of Bishops on the family stirred by controversy over divorce, same-sex unions and other non-marital relationships, Pope Francis will open an interreligious conference dedicated to traditional marriage.

Woman's suicide called tragedy, symbol of 'culture of death' in U.S.

November 3, 2014

PORTLAND, Ore. - Brittany Maynard, a young California woman who was suffering from terminal brain cancer and gained national attention for her plan to use Oregon's assisted suicide law, ended her life Nov. 1. She was 29 years old.

November 4

NY archdiocese, one of the world’s grandest, shrinks

November 4, 2014

NEW YORK - The Archdiocese of New York, with the second-largest Catholic population in the country and an unparalleled place in U.S. Church history, is shrinking: Cardinal Timothy Dolan on Nov. 2 announced that nearly a third of the archdiocese’s 368 parishes would be merging, and some would close.

Canadian bishops mark 50th anniversary of decree on ecumenism

November 4, 2014

OTTAWA - Canada's Catholic bishops examine the church's connection with other Christian churches in a document marking the 50th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council's decree on ecumenism.

Religious freedom office can make a difference

November 4, 2014

TORONTO - Despite a tiny budget and a microscopic staff buried deep within the bureaucracy of the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development, Canadian Ambassador for Religious Freedom Andrew Bennett insists his efforts to promote religious freedom around the world can make a real difference over time.

Exhibition honours chaplains’ service during conflict

November 4, 2014

TORONTO - For the first time in Canadian history, the men and women who ventured into war unarmed, carrying a holy book, ready to listen to and serve soldiers in distress are being remembered with a museum exhibition.

November 5

Vatican ethicist: No dignity in Brittany Maynard’s physician-assisted death

November 5, 2014

VATICAN CITY - The Vatican’s top ethicist condemned Brittany Maynard’s decision to end her life, saying there was no dignity in her physician-assisted death.

Christian persecution gains notice from Prince Charles, Catholic group

November 5, 2014

MANCHESTER, England - The heir to the British throne suggested that Islamic leaders must speak out against the persecution of Christians by Muslims if they are to guarantee freedom within their own countries.

Emotional, spiritual healing needed at end of life

November 5, 2014

HAMILTON, ONT. - A palliative care nurse offered moving accounts of how a person’s last days of life can be some of his or her most fulfilling, enlightening and spiritually rewarding when she spoke at Hamilton Right to Life’s Annual Respect Life Fundraiser Dinner Nov. 3.

The battle to save Assumption Church

November 5, 2014

WINDSOR, ONT. - Windsor’s historic Our Lady of Assumption Church closed its doors Nov. 3 while the Diocese of London considers a financial rescue package to renovate the church and reopen it again.

Justin Trudeau’s ‘doctrine of double truth’

November 5, 2014

OTTAWA - Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau’s abortion policy is an example of the “doctrine of double truth” that leads to oppression, said McGill University Professor Douglas Farrow.

Burkina Faso bishops urge return of civilian rule

November 5, 2014

OXFORD, England - Burkina Faso's Catholic bishops sent a "message of peace and hope" to the West African country after its 27-year president, Blaise Compaore, fled prompting a military takeover.

No denying, Canada is on slippery slope to euthanasia

November 5, 2014

Updated 11/6/14 TORONTO - Canada's health care industry is already on a slippery slope to accepting euthanasia and it may soon turn into a full-blown avalanche, warns Alex Schadenberg.

Pope Francis suggests no-cost annulments in divorce cases

November 5, 2014

VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis raised the prospect of no-cost marriage annulments Nov. 5 after revealing he had dismissed a Church official for selling annulments for thousands of dollars, which he called a “public scandal.”

November 6

Have mercy

November 6, 2014

There is nothing novel in a Pope rejecting the death penalty, but in typical style Pope Francis went a step further recently by also denouncing life sentences.

Doctrine sprouts and grows

November 6, 2014

The controversies surrounding the recent extraordinary Synod of Bishops on the family have often put me in mind of Cardinal John Henry Newman, the greatest Catholic churchman of the 19th century. Newman wrote eloquently on an extraordinary range of topics, but the arguments around the Synod compel us to look at Newman’s work regarding the evolution of doctrine.

We are all His own

November 6, 2014

Two days before its crews tidied up the National War Memorial in Ottawa on All Souls Day, Public Works Canada issued an advisory that flowers and other mementos would be removed.

Coming to grips with Catholicism under the Nazis

November 6, 2014

TORONTO - “Historians don’t use right or wrong. Catholics do, but historians don’t,” said Catholic Holocaust scholar Suzanne Brown-Fleming.