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April 2, 2015
CHICAGO - Catholicos Dinkha IV, patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East, died March 26 at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. A virus infection and pneumonia were cited as the cause of death. He was 79.
OTTAWA - Parliamentarians marked the first John Paul II Day a day early April 1, recalling the late pope’s legacy as a defender of human dignity against oppression.
NAIROBI, Kenya - Somalia's al-Shabab militants shot and killed more than 147 people, wounded dozens of others and held hundreds hostage April 2 at Garissa University College in northeastern Kenya.
TORONTO - For 24 hours the Vatican flag is flying above Nathan Philips Square as the City of Toronto celebrates the first national John Paul II Day April 2.
VATICAN CITY - In a moving ceremony that recalled how Jesus loved the world so deeply that He lowered Himself to serve and died for everyone's sins, Pope Francis washed the feet of 12 prison inmates, plus a small toddler who lives with his incarcerated mother.
INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana Republican legislative leaders, under growing pressure from inside and outside the state, said April 2 that lawmakers had reached agreement to amend Indiana’s controversial “religious freedom” law to ensure it does not discriminate against gay and lesbian customers of Indiana businesses.
April 3, 2015
Online classifieds have become a popular method of buying and selling, but online purchases can be risky. First, there’s the problem of not knowing the person you’re connecting with online, and whether they can be trusted.
For the first time in months, I was feeling nervous about going to Confession. I had a sense of dread as I imagined reading my lengthy examination of conscience to my confessor. The worry of never again being able to look my priest in the eye lingered at the back of my mind as I scrambled to prepare to receive the sacrament.
MARKHAM, Ont. - As they prepared for their baptism at Easter, adult catechumens at Chinese Martyrs parish got a taste of the Old Testament by participating in the Jewish ritual of the Passover Seder.
Lakeisha Angelous Ginanena has always loved to draw but now he thinks it may be something to pursue seriously and take, as he says, “to the next level.”
TORONTO - If death is a part of life then we shouldn’t die alone any more than we should live in isolation. Our deaths should not be coldly institutionalized any more so than our lives. Our deaths should be as surrounded by family, love and compassion as the lives we lived.
VATICAN CITY - Joy is not a word people usually associate with strict fasting and penance — unless they are Eastern-rite Catholics.
TORONTO - St. Michael College School is preparing to say goodbye to principal Terry Sheridan. Sheridan, who has spent 17 of his 20 years in education at St. Michael’s, officially takes over Sept. 1 as headmaster at Toronto’s Northmount School for Boys.
Jed Malitz appends V2 to the name of his art gallery in New Orleans’ Warehouse District. The V2 stands for “Version 2” — both in art and in life.
During Holy Week, Catholics are called to reflect on the Last Supper, when the apostles came together like a family to break bread with Jesus for the final time. It was from that simple meal, with bread at its centre, that Christ gave mankind the Eucharist.
April 4, 2015
Richard John Neuhaus: A Life in the Public Square, by Randy Boyagoda (Image, hardcover, 480 pages, $35). Fr. Richard John Neuhaus’ life was a broad sweep in many ways. Born into a Lutheran family in the rural Ottawa Valley, he ended up living in densely populated lower Manhattan.
NAIROBI, Kenya - As Good Friday services began here, Christian and Muslim leaders preached unity a day after a horrific terrorist attack at Garissa University College left 147 students dead, most of them Christians.
Released before Easter, Cinderella is the most surprising Hollywood movie of the year so far.
VATICAN CITY - Widespread indifference to the violent persecution of Christians and other communities suggests the world is full of Pontius Pilates who eagerly wash their hands of all responsibility, the papal preacher said.
April 5, 2015
SASKATOON - Many factors contribute to a positive healing experience at a hospital, including medical expertise and respectful and compassionate care by physicians, health care personnel, staff and volunteers. But for patients at St. Paul’s Hospital, where core values include holistic care, the process of healing the body, mind and spirit is enhanced through art.