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April 2015

April 5

St. Agatha gets $25K for ‘outstanding’ green program

April 5, 2015

TORONTO - For years, students at St. Agatha Catholic School have gotten by with “archaic laptop” computers. But they’ve received a $25,000 surprise that will soon get them plugged into modern technology.

Dominicans celebrate their 800th birthday

April 5, 2015

When you get to your 800th birthday there’s more than a cake involved. The 800th anniversary of the Dominican order will call the “Hounds of the Lord” (Domini Canes in Latin) to Toronto to study, pray and preach.

Canadians are becoming ambivalent on religion

April 5, 2015

Canadians are increasingly becoming ambivalent about religion or rejecting it outright, but people across the religion spectrum admire the Pope, according to an Angus Reid Institute study released before Easter.

Catholic doctor taking conscience fight to next level

April 5, 2015

Already battle scarred in conflict with the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario over the college’s insistence that doctors must actively help patients access abortion, morning-after pills, chemical contraception, hysterectomies and vasectomies, Dr. Agnes Tanguay is not backing away from a fight for her right to practise medicine according to her conscience.

ISARC to hold budget vigil on April 15

April 5, 2015

The politics of prayer and the prayers of politics are being marshalled at Queen’s Park in advance of Ontario’s 2015 budget.

Humility is key to understanding Easter, sharing its joy, Pope says

April 5, 2015

VATICAN CITY - To enter Christ's empty tomb like the disciples and see that he has risen, Christians today also must "bend down," Pope Francis said in his Easter message.

April 6

Latin Patriarch urges Christians to help light of peace emerge from war

April 6, 2015

JERUSALEM - Christians in the Middle East are called to help the light of peace emerge from the violence and anguish of war in much of the region, drawing inspiration from the resurrected Jesus, Latin Patriarch Fouad Twal said in his Easter homily.

Share Easter joy, defend persecuted Christians, Pope says

April 6, 2015

VATICAN CITY - Christians live the joy of the Resurrection when they share a smile with someone, weep with those who mourn and defend the rights of those persecuted for their faith, Pope Francis said.

April 7

Cardinal calls Kenyans to prayer in wake of militants' college attack

April 7, 2015

NAIROBI, Kenya - The president of the Kenyan bishops' conference called on Easter worshippers to commit themselves to praying for peace and security in their homeland after militants attacked a college campus days earlier.

A national campaign for ‘Islam a la Francaise’ takes root amid growing radicalization

April 7, 2015

YON, France - Sunlight slants across a classroom at the Catholic University of Lyon, where the Bible dominates an evening lecture.

Bishops object to death penalty as punishment in Boston bomber case

April 7, 2015

BOSTON - As the trial of Boston Marathon bombing defendant Dzhokhar Tsarnaev went to the jury April 6, the Catholic bishops of Massachusetts released a statement reiterating the church's teaching on the death penalty.

Philippine cardinal gathers advocates for Muslim autonomous region

April 7, 2015

MANILA, Philippines - A Philippine cardinal has pooled a team of peace advocates to help push legislation that would see the creation of an autonomous region in the Muslim-majority section of Mindanao Island.

April 8

Cardinal Jean-Claude Turcotte dead at 78

April 8, 2015

MONTREAL - Montreal's cardinal of the people, Archbishop Emeritus Jean-Claude Turcotte, is dead. The popular cardinal, who served as Montreal's archbishop for 22 years, died April 8 in Montreal’s Marie-Clarac Hospital.

Board of health snub called anti-Catholic

April 8, 2015

TORONTO - Catholic school trustee Angela Kennedy is accusing some Toronto politicians of conducting “a smear campaign against Catholics.”

Catholic high school graduation rates better than public boards

April 8, 2015

Students at Ontario’s Catholic high schools are graduating at a significantly higher rate than those at public schools, according to data released by the Ministry of Education.

MP quits Conservative caucus to defend views on evolution

April 8, 2015

OTTAWA - MP James Lunney quit the Conservative caucus March 31 to sit as an independent so he could better defend the religious freedom of Christians facing mounting attacks and ridicule in Canada.

Protected zone for minorities sought in Iraq, Syria

April 8, 2015

AMMAN, Jordan - A call for an area to protect Christians and other religious minorities in Syria and Iraq is gathering pace even as April marks the centenary of the 1915 genocide of Armenian, Assyrian and Greek Christians.

April 9

Spring points us to the Resurrection

April 9, 2015

I live on 86 of the last few hundred acres of countryside separating Edinburgh from the next town over. My home is owned by the National Trust for Scotland, so it is safe from field-munching developers. Sadly, it may soon be the only greenery in an encroaching desert of urban sprawl. For the time being, however, the meadows beyond our garden walls flourish, populated still by goldfinches and bunny rabbits.

Heaven bound: by good luck or God’s grace?

April 9, 2015

Eternity has more kinds of rooms than this world does. This is a thought inside the head of Marilynne Robinson’s fictional character, Lila, in Robinson’s recent novel. Lila has reason to think that way, that is, to think outside the box of conventional religious piety because her story is not one that fits piety of any kind.

A black eye for faith

April 9, 2015

I drove to Indiana last year for a speech. Long drive but good people and a nice state. So what happened recently with their legislation supposedly based on protecting freedom of religion was rather shocking. Flummery and packaging aside, the heart of the bill was about allowing Christians to refuse to provide work or support to same-sex weddings. In other words, a Christian — and it’s not yet been an issue for orthodox Muslims, Jews or anyone else — can refuse to cater, sell a dress, take photographs if the event is the marriage of two people of the same gender. So it’s a law to allow discrimination.