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June 2015

June 10

Pope Francis meets Putin for a diplomatically difficult talk

June 10, 2015

A serious-looking Pope Francis on Wednesday (June 10) spoke with Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, in a meeting focused on conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East that pose complex and contrasting diplomatic challenges for the two leaders.

June 11

Quebec took wrong path

June 11, 2015

Claims of Jacques Parizeau’s grand stature as a statesman might seem exaggerated to some outside Quebec but the pomp around his funeral was expected and understandable. From his bureaucratic days in the Quiet Revolution through the political twilight that followed his performance during the 1995 referendum, Parizeau, who died June 1, was a critical catalyst in the transformation of French Canadians into Québécois. Quebecers love to send off their own with panache, and the former premier was indisputably one of their own.

In God we trust

June 11, 2015

Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B) June 21 (Job 38:1-4, 8-11; Psalm 107; 2 Corinthians 5:14-17; Mark 4:35-41) Job found out that he was not God — and neither are we. The suffering and struggle of Job is well-known to most of us. A seemingly upright, pious and successful man was brought low by a series of catastrophes that appeared to have no reason. Job steadfastly maintained his innocence of any wrongdoing despite the advice of his “friends.” They all encouraged him to confess his sin against God — after all, if these things happened, there must have been a reason!

What a life the Lord has given us

June 11, 2015

It’s ordination season time to praise God for the incomparable blessing of being a Catholic priest. Every so often the calendar brings together various events that remind me that the priestly life is really like no other, offering a privileged witness to the work of God’s grace in the world.

An alternative approach embraces complex diversity

June 11, 2015

This is a tale of two boys, neither of whom could function optimally in a traditional Ontario Catholic high school: uniform, attendance, homework.

Moral flaw or struggle with divine energy?

June 11, 2015

The renowned spiritual writer Henri Nouwen made no secret about the fact that he was emotionally over-sensitive and that he suffered, sometimes to the point of clinical depression, from emotional obsessions. At times, he, a vowed celibate, was so overpowered by the feeling of being in love with someone who was hopelessly unavailable that he became psychologically paralyzed and needed professional help.

Christ’s presence for the people of the night

June 11, 2015

“What are you doing in this bad part of the city?” I looked around and saw a young man bent over and out of breath, his rollerblade wheels still spinning in the dark of the evening. He had seen my clerical collar. The “bad part of the city” he referred to is a Toronto neighbourhood known as “the track,” where prostitution is open and drugs are barely concealed.

Apology accepted

June 11, 2015

Among the action calls from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s report on residential schools is an insistence that Pope Francis apologize in person to Canada’s aboriginal peoples.

Irish bishop seeks to discuss ordaining of married men

June 11, 2015

DUBLIN - An Irish bishop urged his colleagues to establish a commission to discuss the possibility of ordaining married men. Bishop Leo O'Reilly of Kilmore also wants the Irish bishops' conference to empower the commission to further study female deacons.

Residential schools, Ukraine on agenda for Harper, Pope

June 11, 2015

VATICAN CITY - Prime Minister Stephen Harper discussed the findings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission when he met with Pope Francis at the Vatican today.

Pope Francis to open 30-bed homeless shelter a few steps from Vatican walls

June 11, 2015

VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis will open a homeless shelter on the edge of Vatican City, the latest move by the pontiff to help poor people in Rome.

June 12

Dealing with the anxiety of going to university

June 12, 2015

For high school seniors, the end of the school year is approaching. While this normally brings relief and excitement for the summer, high school graduates face the uncertainty of what is to come. Starting university or college is, after all, a leap into the unknown.

Pope Francis: ‘Let us modify our relationship with natural resources’

June 12, 2015

VATICAN CITY - People must change their lifestyles and attitudes to help defeat hunger, Pope Francis said June 11, a hint of what may be coming in his much-anticipated environmental encyclical next week.

TCDSB trustees vote down motion to delay sex-ed implementation

June 12, 2015

TORONTO - A motion calling for the province to delay implementation of Ontario's controversial new sex-ed curriculum in Toronto Catholic schools has been defeated.

Archbishop from Iraq asks West to step up efforts to oust Islamic State

June 12, 2015

NEW YORK - Syriac Catholic Archbishop Yohanna Moshe of Mosul, Iraq, called on the world's government to oust Islamic State militants from northern parts of the country so thousands of displaced Christians can return home.

June 13

Bringing the human back into hospital design

June 13, 2015

TORONTO - People go to hospital in the hope of feeling better. But if patients are welcomed into a forbidding, institutional room with a strange bed, fluorescent lights and cold, hard floor, what then?

The new evangelization depends on parish renewal

June 13, 2015

OTTAWA - Parish renewal is the key to the new evangelization and the survival of the Church, say organizers of the Summer Institute of New Evangelization.

Burst pipes lead to historical find in Bathurst diocese

June 13, 2015

For years the outdated library in the basement of the Bathurst diocesan offices saw more mice and rats than readers, said Bishop Daniel Jodoin. But when pipes burst during the spring thaw, new doors were opened to our nation’s past.

Call to action on the environment

June 13, 2015

Now is the time Catholics need to prepare for a new urgency and a new way of thinking about our tradition and the natural world. We have to claim a new or renewed intimacy with creation.

Graphic pro-life campaign targets Justin Trudeau

June 13, 2015

Organizers of a controversial anti-abortion campaign will not back down despite protests about the graphic nature of postcards that have been delivered to mailboxes in Vancouver, Calgary and Toronto.