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July 18, 2015
OTTAWA - On July 20, 2005 same-sex marriage became legal in Canada. Ten years later, Canada has experienced a steady erosion of religious freedom and conscience rights, undergone negative changes in sex education and parental rights, while also seeing a shift in the rights of children, according to several observers.
July 19, 2015
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - An outpouring of sympathy and prayer washed over Tennessee for the victims of the July 16 shootings that left four Marines and the shooter dead.
WASHINGTON - A video of a Planned Parenthood physician describing her procedures for keeping fetal organs intact during an abortion is "horrifying and heartbreaking," said U.S. Rep. Ann Wagner, R-Missouri.
VANCOUVER - Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson is to meet with Pope Francis July 21 to discuss climate change.
MISSISSAUGA, Ont. - After spending the better part of four decades with the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board, John Kostoff will soon be saying goodbye.
LVIV, Ukraine - Ukrainian Catholic Father Tykhon Kulbaka was headed to the chapel in the room rented by the local Catholic community. En route, he stopped at a grocery store, where four men grabbed him, blindfolded him and made him breathe chloroform.
PICKERING, ONT. - Angela Kirby believes in living life to its fullest and won’t let the challenges of multiple sclerosis get in her way. Diagnosed with MS at the age of 50, she never felt deterred from hiking up mountains and travelling the world.
Swimming is fun. So why not do it 22 to 26 hours in 16-to-20-degree water with jellyfish, possible high winds and ocean tides pulling you in various directions? Not every 58-year-old psychiatrist is crazy enough to try it.
TORONTO - Msgr. Ken Robitaille had one ambition — to be a parish priest. It wasn’t to be a mover and shaker behind the scenes setting up the Ontario Conference of Catholic Bishops, or the bishops’ point man negotiating details of full funding for Ontario’s Catholic high schools, or to be rector of one of the busiest cathedrals in North America. He did all those things, and more. His sole ambition was to be a parish priest.
AMMAN, Jordan - Arab Christians are viewing with growing concern and revulsion an uptick in kidnappings of both their clergy and civilians as violence worsens in Syria and Iraq.
July 20, 2015
VATICAN CITY - The Vatican’s financial chief, Cardinal George Pell, has taken the unusual step of criticizing Pope Francis’ groundbreaking environmental encyclical, arguing the Catholic Church has “no particular expertise in science.”
OTTAWA - A year later, Pope Francis' visit to South Korea continues to bear fruit in the Asian nation, said Daejeon Bishop Lazzaro You.
ROME - Elections, like profit reports, have regular short-term rhythms, which is why Pope Francis' encyclical letter on the environment was so "appropriate and absolutely essential" for waking people up to the dangers of climate change, said California Gov. Jerry Brown.
MUNICH - A German Catholic Church leader condemned an arson attack that destroyed a reception centre for asylum seekers.
TORONTO - Fr. Michael Doyle, a Spiritan priest who served around the world but called Toronto home, has died. He was 82.
MANILA, Philippines - The president of the Philippine bishops' conference called climate change a matter of social justice and said that caring for Earth should not just be a goal to benefit this generation but also future generations.
July 21, 2015
MANCHESTER, England - When the Islamic State overran the Iraqi town of Qaraqosh last August, one of the priests there jumped into his car and joined the exodus of Christians on the road east in the hope of reaching the safety of Kurdish-controlled territory.
WASHINGTON - Pope Francis has named three auxiliary bishops for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles including Fr. Robert Barron, creator of the Catholicism television series.
VATICAN CITY - After decades of world leaders trying to set global goals to address climate change and extreme poverty, city mayors gathered at the Vatican to pledge they will take real action and lead the fight on their streets.
July 22, 2015
NAIROBI, Kenya - Anti-gay activists, including conservative clerics, traditional elders and politicians, are threatening to resist any push by U.S. President Barack Obama for gay rights during his Kenya visit this week, with tactics that range from throwing rotten eggs to marching naked and boycotting his speeches.