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October 2015

October 27

U.S. House bill holds up federal funds for Planned Parenthood for a year

October 27, 2015

WASHINGTON - The U.S. House voted to block federal funding for a year to affiliates of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and redirect the money to community health centres.

Bishops issue urgent call to aid refugees

October 27, 2015

OTTAWA - Canada’s Catholic bishops have issued a plea for “urgent action” to meet the unprecedented needs of refugees fleeing war, persecution, natural disasters and the effects of climate.

October 28

Project Hope already making a difference for refugees

October 28, 2015

TORONTO - More than 105 refugee families fleeing unrest in the Middle East will be arriving in Canada in the next three to four months through the efforts of Project Hope.

Pope calls for prayers, aid after quake hits Pakistan, Afghanistan

October 28, 2015

VATICAN CITY - As the death toll from an earthquake in Pakistan and Afghanistan continued to rise, Pope Francis called for prayers and concrete aid for survivors.

World expects believers to work together for peace, Pope says

October 28, 2015

VATICAN CITY - The world expects all people of religious faith to work with everyone for a better future, Pope Francis told representatives of major religions.

Pope says talks not always charitable

October 28, 2015

VATICAN CITY - The first task of the Church “is not to hand down condemnations or anathemas, but to proclaim the mercy of God,” Pope Francis said in a blunt address to delegates at the Synod of Bishops on the Family.

Church needs to promote women’s gifts

October 28, 2015

VATICAN CITY - If the Catholic Church did more to recognize and promote women it could help their status across society, said the Synod of Bishops on the Family.

October 29

It’s in the Pope’s hands now

October 29, 2015

The Synod is not over. Synod delegates may have returned home after three weeks of intense work that produced 94 paragraphs of advice to Pope Francis, including three vaguely worded paragraphs concerning communion for divorced and civilly remarried Catholics and what sort of welcome the Church extends to gay Catholics. But that’s not the last word.

The Synod’s curious biblical commentary

October 29, 2015

VATICAN CITY - One of the most repeated themes during the Synod on the Family was the need for a more biblically based approach. The original working document for the Synod — the Instrumentum Laboris — came in for repeated and severe criticism for taking as its starting point sociological data rather than the Word of God.

Synod success

October 29, 2015

In his closing address at the Synod of Bishops on the Family, Pope Francis said the meeting of Church leaders was never intended to solve all the problems that afflict modern families. The Synod, he said, was a forum to study the family and assess its many challenges “fearlessly, without burying our heads in the sand.”

Harriet’s spirit wins out in the long run

October 29, 2015

The brutality of life on the streets could not defeat this ‘I used to be famous’ woman There are evenings when I am walking the streets that deep theological insights come abruptly to my mind. This was one such evening.

God calls on us to forgo power, be a community of equals

October 29, 2015

32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B) Nov. 8 (1 Kings 17:10-16; Psalm 146; Hebrews 9:24-28; Mark 12:38-44) Fear is often the enemy of generosity and can choke off the better parts of our nature. Many people are unwilling to share from fear of not having enough rather than conscious selfishness.

Torn loyalties as children of both Heaven and Earth

October 29, 2015

The world takes our breath away as we honour its author, the Lord “Because, my God, though I lack the soul-zeal and the sublime integrity of your saints, I yet have received from you an overwhelming sympathy for all that stirs within the dark mass of matter; because I know myself to be irremediably less a child of Heaven and a son of Earth.”

Exposing the lies depression spreads

October 29, 2015

A woman was sitting with her spiritual director. Not quite “sitting”; collapsed like a rag doll, listlessly staring at the floor. He looked at her. He urged her to pray: stop doing, stop trying to get herself out of the dark place she was in. “What good will it do?” she bleated, equally unsurprisingly. She hadn’t read Richard Dawkins’ description of prayer as uselessly “murmuring in our heads,” but would have resonated. Then, bitterly: “Is God going to send me a rose?”

God can only love and not condemn

October 29, 2015

Pope Francis says God can only love and not condemn and that love is His weakness and our victory. He said we are so closely bound to God’s love that nothing can sever us from it. That was the message at the heart of the Pope’s homily delivered on Thursday (29th October) at the Santa Marta residence.

Apostolic exhortation on the family could come soon, says cardinal

October 29, 2015

VATICAN CITY - Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, said an apostolic exhortation on the family following the recently concluded Synod of Bishops could be released soon.

$8-million donation opens St. FX to marginalized

October 29, 2015

The largest private alumni donation ever to St. Francis Xavier University will help bring post-secondary education to more of Nova Scotia’s marginalized people.

China announces it will change its policy, allow all families 2 children

October 29, 2015

BEIJING - China's Communist Party leaders announced they would change the nation's one-child policy, which most strictly applied to Han Chinese living in urban areas of the country.

October 30

Mental healing through faith

October 30, 2015

During my high school years, I struggled with mental illness. I felt hopeless. I was alone. I was hurting and I knew that nothing could change the way I felt. It was during this time that I grew in my faith.

Youth ministry gets jump start from Family of Faith

October 30, 2015

TORONTO - Fourteen “highly invested” parishes and nine new parishes will be hiring new youth ministers within the next few months thanks to funds raised through the Archdiocese of Toronto’s Family of Faith campaign.