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September 2016

September 22

Irish mason picked up where ancestors left off 170 years ago

September 22, 2016

By helping to restore St. Michael’s Cathedral, bricklayer Tomas Nugent is cementing his own small place in history. The Irishman has carried on the work of the Irish immigrants who built Toronto’s mother church in the 1840s.

Loretto sisters receive place of honour in Cathedral Crypts

September 22, 2016

There are two types of foundations that support a cathedral like St. Michael’s. There is the stone and mortar laid by dedicated workers. And there is the foundation of faith that, in the case of Toronto’s mother church, was cemented by a fledgling Catholic population that included Loretto sisters who gave their lives to help establish the Church in Upper Canada.

Leaving no stone unturned

September 22, 2016

For the masons and stoneworkers at St. Michael’s Cathedral, finishing the job on time meant putting noses to the grindstone by applying grinders to the sandstone.

New organ the product of lofty ambition

September 22, 2016

It’s a tale that everyone who has done a home renovation can understand. As the restoration of St. Michael’s Cathedral grew from a simple bathroom installation to a full-scale restoration, one common phrase was often repeated: “the building will tell us what it needs.”

A ceiling fit for the heavens

September 22, 2016

The starry night sky has always been an invitation to ponder what is greater than ourselves. It is the closest most of us will ever get to confront the ungraspable notion of eternity. The night sky is at once a vault as well as an endless opening to the unknown and to God.

Bronze doors open the way to the rosary

September 22, 2016

Joyful, sorrowful, glorious and luminous — it’s a tall order. Can any piece of art measure up to the rosary?

NET Ministries going for national reach with expansion

September 22, 2016

OTTAWA – NET Ministries Canada is expanding to two new dioceses in Canada to give its ministry to evangelize high school-age students a national reach.

CNEWA sends out new appeal for drought-stricken Ethiopia

September 22, 2016

OTTAWA – The Catholic Near East Welfare Association (CNEWA) Canada has renewed its emergency appeal for funds to help children remain in school in drought-stricken Ethiopia.

September 23

St. Faustina play opens floodgates of mercy

September 23, 2016

Leonardo Defillippis, director and founder of St. Luke Productions, has done something with his newest play that Shakespeare cannot — offer God’s mercy.

Covenant House’s safe place for sex trafficked opens

September 23, 2016

TORONTO – When Casandra Diamond left “the game” 11 years ago she cried every day for about three months.

Euthanasia is not salvation

September 23, 2016

One would think, as a teenage girl, suicide should be the very last thing on my mind. But in a recent conversation with my grandfather, I’ve had reason to reflect on just how much Canadians have changed their perspective on assisted suicide and what a contrast it is to his generation.

Vatican signs international anti-corruption agreement

September 23, 2016

VATICAN CITY – The Holy See has adhered to the UN Convention Against Corruption, an international treaty focused on preventing, outlawing and prosecuting corruption within nations and internationally.

One-of-a-kind statues made by Italian artisans

September 23, 2016

When the faithful enter the newly refurbished St. Michael’s Cathedral, they will gaze upon statues unlike those found anywhere else. None of these statues come from a catalogue. All were designed by a small team under cathedral rector Fr. Michael Busch that included artisans from a small town in Italy.

The divine is in the details

September 23, 2016

For six months, Mila Tereshchenko has begun her work day with prayer. As a gilder, her job is to quite literally make things shine by applying 24-karat gold leafing to various architectural elements of St. Michael’s Cathedral. Given the prayer that goes into her work and the beauty that comes out of it, it’s clear the divine is in the details.

Creating stunning works of art runs in family for glassmaker

September 23, 2016

Restoring the roughly 40 giant stained glass windows of St. Michael’s Cathedral to their original glory takes patience — or at least one would assume so given the extraordinary amount of detailed work that goes into even just one window.

Cathedral Square a ‘gift for Toronto’

September 23, 2016

Toronto is not the new Jerusalem. It is, perhaps, one of the most secular cities in the world.

Catholic-Orthodox commission approves statement on authority

September 23, 2016

VATICAN CITY – Catholics and Orthodox need to explore ways authority can be understood and exercised so that is not an obstacle to unity, a group of top-level theologians said.

Beauty is in the eye of St. Michael’s rector

September 23, 2016

If you’re going to pick somebody to spend $128 million for you, pick somebody who will enjoy the job. Over the last 10 years, rector Fr. Michael Busch has driven the restoration project at St. Michael’s Cathedral with relish, delight, enthusiasm and purpose.

Religious institutes to divest their oil, gas, coal holdings

September 23, 2016

A large Canadian Catholic institution, at least one major international religious order, plus a large diocese and a host of other Catholic entities will stand up on the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi to declare they’re selling off all their stocks and other investments in oil, gas and coal, according to the Washington-based Global Catholic Climate Movement.

Exuberance will come after the cross

September 23, 2016

It’s funny where you can learn a lesson and catch a glimpse of the divine. Recently, in a grocery store, I witnessed this incident: A young girl, probably around 16 years of age, along with two other girls her own age, came into the store. She picked up a grocery basket and began to walk down the aisle, not knowing that a second basket was stuck onto the one she was carrying. At a point the inevitable happened, the basket stuck to hers released