{mosimage}PICKERING, Ont. - The Jesuit priest who rescued the Manresa Jesuit Renewal Centre in Pickering from decay and decline, twice, is retiring.

TORONTO - Frank McKenna, the former premier of New Brunswick and ambassador to the United States, will be chairman for this year’s Cardinal’s Dinner, to be held Oct. 30 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.

{mosimage}TORONTO - When times get tough, the tough get going. That isn’t the theme for this year’s ShareLife corporate campaign, but it could well be.

ShareLife launched its annual campaign to raise funds from the Catholic business community in Toronto Oct. 9 as headlines in newspapers around the world continued to trumpet the gloomy news about economic crisis, bank bailouts and plummeting stock prices.

{mosimage}TORONTO — Since Pope John Paul II launched the term “new evangelization” on a visit to Latin America 25 years ago theologians, pastors and catechists have been trying to more fully understand what a new evangelization entails.

Pastor and theologian Bishop Claude Champagne believes the new evangelization has a lot to do with social justice. The auxiliary bishop of Halifax will outline just how justice and evangelizing are connected in the 2008-2009 Scarboro Missions Lecture. The lecture will be delivered twice — Nov. 21 at 7:30 p.m. at St. Jerome’s University in Waterloo, and the next day at 10 a.m. at Scarboro Missions, 2685 Kingston Rd., Scarborough.

The Oblate bishop taught missiology, the branch of theology which researches missionary work, at Saint Paul University in Ottawa until he was called to the episcopacy in 2003.

{mosimage}TORONTO — For those who get science, and for those who don’t, Vatican Observatory astronomer Fr. George V. Coyne has a message about the relationship between the sacred and science.

The Jesuit scientist will be at the Newman Centre chapel on the campus of the University of Toronto Nov. 12 at 7:30 p.m. to deliver a free public lecture. “The Dance of the Fertile Universe: Searching for God in a Scientific Culture” will be the second lecture in this year’s Jesuit-sponsored “Naming the Holy” series.

Not only is there tea and cookies at the end, but the audience is invited to engage the “Naming the Holy” speakers in conversation.

{mosimage}TORONTO — Jewish-Christian dialogue is what  the Sisters of Sion do, so it should be no surprise that Sr. Lucy Thorson has been doing it for 30 years in Jerusalem, Rome and North America.

Still, every journey is different. So, at 7 p.m. Oct. 28 at the Scarboro Missions headquarters at 2685 Kingston Rd., Thorson will talk about her own journey of faith following the great opening of Christian-Jewish Dialogue at the end of the Second Vatican Council.

The talk will be one of Thorson’s first contributions since joining the Interfaith desk at the Scarboro Mission Society.

{mosimage}TORONTO - Every year during the world’s largest Holocaust education event the links between Christians and Jews — both now and during the Second World War — are visible.

Of the 160 events that make up Toronto’s Holocaust Education Week starting Nov. 2, a dozen will be held in Catholic schools. Most of the presentations at Catholic schools involve Holocaust survivors telling their stories.

{mosimage}TORONTO - Ontario’s top policeman has seen a lot in his time, but his most memorable moment was being involved behind the scenes with World Youth Day 2002 in Toronto.

Julian Fantino, commissioner of the Ontario Provincial Police, regaled an audience of Catholic businesspeople Dec. 2 at St. Paul’s Basilica with stories about working on security matters relating to the visit of Pope John Paul II to Canada during that hot week in July when the pope was joined by hundreds of thousands of young people from around the world to pray and celebrate their faith together.

{mosimage}TORONTO - The people who run the church-sponsored food banks, shelters and social agencies in Ontario want a better budget out of Queen’s Park, and they’re willing to pray for it.

Starting March 2 and continuing until Finance Minister Dwight Duncan brings down the 2009 budget, the Interfaith Social Assistance Reform Coalition will stage a prayer vigil on the front lawn of the provincial legislature. No date has been set for the budget, though it is widely expected in the third week of March.

{mosimage}TORONTO - The Board of Directors of The Catholic Register is pleased to announce the appointment of Jim O’Leary to the position of Publisher and Editor of The Catholic Register, effective immediately.

O’Leary brings to the position more than 25 years experience as a writer, editor and executive in traditional and online media companies.