WOODBRIDGE - More than 500 people packed The Jewel Banquet Centre for the 22nd annual Caritas Project's “Together Event” on Oct. 17.

Lieutenant Governor of Ontario David Onley, the keynote speaker, spoke of the stigma associated with disabilities and the need to overcome it.

“Like other disabilities, addiction has no record for age, gender or culture,” Onley told the 550 people, including some provincial and federal politicians and Vaughan mayoral candidate Maurizio Bevilacqua.

In the lead-up to Catholic school trustee elections, a group of former trustees, teachers and parents is leading a campaign to raise awareness and encourage Catholic supporters to vote on Oct. 25.

“Lately, the reputation of our board has been badly tarnished in the public eye, and the Minister of Education found it necessary to place the Toronto Catholic District School Board under supervision. It is a time for healing. It is a time for change,” said former principal Mary Ellen Lawless at a Sept. 26 press conference outside St. Paul's Basilica. Lawless is a member of the new group C.U.R.B., Catholics United for a Responsible Ballot.

“It is imperative that we reunite the parent, teacher, principal, priest, trustee and the total Catholic community in carrying out the aims of Catholic education and the mission of the Catholic school,” Lawless said in a statement. The group urged Toronto's Catholic voters to get to know the issues and their trustee candidates as their “right and privilege to do so.”

TORONTO - For nearly 30 years, Romeo Meleca has shared Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross each time he has made his yearly 240-km trek to the Holy Cross of Teopoli in Gravenhurst, Ont.

“I’m always thinking, when I have pain, I think of God, (of) Jesus dying, nailed on the cross. I want to do more and more for Him,” Meleca said, sporting his trademark red banner, a pilgrimage shirt and hat. During the walk, he also carries a wooden cross adorned with a red banner.

TORONTO - Wearing South Korea’s trademark red shirts, parishioners at Etobicoke’s Sacred Heart of Jesus parish have caught the World Cup soccer fever.

For the team’s third game of the World Cup in South Africa on June 22, against Nigeria, parishioners, including pastor Fr. Min-Kyu Antigonus Park, cheered their team on. The game ended in a 2-2 tie, sending South Korea into the Round of 16.

TORONTO - Amid the darkness of a Christmas evening, a seven-year-old boy holds a candle and a Father Christmas doll at his home during a power outage two years ago, just before the Israeli military launched an offensive on Gaza City.

This picture forms part of a controversial exhibit by the non-profit group Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East. “Human Drama in Gaza” runs from June 16 to June 28 at the Cream Tangerine Cafe's The Great Hall on Queen Street West. The exhibit is a collection of 44 pictures taken by photographers from Agence France Presse, Getty Images and Reuters during the conflict.

The photos reflect scenes of sadness, death and despair during the December 2008-January 2009 battle as well as scenes of resilience at refugee camps established as safe havens for those left homeless after the attacks.

TORONTO - It's been more than two years of provincial supervision for Canada's largest Catholic school board.

But having Toronto Catholic District School Board trustees back in power is a reality that could be in place by November, after the next trustee elections, according to a recent letter by Ontario
Education Minister Leona Dombrowsky to provincially appointed board supervisor Richard Alway.

In the June 9 letter, Dombrowsky said the board would have to pass an audit of its 2009-2010 financial statements to confirm that it has balanced its budget.

“If those statements confirm that the board has retired its accumulated deficit, I will expeditiously undertake the process to return the board to full local control,” Dombrowsky wrote.

TORONTO - The same-sex marriage debate. A controversial sex-ed program aimed at elementary students. YouTube videos exposing the desecration of the Eucharist.

These are some of the issues the Catholic Civil Rights League (CCRL) has dealt with in its mission to combat Catholic defamation in the media and public square over the past 25 years.

The league celebrated its silver anniversary at a June 10 gala in Toronto.

Established in 1985, the league is a national lay Catholic organization that works with media to ensure a fair hearing for Catholic positions on issues, lobbies the government and intervenes in court challenges supporting laws and policies that reflect Catholic understanding of the common good and human nature

TORONTO - Catholic parishes in the downtown core plan to keep their doors open during the upcoming G20 summit in Toronto on June 26 and 27.

“We do not anticipate having to cancel any spiritual services," said John McGrath, the archdiocese's chancellor of temporal affairs, in a June 1 letter to all Toronto parishes. "It is important for those parishes in areas impacted by the summit to communicate effectively with parishioners that may be inconvenienced ie. weddings, funerals, etc. held on the weekend of the summit. Reminding all involved to leave ample time for travel, anticipate delays, etc. is an important part of our ongoing communication.”

TORONTO - Sr. Mary Emmanuel Escobedo and Sr. Danielle Paz carefully measure some polyester fabric for a priest’s cope and humeral veil, worn for the exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, in their brightly lit work room on a sunny end-of-May day.

A big order, 16 deacon vestments, has just been completed, but the Sisters’ work continues. On this day, they, along with Sr. Mary Immaculate Fournier, are back to work cutting, measuring and sewing priestly garments.

They are three of nine members of the Sister Disciples of the Divine Master in Toronto whose apostolate is to serve priests. In Canada, the congregation also works out of Montreal, with about 15 members. The Sisters have houses in 31 countries around the world and their ministry involves service to the Eucharist, the priesthood and the liturgy.

TORONTO - Deacon Rudy Ovcjak says being in a hospital room and sharing the hope and love of God to patients, like a woman whose faith was shaken while battling an illness, has provided an excellent training ground for his new ministry.

Ovcjak, 47, was ordained with 15 other men as a deacon for the archdiocese of Toronto on May 29 at St. Michael’s Cathedral. More than 500 people were in attendance at the packed cathedral to witness the ordination by Toronto Auxiliary Bishop Vincent Nguyen, the archdiocese's Vicar of Deacons.