SASKATOON - This fall, St. Thomas More College is celebrating 75 years of Catholic higher education as a federated college on the University of Saskatchewan campus.

The college was founded by the Basilian Fathers of Toronto in federation with the University of Saskatchewan, a relationship modelled on St. Michael’s College with the University of Toronto.

Established in 1936, the first school year saw a total of 39 students being taught by four faculty.

Local Catholics had been trying to establish such a college since 1913, but couldn’t get all Saskatchewan bishops to sign on. Early in 1936, with the province in the grip of drought and economic depression, the bishops of Saskatchewan finally gave their approval, although they also stated that action on the college was “absolutely impossible” at that time.

New missal continues Vatican II reforms

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OTTAWA - Fr. Bill Burke notices a similar pattern in the workshops he has held over the past year on the new English translation of the Roman missal.

At first those attending greet the changes with anger, trepidation and fear the new translation will take back the reforms of Vatican II, he said. They’ve heard rumours from the blogosphere or elsewhere that the “translations is terrible.”

But as Burke exposes priests, music directors and diocesan staff to the new texts, they warm up to the richness of the new translation. He’s travelled to 27 dioceses so far, and plans to visit four more before the new missal is to be used everywhere in English-language parishes in Canada beginning the first Sunday of Advent, Nov. 27.

During his workshops, Burke gives attendees copies of the collects for Advent and Christmas according to the new translation and asks them to follow the new turns of phrase while he reads aloud the current translation.

Bishop must submit to questioning in priest’s lawsuit against LifeSite

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OTTAWA - In a decision with potentially serious ramifications for the Church, a Quebec bishop has been ordered to submit to questioning and hand over internal Church documents to defence lawyers acting in a lawsuit filed by a Quebec priest.

A Quebec judge has granted leave for lawyers to question Joliette Bishop Gilles Lussier as they prepare a defence in a defamation lawsuit filed last December by Fr. Raymond Gravel.

The priest is seeking $500,000 in damages from two pro-life organizations, LifeSiteNews.com (LSN) and Campagne Quebec-Vie, (CQV), and six journalists.

Gravel claims his professional reputation as a politician and Catholic priest was damaged as a result of 29 articles that described him variously as “pro-abortion,” “pro-homosexual marriage” or as a “renegade priest” who has made “heretical and anti-life statements.” Gravel contends he has “always been faithful to the teachings of the Magisterium of the Church.”

Bright future beckons Hope for Children scholar

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TORONTO - At 14 Neola Husbands decided she couldn’t continue living at home with her father and his new wife. At 18 she’s starting her second year at McGill University in Montreal, her first year in the bachelor of commerce program, while she shores up a business plan that she hopes will launch a career in fashion.

The bridge between a violent home and a bright future for Husbands has been group homes run by the Catholic Children’s Aid Society of Toronto.

On Aug. 22 Husbands was one of 100 former CCAS youth in care to receive a scholarship from the Hope for Children foundation. She planned to use the $2,000 she received for tuition — absorbing a small part of the burden of debt she would otherwise face as a university student with no parental support.

Foster kids graduate out of the children’s aid system at 18. At the age when most high school graduates are getting some help from their parents in realizing their post-secondary dreams, kids like Husbands have to make it on their own.

Lifeline lawsuit survives challenge

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OTTAWA - An amended lawsuit that could impact the way pro-life clubs are treated on university campuses across Canada was re-filed Sept. 6 after surviving a court challenge by Carleton University.

Attorney Albertos Polizogopoulis, acting on behalf of former officers of Carleton University’s pro-life club Lifeline, said the case has important implications for freedom of expression on university campuses.

Plaintiffs Ruth Lobo and Nicholas McLeod were among five students arrested, handcuffed and carted away in a police wagon last October after trying to mount a Genocide Awareness Project (GAP) exhibit on the Carleton University campus. The GAP uses graphic photographs to compare abortion to various genocides.

Cardinal Ambrozic - A life in pictures

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We've sifted through The Catholic Register photo archives to recount the extraordinary life of a man who, as archbishop of Toronto for 16 years, oversaw the transformation of Canada's largest diocese into a multicultural, multi-racial home to today's 1.8 million Catholics.

Cardinal Aloyisus Ambrozic, 81, died Aug. 26 at Providence Healthcare following a lengthy battle with Progressive Supranuclear Palsy.

His funeral Mass on August 31 saw an overflow crowd of bishops, priests, family, dignitaries and friends fill St. Michael’s Cathedral. Hundreds more, unable to get into the cathedral, stood outside and followed the Mass on loudspeakers.

The photo gallery will play at a slow pace automatically. You can pause the slideshow at any time. To scroll more quickly through the images, brush your cursor on the thumbnail images at the bottom of the page.

Sherlock saddened by how disease ravaged cardinal

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The last time Bishop John Sherlock saw his old friend Cardinal Aloysius Ambrozic there were tears in Sherlock’s eyes.

“The devastation of that Parkinson’s (like disease) had set in,” recalled London’s bishop emeritus. “I remember being overwhelmed with sadness. I remember I came out of his room and I broke into tears.”

Cardinal Ambrozic was a scholar who spoke English, French, Italian and German, read Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek, all in addition to his native Slovenian. It was painful for Sherlock to think of the cardinal imprisoned by a disease, unable to communicate.

“His life must have been pretty miserable. He was a voracious reader and I presume even that was stripped away. He was a great communicator and that was taken away,” said Sherlock.

Sherlock prayed for Cardinal Ambrozic by name every day over the last two years. He directed his prayers to Blessed John Paul II, who had also suffered through Parkinson’s.

Tories honoured for promoting religious freedom

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MISSISSAUGA, ONT. - International Christian Voice is hosting a dinner Sept. 9 in Mississauga to thank Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his Conservative government for their work in promoting religious freedom internationally.

The Toronto-based human rights organization is run by Peter Bhatti, the brother of Shahbaz Bhatti, the Pakistani minorities minister and Christian who was assassinated last March after speaking out against the country’s blasphemy laws.

“The Conservative government has made an announcement of an international religious freedom office (the Office of Religious Freedom) and they’re trying to promote religion internationally, so we want to thank them,” said Bhatti.

“When my brother was murdered, (Immigration Minister) Jason Kenney attended his funeral… and gave him tribute. And before, nobody was even talking about religious freedom. But now, Stephen Harper has made an announcement that they would open a new office with the focus internationally on religious freedom and that makes us very hopeful.”

Farewell to Cardinal Ambrozic, a ‘disciple, pastor and apostle’

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TORONTO - Cardinal Aloyisus Ambrozic was a faithful disciple whose love of Jesus and dedication to the Lord marked a life of selfless dedication, Toronto Archbishop Thomas Collins told a packed funeral Mass.

An overflow crowd of bishops, priests, family, dignitaries and friends filled St. Michael’s Cathedral on Aug. 31 for the Mass of Christian Burial for Toronto’s ninth archbishop. Approximately 200 people, unable to get into the cathedral, stood outside and followed the Mass on loudspeakers.

Cardinal Ambrozic, 81, died Aug. 26 at Providence Healthcare following a lengthy battle with Progressive Supranuclear Palsy.

Among the attendees were Cardinal Jean-Claude Turcotte, archbishop of Montreal, and Msgr. Luca Lorusso, representing the Vatican in Canada, as well as hundreds of priests from the archdiocese of Toronto and more than 20 bishops.

Politicians in attendance included federal Finance Minister James Flaherty, Ontario Lt.-Gov. David Onley, Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion and Ontario Environment Minister John Wilkinson.

Cathedral overflowing with those paying tribute to late cardinal

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A line of those hoping to offer prayers for Cardinal Ambrozic at his funeral mass Aug 31st.TORONTO - More than 1,000 people gathered to pay tribute to the life and service of Toronto’s late Cardinal Aloysius Ambrozic at his Aug. 31 funeral Mass at St. Michael’s Cathedral.

Parishioners like Margaret Rose came to offer prayers for the late cardinal. Rose, 73, was first in a long line of about 200 people hoping for public seating. She arrived close to three hours before the funeral was set to begin.

“I came out of respect. He was our (cardinal) for 16 years,” she said while holding a rosary and recalling how the cardinal loved to shake people’s hands after Sunday Mass. “I’ll spend five hours here if I have to.”

Due to renovations at the Cathedral, seating was limited to about 800 people. About half the people in line got a seat, with about 200 more praying outside the church.

Several dignitaries attended the funeral, including federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty.

Archbishop Collins homily at the funeral of Cardinal Ambrozic

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As we gather to mourn Cardinal Ambrozic, and to celebrate this Funeral Mass for the repose of his soul, our consciousness of the Providence of God, and our faith in the Risen Lord, brings us consolation and hope in this time of sorrow.

Death reminds us all of the fragility of earthly life, and of our need to place our hope in the Lord alone, he who guides us on our pilgrimage through this vale of tears to the house of the heavenly Father. When we come together in the solemn rites of mourning of the Church, of our family of faith, we are ourselves strengthened through the Word of God, and through the Eucharist, and through our renewed awareness that when the time comes for each of us to die, we too will come before the Lord supported by the prayers of our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Cardinal Ambrozic died the day before the feast of St Monica, the mother of  St Augustine, patron of the seminary which was such an important part of his life. In his Confessions, Augustine writes of the death of his mother, and tells us that as Monica was dying, she made only one request of her son: “One thing only do I ask of you, that you remember me at the altar of the Lord, wherever you may be.”