{mosimage}TORONTO - Toronto is 14,000 kilometres from Sri Lanka, but the war between Tamils and Sinhalese on the island nation is never far away for Toronto’s 100,000-strong Tamil community.

Margaret Jegasothy found herself standing at the end of a memorial Mass April 26 to thank the community for their prayers for her brother, Fr. M.X. Karunaratnam. He was killed in a roadside bomb attack April 19.

{mosimage}OTTAWA - The newly appointed chair of the Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission plans wide-ranging public hearings that will hear from all sides.

{mosimage}TORONTO - The debate over how, when, where and whether scientists should be allowed to experiment on human embryonic stem cells should not be left in the hands of bureaucrats, academics and scientists, London Bishop Ron Fabbro said at a Canadian Catholic Bioethics Institute conference for doctors April 27.

{mosimage}QUEBEC CITY - While Pope Benedict XVI may not attend the 49th International Eucharistic Congress in person, his virtual presence will be there for all to see.

{mosimage}OTTAWA - This year’s National March for Life in Ottawa May 7-9 will honour the 60th anniversary of the United Nations’ adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

{mosimage}TORONTO - Toronto’s first real warm spring day welcomed 36 glove-clad volunteers carrying plastic garbage bags or brooms throughout a downtown section of the city April 18.

{mosimage}TORONTO - St. Basil's Church in downtown Toronto hosted the ordination of two young men to the priesthood for the Basilian order on April 19.

It was a significant day for the Basilians, as Fr. Glenn McDonald and Fr. Andrew Leung, both 29 and from Alberta, were two of only three men ordained as priests within the Basilian order in North America since 2001. The third was ordained earlier this year in Houston, Texas.

{mosimage}TORONTO - Vocations in Toronto might seem healthier from the perspective of other Canadian dioceses. Where some areas of the country generate zero priestly vocations on a yearly basis, the archdiocese of Toronto’s mean average is four or five. In fact, Toronto will  be ordaining seven priests for the archdiocese in May.

{mosimage}TORONTO - The Italian priests of the archdiocese of Toronto and their parishes are preparing for the 100th anniversary of the first Italian church of Toronto. On Nov. 8, 1908, Archbishop Fergus McEvay gave the old St. Patrick’s Church to the Italian community, under the new name of “Our Lady of Mount Carmel.”

{mosimage}CALGARY - The federal government continues to subsidize fossil fuel production at the cost of developing sustainable energy alternatives, according to a study released April 15 by KAIROS, an ecumenical church-based social justice organization.