TORONTO - Catholic Family Services — Peel-Dufferin delivers one of the best bargains the Ontario taxpayers ever got.

The agency deals with family breakdown, the after-effects of child abuse, violence against women and more among 1.2 million people living west and northwest of Toronto. For the region's adult survivors of child abuse, the agency collects $53,000 of provincial government funding and magically transforms it into $250,000 in front-line counselling services to some of the most tragically damaged people in our midst.

OTTAWA - Canada's Catholic bishops say the marriage debate is not over, despite the "disappointing" loss of a House of Commons motion to restore the traditional definition.

Cardinal Aloysius Ambrozic presided over his last noon Mass at St. Michael’s Cathedral as archbishop of Toronto Dec. 17, using the occasion to thank all those who had worked with him and for him.

A new archbishop has been appointed to the Archdiocese of Toronto. Pope Benedict XVI announced Dec. 16 that he has called on Archbishop Thomas Collins of Edmonton to take the place of the retiring Cardinal Aloysius Ambrozic.

Collins, 59, told The Catholic Register in a telephone interview from Edmonton that he was "very, very honoured by the confidence the Holy Father had in me" to become the 12th bishop of Toronto, which was established in 1842.

 

TORONTO - The 2007 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity was fired in the crucible of AIDS in Umlazi district, near Durban, South Africa.

TORONTO - While the 49th International Eucharistic Congress isn't until June of 2008, planning is well underway. The archdiocese of Toronto plans to send 500 people on a pilgrimage to Quebec City where an expected 15,000 Catholics will gather to gain a deeper appreciation of the Eucharist.

TORONTO - The next secretary general of Pax Christi International wants to see the international Catholic movement gain a foothold in Canada.

OTTAWA - The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops has urged a completely free vote on a motion on whether to reopen the debate on marriage, one that would allow politicians to vote "in accordance with their conscience" on marriage.

TORONTO - If good liturgy doesn't happen by accident, it must surely have something to do with the work of the North American Academy of Liturgy. The first week of January, the academy will bring about 250 scholars to Toronto in its continuing crusade to make sure accidents don't happen.

TORONTO - If good liturgy doesn't happen by accident, it must surely have something to do with the work of the North American Academy of Liturgy. The first week of January, the academy will bring about 250 scholars to Toronto in its continuing crusade to make sure accidents don't happen.