GATINEAU, QUE. - In a celebration fraught with historic and symbolic significance, Archbishop Paul-Andre Durocher was installed as the second archbishop of Gatineau Nov. 30, on the Feast of St. Andrew.

More than 800 people packed St. Joseph’s Cathedral in Gatineau’s Hull district, including 46 bishops from across Canada and Montreal Cardinal Jean-Claude Turcotte. Durocher’s parents and many siblings, nieces, nephews and friends joined the faithful of Gatineau for the joyous occasion.

Apostolic nuncio Archbishop Pedro Lopez Quintana represented the Holy Father at the installation and, after reading the papal announcement, led Durocher to his cathedral chair.

MIDLAND, ONT. - Midland Town Council has 5,500 letters to read and ponder before its Dec. 7 meeting, at which it is scheduled to look again at its decision to green light an outdoor waste recycling business next door to the Martyrs' Shrine and Sainte-Marie Among the Hurons.

Forty protesters walked through falling snow Nov. 30 from Martyrs' Shrine to Midland Town Hall to deliver boxes containing at least 5,500 letters to Mayor Gord McKay. It was the last day for written submissions before the Dec. 7 council meeting.

The letters came from local Midland residents, Toronto parishes that make annual pilgrimages to the shrine and from as far away as the Vatican.

OTTAWA - The importance of the new evangelization and the deep sense of communion between the Church in Canada and the Holy See are two themes that emerged from a recent visit to Rome by a delegation of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops.

“It is fair to say concern for the new evangelization pervades everything,” said CCCB president Archbishop Richard Smith, who spent more than two weeks in Rome in November, accompanied by CCCB vice-president Archbishop Paul-Andre Durocher and CCCB General Secretary Msgr. Patrick Powers.

TORONTO - Fr. Frank Portelli is embracing a new challenge in his priestly life, taking the reins as the director of the archdiocese of Toronto’s Office of Catholic Youth.

“Successful youth ministry is when you’ve engaged the young person,” Portelli told The Catholic Register. “Not imposing something but finding out what their desire is, what their questions are and trying to meet that need.”

Portelli was assigned as director of the OCY Nov. 1 and is currently in a transition period as he works between his new post and as associate pastor at St. Luke’s parish in Thornhill. As of January, he will be able to focus his efforts solely on his new ministry. Replacing Christian Elia, his posting is for three years.

Catholic agencies that help immigrants and refugees settle in Ontario don’t know how they will cope with their share of a $31.5-million funding cut to settlement agencies in Ontario.

This year’s cuts come on top of $42.5 million shaved off Ontario’s allotment for settling and retraining immigrants last year. Over two years, Ontario has lost 20 per cent of its funding from Citizenship and Immigration for services to newcomers, according to the Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants.

“We’re trying to make some plans and think through how we would react to a variety of different levels of cutbacks,” said Catholic Cross-Cultural Services executive director Carolyne Davis.

OTTAWA - A Conservative MP’s private member’s bill to repeal the controversial hate crimes section of the Canadian Human Rights Act is facing opposition in the House of Commons.

Though Justice Minister Rob Nicholson recently threw his support behind Brian Storseth’s private member’s Bill C-304, when it came up for second reading Nov. 22 Storseth was unable to find anyone from the NDP or the Liberal Party to speak in its favour. Members of both parties spoke against the bill, with NDP Associate Justice Critic Francoise Boivin accusing the government of scaring people and “leading them to believe that good citizens will be cheerfully brought before the courts to have their right to freedom of expression challenged and that it will cost them a fortune.”

OTTAWA - Pro-family groups have welcomed a Nov. 23 British Columbia Supreme Court decision that upholds Canada’s anti-polygamy law.

“Anything that supports traditional, monogamous marriage is good and I think (the decision) sends a very clear message that our relationships are not exclusively personal and private,” said Catholic Organization for Life and Family (COLF) assistant director Peter Murphy. “They have implications for those with whom we live and for society in general, so for that reason we’re very pleased with the decision.”

The province of B.C. had asked the court whether the anti-polygamy law was constitutional after charges against a fundamentalist Mormon sect in Bountiful, B.C., were dropped based on concerns they would not stand up to a Charter religious freedom test.

TORONTO - Ales Michalevic wants people to know that torture still exists in 21st-century Europe. A candidate in the 2010 presidential election in Belarus, he knows from firsthand experience.

"Just one year ago, I was in prison," he told an audience of about 20 people at the University of Toronto Nov. 24. "And we had hot water and showers once a week."

TORONTO - After two decades of annual report cards on child and family poverty, Campaign 2000 is still waiting for the federal government to play a role in poverty reduction, said Laurel Rothman as she unveiled the 2011 Report Card on Child and Family Poverty Nov. 23.

"Don't let anybody tell you that it really is any better than in 1989 when the Parliament of Canada vowed to come up with an immediate plan," said Campaign 2000 director Rothman.

OTTAWA - Catholic human rights advocates welcome federal Justice Minister Rob Nicholson's support for a bill that would repeal Section 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act.

Nicholson announced his support for Conservative MP Brian Storseth’s private member’s Bill C-304 during question period Nov. 16, when Storseth asked what the government’s position would be.

“Canadians across the country are increasingly concerned that Section 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act infringes upon our most important human right, namely the freedom of expression,” Storseth told the House.