TORONTO - The sale of Loretto Abbey Catholic High School to the Toronto Catholic District School Board on March 9 ensures the school's 164-year tradition of Catholic education for young women will continue, said Sr. Evanne Hunter.“Our members made many sacrifices to ensure that Catholic families could avail themselves of a Catholic education for their children, and we are pleased that this beautiful building, so rich with history and tradition, will continue to operate as a Catholic school for young women,” Hunter, provincial leader of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary, also known as the Loretto Sisters, said in a statement.
“Though the giving up of this repository of so much of our history is painful, we Loretto Sisters take solace in the fact that we will continue to be connected to the school for many years,” she said.
ISARC protesters demand $100 food supplement for the poor
By Michael Swan, The Catholic Register
TORONTO - Standing in the rain outside Ontario Finance Minister Dwight Duncan's office with about 100 church-based protesters demanding a $100 food supplement in the up-coming provincial budget, Redemptorist Father Paul Hansen said he was there for the sake of the Eucharist."The Eucharist is first a verb before it's a noun," he said.
Appealing to the most ancient Catholic belief in the corpus mysticum Christi, that the people of God are the body of Christ, Hansen said we can't ignore the hunger and poverty of parts of the body of Christ.
Fr. Williams’ 40-year career at Michael Power/St. Joseph's fondly remembered
By Sheila Dabu Nonato, The Catholic Register
TORONTO - Basilian Father Albert Lawrence Williams was like a “grandfather” to students and teachers at Toronto’s Michael Power/St. Joseph High School.Known as “Fr. Bob” to his friends, Williams died on Feb. 15, leaving behind a four-decade legacy as a teacher at Michael Power/St. Joseph.
He also taught at St. Michael’s College School and was a former Secretary General of the Basilian Fathers.
Creche convention coming to Toronto for Remembrance Day
By Michael Swan, The Catholic Register
TORONTO - War, history and ecumenism are perhaps not the first associations Christians have with table-top models of baby Jesus nestled in the manger. But the Friends of the Creche intend to take on all three serious subjects at a three-day international convention in Toronto Nov. 10 to 12.It’s the first time the American branch of the La Universalis Foederatio Praesepistica (known in Canada and the United States as the Friends of the Creche) has held it’s biennial convention in Canada. It’s expected to draw 350 conventioneers, plus hundreds more who will visit a display of rare, historic creches on display at the Royal York Hotel.
Fr. Larisey continues to take art as far as he can
By Michael Swan, The Catholic Register
TORONTO - Before he was ordained, the young Jesuit Peter Larisey learned to take no for an answer. Practice makes perfect.Drawn to art since childhood, Larisey wanted to study art in a serious way. Starting about 1959, each year Larisey would ask Father Provincial of the English Canadian Jesuits if he might be allowed to study art. Each year he was told, “No.”
“One of the good things about Jesuit superiors is that they have terms,” explains the 81-year-old priest, who continues to teach at the Toronto School of Theology and Regis College.
In 1966 Larisey showed the new Father Provincial his scrapbook filled with his published writing about art and the successes of his groundbreaking art exhibitions at Regis College.
“He carried the scrapbook in his hands and said, ‘You take this as far as you can,’ ” recalls Larisey.
‘Advocacy’ cited in KAIROS’ cuts
By Deborah Gyapong, Canadian Catholic News
OTTAWA - An internal background document distributed to members of the Conservative caucus about the KAIROS funding controversy reveals another clue why a $7-million funding request from the ecumenical social justice organization was denied.The document’s first talking point states: “Our government supports funding to deliver aid and tangible results for the people of developing countries, not subsidizing advocacy.”
In other words, funding is not available for what might be considered community organizing and activism, such as supporting advocacy groups in the developing world whose mandate is to empower disadvantaged people, push for better living conditions or lobby for indigenous rights or environmental protection.
40 days of making a difference for life
By Vanessa Santilli-Raimondo, The Catholic Register
TORONTO - The 40 Days for Life campaign is making a difference, said Nicole Campbell, 40 Days for Life Toronto co-ordinator. In fact, she said nine abortion facilities throughout North America have closed as a result of the campaign. “The thing is with the 40 Days for Life, and with abortion in general, is that it’s not enough to be personally pro-life,” Campbell told The Catholic Register. “It’s great but it does nothing to actually end abortion. It’s only when we’re publicly pro-life that we can impact and change our culture one person at a time through prayer and through our public witness.”
Linda Gibbons to get a hearing before the Supreme Court of Canada
By Sheila Dabu Nonato, The Catholic RegisterTORONTO - The Supreme Court of Canada is expected to hear jailed activist Linda Gibbons' appeal of a temporary injunction banning protest at downtown Toronto abortion clinics later this year.
Her lawyer, Daniel Santoro, expects the Supreme Court could hear her case in the fall.
Gibbons, a 62-year-old great-grandmother, has been arrested 20 times over the last 16 years, spending half of that time in maximum security prisons for different offences under the Criminal Code. This for violating a temporary 1994 civil court injunction protecting downtown Toronto abortion clinics from protesters such as Gibbons, an injunction that has been upheld by the Supreme Court of Ontario. She is not permitted within 60 feet of the clinics. Gibbons has violated the injunction each time by praying within the no-go zone.
Saguenay Mayor vows to fight prayer ban
By Deborah Gyapong, Canadian Catholic News
The Catholic mayor of Saguenay, Que., is appealing for donations to help him fight a Quebec Human Rights Tribunal ruling that ordered him to stop opening council meetings with a prayer.
Mayor Jean Tremblay said he will appeal the decision all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada.
“We make a prayer, all the council, since the beginning of the city 150 years ago,” said Tremblay in an interview from Saguenay of the 20-second prayer said before the opening of council meetings.
Tremblay has also refused to heed an order to remove a crucifix and a small statue of the Sacred Heart from council chambers.
“We don’t agree with that because those objects for some people that means our faith, for some others our culture, for some other our tradition,” he said.
Mayor Jean Tremblay said he will appeal the decision all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada.
“We make a prayer, all the council, since the beginning of the city 150 years ago,” said Tremblay in an interview from Saguenay of the 20-second prayer said before the opening of council meetings.
Tremblay has also refused to heed an order to remove a crucifix and a small statue of the Sacred Heart from council chambers.
“We don’t agree with that because those objects for some people that means our faith, for some others our culture, for some other our tradition,” he said.
Basilian plan for school for low-income students draws fire
By Sheila Dabu Nonato, The Catholic Register
TORONTO - A new private Catholic high school that wants to open its doors to youth from low-income families in Toronto is taking flack from critics who argue the plan would “economically segregate” students.
David Livingstone, director of the University of Toronto OISE Centre for the Study of Education and Work, has concerns about the proposed model for the 500-student Toronto Cristo Rey School, which will be run by the Basilian order. The project is “well-intentioned but ill-informed,” said Livingstone, author of How Working Class Kids Get Working Class Jobs. He said research since the 1960s has found that mixing low-income and high-income students together suggests “low-income students are going to gain and high-income students are not going to lose.”
David Livingstone, director of the University of Toronto OISE Centre for the Study of Education and Work, has concerns about the proposed model for the 500-student Toronto Cristo Rey School, which will be run by the Basilian order. The project is “well-intentioned but ill-informed,” said Livingstone, author of How Working Class Kids Get Working Class Jobs. He said research since the 1960s has found that mixing low-income and high-income students together suggests “low-income students are going to gain and high-income students are not going to lose.”
John Cassaday to chair Cardinal's Dinner 2011
By Vanessa Santilli-Raimondo, The Catholic Register
TORONTO - John M. Cassaday, president and chief executive officer of Corus Entertainment Inc., has been named as chair of the 32nd annual Cardinal’s Dinner.
The dinner, founded by the late Cardinal Gerald Emmett Carter and continued to this day by Archbishop Thomas Collins, has raised more than $5 million since its inception, with many business and political leaders attending each year. It will be held Oct. 27 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.
The dinner, founded by the late Cardinal Gerald Emmett Carter and continued to this day by Archbishop Thomas Collins, has raised more than $5 million since its inception, with many business and political leaders attending each year. It will be held Oct. 27 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.