TORONTO - When Fr. Fernando Couto talks about St. Mary’s Catholic Church in downtown Toronto, it’s as if he’s talking about a beloved friend.

“The building is talking, if anyone is listening,” he said. “It needs our help.”

One of the oldest churches in Toronto, St. Mary’s is crumbling, said Couto, who has been pleading with the archdiocese since he arrived at the parish in 2008 for more money to complete its restoration.

“It has structural osteoporosis,” Couto said of his church at Bathurst and Adelaide. “We’ve been basically ignoring it.

“The damage every year is great.”

The current St. Mary’s is the third building of the historically Portuguese parish. Built in 1885 and completed four years later, it is older than Casa Loma, the Ontario Parliament buildings and City Hall, and is one of the oldest Catholic churches in Toronto.

But there hasn’t been much upkeep, Couto said, evidenced by the sinking foundation and crumbling walls, rotten wood and cracked slates.

“One day, bricks fell from the tower,” Couto said. “Rain (was) coming in through the windows.

“We (had) to address this sooner or later before (the) structure (became) too damaged or people got hurt.”

For his part, Couto would like to see St. Mary’s restored to its former glory.

“There’s lots of history here,” said Couto, who has been collecting old photographs of the building, both inside and out. He said he would like to put the outer pews back to their original position, facing into the middle of the church, as well as fix up many other nooks and corners.

But first, the basics, like the tower, the roof and the outer structure.

“It’s like a car,” Couto said. “I can live without a phone, a good radio, leather seats. (But) I need good brakes, an engine.”

The archdiocese of Toronto lent St. Mary’s $3 million, which helped to fix most of the tower, and the parish itself has raised an additional $1.2 million. But according to Couto, it’s not enough.

“It’s like trying to buy a car with (enough) money for a bicycle,” he said. “The work we’re doing is not curtains and flowers. This is serious structural work.”

Couto said the church will need a minimum of $6 million to be properly restored, which is why he is still appealing to the archdiocese as well as parishioners, who, he said, have been very generous and understanding despite many not having much to give.

“St. Mary’s (is) one of the nicest buildings in Ontario, in Toronto,” Couto said with obvious pride. “It’s time to pay back for the neglect on many years.”

Couto acknowledges that times — and demographics — have changed: this church that used to be filled with Portuguese Canadians is becoming more and more English as the cost of living downtown has increased and condominiums have “sprung up like mushrooms after the rain.”

But all the more reason, he said, to preserve St. Mary’s.

“We’re losing it,” he said. “And once we lose it, we can’t get it back.

“There’s the busy downtown (right there),” he said with a wave to Bathurst Street. “And you come in here, and here’s the peace.”

Canadians and Britons are more open to physician-assisted suicide than Americans, a recent poll by Angus Reid Public Opinion has found.

Eighty per cent of Canadians and 77 per cent of the English said that doctors should be allowed to assist terminally ill, fully informed and competent patients to kill themselves. But only 56 per cent of Americans agreed.

The poll found 10 per cent of Canadians and nine per cent of Britons firmly opposed to physician-assisted suicide no matter who asks for it. Nearly one third — 29 per cent — of Americans said it should never be allowed. On the flip side, three-quarters of Canadians and Britons said physician-assisted suicide should always be allowed under specific circumstances, whereas only half of Americans thought so.

The problem with polls is that few respondents understand what’s meant by physician-assisted suicide, said Rita Marker, Patient Rights Council executive director.

“Those who are answering this poll could be viewing it as removing life support,” she said in an interview from Steubenville, Ohio. The Patient Rights Council is independent, but closely aligned with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Murky notions of palliative care and its availability fuel a fear-based response to polls on physician-assisted suicide in Canada, said Alex Schadenberg, executive director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition.

“Most Canadians support euthanasia or assisted suicide because they fear dying in pain or experiencing uncontrolled symptoms,” he wrote in an e-mail to The Catholic Register. “Fear is a normal human response and it should be respected.”

The poll reveals nothing new about British attitudes to physician-assisted suicide, said Charles Wookey, assistant general secretary of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales.

“So far as the UK is concerned, in terms of opinion surveys this doesn’t surprise me,” he said. “What we’re seeing here to a degree is an instinctive, compassionate response from a society that prizes individual autonomy very highly.”

The Angus-Reid survey found 86 per cent of Canadians, 84 per cent of Britons and 69 per cent of Americans agree with the statement that “Legalizing doctor-assisted suicide would give people who are suffering an opportunity to ease their pain.”

People who believe laws against assisted suicide protect the vulnerable from social, economic and medical pressure to commit suicide face a major education challenge, said Wookey.

“It means there’s a very, very clear job for the Church to do, particularly in secular society,” he said.

But the Church can’t do it without allies, according to Wookey.

“What’s essential in this debate in this country is for it to be conducted in secular terms,” he said. “It’s an unfortunate fact that the religious argument or arguments based on the appeal to faith tend clearly not to persuade people who do not share the faith. They invite the response, ‘Don’t impose your faith-based views on the rest of us.’ ”

British bishops have teamed up with disability rights organizations and palliative care professionals to form an alliance called Care Not Killing — a purely secular platform to engage the public policy debate.

“When people are taken through the arguments and begin to understand first of all the quality of palliative care and what palliative care can provide, and secondly what the public policy consequences are for the most vulnerable members of society of a change in the law — what it might actually lead to — then very many people do actually change their minds,” said Wookey.

Getting people educated about the issue is essential because without a full debate economic issues will enter the equation, said Marker.

“We have to recognize the fact that all health programs are trying to save money,” she said. “By trying to save money the question is, will those health programs — if you say assisted suicide is a medical treatment — will they then do the right thing or the cheap thing?”

In Canada, availability and understanding of palliative care is key, said Schadenberg. He points to a 2010 Environics poll  that found 71 per cent of Canadians want governments to prioritize palliative care over euthanasia and assisted suicide. The 2011 Parliamentary Committee on Palliative and Compassionate Care report Not To Be Forgotten is a start, he said.

“The real answer is to care for the needs of Canadians who are living with terminal conditions, chronic pain or disabilities,” said Schadenberg.

Angus-Reid’s online survey polled 1,003 Americans, 2,019 Britons and 1,003 Canadians between July 4 and 5. The margin of statistical error is plus or minus 2.2 per cent for Great Britain and plus or minus 3.1 per cent for Canada and the United States.

The Toronto Catholic District School Board is the first Ontario board to ratify a deal signed by the province and Catholic teachers aimed at ensuring labour peace this school year.

At an emergency meeting Aug. 7, the TCDSB agreed to the tentative deal signed by the Ontario English Catholic Teachers' Association and the province earlier this summer. The agreement includes a two-year wage freeze for teachers, changes to the sick leave gratuity and a cut in sick days. The province has been pressuring teacher unions to sign the agreement as part of its austerity measures in dealing with a $15-billion budget deficit.

"I'm proud of the leadership our board has taken," said Ann Andrachuk, TCDSB chair. "By working with the Ministry of Education and our labour partners, we will be able to both balance our budget and continue to provide an enriched Catholic education in Toronto schools."

Vice-chair Sal Piccininni said the agreement allows the board to "maintain the healthy fiscal outlook we have worked so hard to achieve." He added, "The only responsible thing to do was to act in the best interest of the board, students, parents and the community by signing the OECTA agreement."

Education Minister Laurel Broten praised the Toronto board for its decision.

"I know the TCDSB trustees have the best interests of students at heart," said Broten in a statement. "That's why I commend them for leading the way and doing what's best to put our education system on a sustainable financial footing while protecting the gains we've made in education together. I look forward to other boards across Ontario doing what is right for the students, parents and communities they serve."

While the Toronto deal raises hope for labour peace when the school year begins in September, a number of Catholic boards have said they are intent on making their own deal with the teachers. The London and Windsor-Essex Catholic boards have rejected the agreement and filed for conciliation as they try to hammer out a deal with the teachers. (A Ministry of Labour conciliator will determine if there is enough common ground for a settlement. If not, then teachers could go on strike or could be locked out by the board.) The boards argue the government deal strips them of important hiring and managerial rights.

There are reports that another 10 school boards have or will file for conciliation.

Premier Dalton McGuinty is pressuring other school boards and unions to use the OECTA deal as a template for negotiations. He has said if agreements aren't reached, his government is prepared to use legislation to avoid any disruption to the school year.

For the second time in a year the Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board (WECDSB) is under financial investigation.

“A financial investigator has now been appointed to our board,” acknowledged Barb Holland, board of trustees’ chair. “I don’t know where this is going to end up. I know we have said that we will co-operate fully with the people that are being sent in to do the investigation and we have been.”

Grahame Rivers, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Education, said a poor financial track record is what caused the investigation.

"Windsor Catholic has a long history of developing overly optimistic annual budgets. They've failed to balance five out of the past six years," said Rivers. "Given the serious ongoing financial issues at the Windsor board, the Minister has brought in an investigator to look at the Windsor board's finances."

It could end with the ministry appointing a supervisor to overtake control of the board from the trustees and thus removing Holland from the picture.  

Last year WECDSB invited an auditor from the ministry as a response to the Ontario English Catholic Teachers' Association concerns regarding wages.

"OECTA was pointing out or suggesting that there were (financial) difficulties because the people at the top of our organization were overpaid,” said Holland. “We asked the ministry to come in, look at our books and they did so. It showed that what we’d been saying all along was correct, that we are under budget on all the items that we said we were.”

Despite filing a balanced budget for 2011-2012, which had a small surplus, said Holland, the board did overspend in certain areas — specifically on occasional teachers. This happened due to a higher number of teacher absences than were predicted when drawing up the budget in 2011. It's an issue Holland believes shouldn't constitute an audit because the board is already addressing it with an attendance management program.

Declining enrollment has been blamed for the WECDSB's financial struggles as ministry funding is provided on a per student basis.

Costs associated with maintaining under-utilized space also influenced the board's decision to close and consolidate several schools this June. Savings are estimated at $11 million.

But Holland said she thinks this second audit isn't about financial instability as much as it relates to the board filing for conciliation to resolve collective bargaining difficulties it is having with its teachers.

“I do feel that it is a retaliatory measure and it is retaliation because we spoke out on this issue,” said Holland. “If this goes to our board being put under supervision, what happens to our community of Windsor-Essex is that the ratepayers lose their voice.”

Upset by some key terms of the recent contract negotiated between the teachers’ union and the provincial government, two Ontario Catholic school boards have filed for conciliation and are intent on making their own deal with the teachers.

The London Catholic District School Board and the Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board believe the government deal strips the boards of important hiring and managerial rights. They want to make their case before a conciliator from the Ministry of Labour as the next step to reaching a new collective bargaining agreement.

London board chair Philip Squire, a lawyer, says the deal reached between the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association and the Ontario government is not legally binding unless school boards agree to the terms individually or it is legislated by the province.

“We want to go to conciliation with OECTA and we want to work out an agreement with them which will be an agreement negotiated between us and OECTA, the two parties that should be negotiating,” Squire said. “OECTA went to the weakest link, which was the government — desperate to save money — and they made an agreement with them which transferred pretty significant rights to the teachers’ union.”

That agreement included a two-year wage freeze, changes to the sick leave gratuity and a cut in sick days. But the London and Windsor-Essex boards are upset that the deal stripped them of rights pertaining to hiring practices and the administration of diagnostic testing.

“This is the piece that people are missing, that the vital checks and balances that are part of our success are being removed,” said Barb Holland, chair of the Windsor-Essex board. “I find it interesting that these are non-monetary issues so I don’t understand why we cannot simply just address them and find a common ground on that.”

The boards are requesting the intervention of a conciliator from the Ministry of Labour. If an impasse remains after 17 days, the door could be opened for a legal strike by teachers or a lockout of teachers by the board.

Squire said agreements signed under the government’s guidelines would make seniority the overriding qualification when hiring a permanent teacher from the occasional teachers’ list.

“Let’s say we need a teacher to hire in a secondary school for a particular subject. We wouldn’t have the right any more to go hire the teacher best suited for that job, we would just have to hire the teacher who is most senior on the list,” said Squire. “That’s something that we cannot agree to for students in our schools. It’s not the best thing for students.”

Likewise, giving teachers control over diagnostic testing is wrong, said Squire. He said these tests evaluate individual students and the classroom as a whole and are a reflection of the overall effectiveness of the teaching. Squire fears teachers may now simply refuse to administer the tests.

“Now if we want to go into a classroom to do that testing there is a veto there for teachers to say, ‘No we don’t want to do that, we are doing just fine, I’m a good teacher and my kids are doing just fine,’ ” he said. “Parents want to know that there is some responsibility on teachers to make sure kids are learning.

“The teachers should have to show to the principals and superintendent that they’re doing a good job.”

But this type of compare-and-contrast evaluation isn’t the purpose of diagnostic testing, said Kevin O’Dwyer, OECTA’s provincial executive.

“Diagnostic testing isn’t about evaluating a teacher,” he said, adding that he’d have to talk further with Squire about it. “I hope it is not being used to evaluate teachers.”

Squires’ fears regarding teachers vetoing the tests are unfounded, said O’Dwyer, who said encouraging a student’s success — not hiding poor grades — is in a teacher’s best interest.

“We didn’t get fifth in the world by teachers doing what Mr. Squire is alleging they’re doing,” O’Dwyer said of the ranking given the Ontario school system by PISA, the Program for International Student Assessment.

As for the hiring practice, O’Dwyer said the boards still retain considerable control. When a position opens, the new agreement requires boards to use seniority as the basis to identify five qualified occasional teachers. From that select group, the board can then assess a teacher’s specific skills and other qualifications before it fills a position.

“Mr. Squire is incorrect when he says it’s based on seniority only. That’s false. It’s also based upon qualifications as it always has been,” said O’Dwyer.

Atheists are taking Ontario's Grey County to court to force county council to stop praying the Our Father at the start of meetings.

Peter Ferguson of Kimberly, Ont. — one of nine municipalities in the county on the shores of Georgian Bay — served legal papers on the county July 30 alleging the practice of reciting a Christian prayer at the beginning of a government meeting is illegal. In 1999 the Ontario Court of Appeal ruled that Penetanguishine, Ont., was violating constitutional guarantees of freedom of religion under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms by starting council meetings with The Lord's Prayer.

Ferguson is seeking an end to the practice along with $5,000 in damages.

As far as Catholic Civil Rights League executive director Joanne McGarry is concerned, going to court over prayer is just sad.

"I always find it very distasteful or off-putting when prayer turns into something people are just battling about," she said.

Ferguson's court case is backed by Secular Ontario, an offshoot of the Humanist Association founded in 2005 with about 20 members.

Secular Ontario president Sheila Ayala told The Catholic Register an important principle is at stake in the case.

"Council meetings are open to the public. It's important that everybody is included," she said. "The principle is that we all pay taxes to where we live. We ought to be included but we're being excluded."

No disrespect is being aimed at the traditions of Ontario or religious conviction of three-quarters of Ontarians who align themselves with Christian faith, said Ayala.

"We're not stopping anybody from going to their synagogue or their mosque or whatever. We're not saying you can't practise whatever religion you want."

But Ayala does believe expressions of religious faith have no place in the public sphere.

Secular Ontario has sent letters to about 28 municipalities where reciting the Our Father at council meetings persists, said Ayala.

"We're having to take them to court again. They're not complying with what in fact is the law. They are breaking the law," she said.

"Court challenges of this kind are unfortunate. It just causes a lot of grief to people that we don't really need to have," said McGarry.

McGarry supports councils that wish to pray at the start of their meetings.

"It's like grace before meals," she said. If there's a need to be more inclusive, then rotate the prayers among the faith traditions of the community, she said.

"One week it might be Christian and the next week Muslim and the following week it could be more secular, a moment of reflection," McGarry said.

When the issue came up at the Ontario Legislature in 2008, Toronto's Cardinal (then Archbishop) Thomas Collins argued against a simplistic, ahistorical interpretation of the word secular.

"It is important not to be befuddled by a distorted view of the secular, one which holds that all life in the public realm must be meticulously sterilized lest a hint of faith intrude," he told legislators.

Collins was not against non-Christian prayers being used to open public debates, but argued tradition and the large Christian majority ought to assure the Our Father remains.

"It is highly appropriate that the deliberations of those whom we elect as our representatives should begin with prayer," he said. "Religion is not alien or dangerous. It is fruitful and life-giving and any effort to eliminate evidence of it in public assemblies is misguided... The Lord's Prayer has the advantage that it is part of our historical tradition, it is a contribution from the spiritual heritage of almost three-quarters of our citizens and it is at the same time open to wider application by any people of faith, and in fact by anyone."

TORONTO - On the feast day of Jesus' grandparents, a eucharistic celebration in honour of new Bishop Wayne Kirkpatrick was held at St. Michael's Cathedral July 26, where his own grandparents were married about 100 years ago.

TORONTO - Every child deserves a chance to attend a summer camp, including the 80 special needs students Pat Reilly is head counsellor to this summer. 

"These kids are the same as everybody else even though they cannot maybe do the same things as everybody else," said Reilly, who's overseen the Powerful Summer day-camp program since it began five years ago. "In everyday activities they are the same. They laugh the same, they cry the same and they try their best."

Hosted at Michael Power/St. Joseph's Secondary School, Powerful Summer offers special-needs students, Grade 8 and above, from Toronto's Catholic schools west of Yonge Street a daily mixture of academic programs and physical activities while teaching basic life skills. Almost entirely funded by the Toronto Catholic District School Board's (TCDSB) continuing education department, the camp operated Monday to Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. during July. Parents pay $85 to cover a weekly field trip and barbecue.

"The biggest thing is it gives parents something for their kids to do," said Reilly, Michael Power's head of special education for the past 25 years. "It's just a really good experience for everybody."

Powerful Summer veteran camper Jennifer Rocha, 20, can testify to that point.

"I like to come to camp because it's really fun and I get to enjoy it with all my friends. I don't have anything to do at home, I don't have friends (there)," said Rocha. "Mr. Reilly has been really great. He's actually organized this camp really well for all of the students."

Diagnosed with mild intellectual disabilities, Rocha, or "Rock Star" as Reilly's nicknamed her, has been attending Powerful Summer since it's inaugural year in 2007. Next summer Rocha will not be eligible to enroll at Powerful Summer but said she plans to take what she's learned over the past five years and apply it by getting involved in similar community programs.

But it isn't just special needs students reaping the benefits, both short and long-term. Connor McGuckin, second-year York University kinesiology student, has been advancing his future career by working at the camp for the past two years. Several TCDSB students, mostly from Michael Power, volunteer at the camp earning their compulsory 40 hours of community service.

"A camp like this is just a great experience to work at in the summer," said McGuckin, 18. "It gives me a chance to work with kids with special needs. I have an amazing time and I don't think that I'm coming into work everyday."

A graduate of Michael Power, which has the largest special needs student population in the TCDSB, McGuckin felt he had very little exposure to caring for those with special needs prior to working at Powerful Summer.

"At first I was really nervous about the scenario, what I'd be doing," he said. "But once all the kids were together everyone got along and it was a great thing."

As one of 14 educational assistant students working alongside 16 full-time educational assistants and nine special-needs qualified teachers, McGuckin said he's learning as much as the campers.

That's something Reilly's heard before, including from his own two children who've been involved with the camp over the years.

"The nice thing about (Powerful Summer) is that it's given a number of kids over the years that are interested in becoming teachers some really good hands-on experience working with kids with special needs," said Reilly. "It gives them the realization that not everyone in this world has the same needs and the same abilities."

Those attending the camp this summer range from high-needs autistic youth requiring constant one-on-one supervision to those with mild developmental delays like Rocha who frequently assists councillors in caring for the physically challenged campers.

"All our students take a little bit of ownership," said Reilly. "Teachers did this for me as a kid and they let me get involved. Every kid should have something to do after school, even our special needs group of kids."

For the third straight year, Chalice, a Catholic charity based in Nova Scotia, has been awarded an overall “A” rating by MoneySense magazine in its “Charity 100” list. 

The Canadian business magazine annually publishes its ratings of the biggest 100 charities in Canada based on four categories — charity efficiency, fundraising efficiency, governance and transparency and reserve fund size. And each year, Chalice, primarily a sponsorship program between Canadians and children in developing nations that also runs mission trips and raises money for disaster relief, has received top marks.

For Chalice marketing manager Sehne Connell, the rating means the world.

“We look forward to this magazine and we really hope that we continue with our A rating,” Connell said. “It’s really, really important to us because it confirms to our existing sponsors and donors that they are part of an organization that can be trusted with their donations.”

It’s also an extra marketing boost that makes a difference to this small charity, which relies primarily on word of mouth. 

“It allows others to get to know who we are,” Connell said. “We don’t spend a lot of money on … advertising. We rely on people to spread the word and let others know about Chalice.”

Connell said the main reason Chalice is so tight with its advertising budget is because of the “golden ratio” — that is, sending 92-93 per cent of all donations overseas, to the children.

“Every decision we make and expense we have to incur, we make sure upfront that we are going to be able to send (that percentage of) money to the children,” he said.

It’s also why, according to Connell, the charity only received a B rating in the “reserve fund size” category.

“We just don’t believe that we should keep money back and have a big reserve,” Connell explained. “The money we do have — four months reserve — is where we want to keep it.”

But the B rating in the “governance and transparency” section is something Connell says Chalice will be working on.

“We need to look at improvement. We’re not showing enough (financial information) on our web site,” he said. “We just need to get up there. That’s not something we would ever hide. It’s open to anybody.”

In the other two categories, “charity efficiency” and “fundraising efficiency,” Chalice received two A+ grades. In the section of International Aid and Development charities, in which Chalice fit, the only other organizations to receive an overall A rating were Free the Children and Compassion Canada, another sponsorship program.

For Connell, it’s not just about awareness, but also acknowledgment of hard work. 

“We love the work that we do and we get to see the results in the field and the difference that it makes,” he said.

“It’s rewarding to see that you get recognition.”

The Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace is hiring, but by the time the new employees are at their desks the Catholic aid agency will have reduced its full-time staff by 15 per cent.

Staff reductions became inevitable this spring when the Canadian International Development Agency reduced funding to D&P by more than $30 million over the next five years.

The six job openings — two full-time permanent positions and four part-time contract jobs — are filling vacancies that have come up over the last year from retirements, expired contracts and voluntary resignations, said executive director Michael Casey. D&P had frozen all hiring over the last year while awaiting a funding decision from the government.

After two years working with CIDA officials on a plan for continued development work in Africa, Asia and Latin America, then CIDA Minister Bev Oda announced in March her government would extend funding to select projects in just seven countries, leaving most of the 186 projects D&P runs in 30 countries unfunded.

In June D&P’s national council approved a restructuring plan that will reduce staffing 15 per cent by Sept. 1. The plan reduces its budget by $5 million this year.

But the Canadian partner in the international Caritas network is also planning for a future with less government support. The organization is shifting resources into fundraising and outreach in what some are calling a “re-launch.”

“The restructuring plan was developed following an extensive consultation process with our membership and staff over the past year as the organization adapts to new challenges in our external environment, most notably the significant reduction in government financial support for our international programs,” wrote Casey in an e-mail to The Catholic Register.

The new positions are posted at www.devp.org and in this edition of The Catholic Register.