Canadian religious leaders and interfaith coalitions banded together before the Nov. 28 to Dec. 9 United Nations climate change talks in Durban, South Africa, to urge Ottawa to take substantial steps toward a new international agreement to replace the expiring Kyoto Protocols. Almost alone among Canada’s major church and faith bodies, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops refused to sign the “Canadian Interfaith Call for Leadership and Action on Climate Change.”

The Congregation of St. Joseph signed, along with many other Catholic religious orders and a broad swath of Canada’s Christian bodies. Major Muslim, Hindu and interfaith coalitions also signed onto the two-page statement.

EDMONTON - Catholics from Edmonton are elated to learn their former archbishop has been elevated to the College of Cardinals.

The announcement that Archbishop Thomas Collins, now archbishop of Toronto, will be a cardinal was made at the Vatican Jan. 6.

After serving as archbishop in St. Paul, Alta., Collins was the archbishop in Edmonton from June 1999 to January 2007.

OTTAWA - Though the Prime Minister has repeatedly said his government will not allow the abortion debate to reopen, an Ontario Conservative MP said he is not worried about the risk as he contemplates bringing forth a private members’ bill on the matter.

“I’m pretty comfortable as a Member of Parliament raising this issue, because it is an issue with such human rights implications,” said Stephen Woodworth of Kitchener, Ont. “It should be everyone’s priorities to ensure that any law that involves fundamental human rights is informed by modern, medically accurate evidence, not some 400-year-old arbitrary legal argument.”

KITCHENER, ONT. - The new year meant a new beginning for a group of Anglicans from Kitchener-Waterloo, Ont.

On Jan. 1, 12 individuals from that area were received as a community into full communion in the Roman Catholic Church during an Anglican Use-rite Mass at the Cathedral of Christ the King in Hamilton. The liturgy was presided over by Bishop Douglas Crosby and celebrated by their former priest-mentor, now chaplain, Fr. William Foote. The group made a profession of faith and received the sacraments of Confirmation and the Eucharist.

Now known as the Sodality of St. Edmund, King and Martyr, under the oversight of the diocese of Hamilton initially, they become the second community of Canadian Anglicans to be so received, following St. John the Evangelist in Calgary, which entered the Church on Dec. 18.

SASKATOON - The new Cathedral of the Holy Family was officially declared the diocesan home for the Roman Catholic diocese of Saskatoon at a celebration on New Year’s Day.

Archbishop Albert LeGatt of St. Boniface was a special guest at the first diocesan celebration in the new building. During his time as bishop of Saskatoon, LeGatt initiated plans to construct the new cathedral and diocesan pastoral centre, in conjunction with a new church building for Holy Family parish in northeast Saskatoon.

Cardinal-designate Collins becomes the 16th cardinal in Canadian history. Here is the entire list.

TORONTO - Receiving the honour of a papal invitation to join the College of Cardinals means Toronto Archbishop Thomas Collins will become an advisor to Pope Benedict XVI, likely be assigned a symbolic parish in Rome and acquire important commissions from the pontiff.

And as the highest-ranked Catholic prelate outside Quebec, he will also be delegated the responsibility of becoming the primary spokesman for the Church in English Canada. As an archbishop, he is familiar with the role. As a cardinal, it takes on greater weight.

That’s not to suggest the new cardinal will become wildly outspoken. That’s not his style, nor should it be. But Collins, who was designated on Jan. 6 by the Pope to become a cardinal, expects to be proactive to ensure that Church positions on important social justice and life issues are voiced in the public forum.

TORONTO - The City of Toronto is conducting an online survey to determine if the public wants retail stores to open on holidays such as Christmas Day and Easter Sunday.

This retail holiday shopping consultation is the result of a May 2010 report recommending that City Council allow all retail stores to remain open or closed at the discretion of the store owner or manager. 

“We’ve had a number of residents, retailers and businesses who have said in certain areas of the city… the holiday shopping is allowed and what they have indicated to the city is they don’t think it’s fair that in certain areas of the city the city allows it, but not in other areas,” said Councillor Michael Thompson, chair of Toronto’s Economic Development Committee.

OTTAWA - Congratulations and praise for Cardinal-designate Thomas Collins’ elevation to the College of Cardinals Jan. 6 poured in from politicians, brother bishops and organizations across Canada.

“The appointment of Thomas Collins to the College of Cardinals is a great honour for His Grace as well as the archdiocese of Toronto and all members of the Catholic Church across Canada — a testament to his hard work and faithful devotion to the Church and spiritual life,” said Prime Minister Stephen Harper Jan. 6 in a message of congratulations.

Harper remarked on the leadership role the College of Cardinals plays in the Catholic Church and described Collins’ career as “long and distinguished.”