For 25 years, St. Philip Neri Parish has been a “sanctuary” for the Hispanic Catholic community in Toronto.

On June 25 and 26, the parish will celebrate this quarter century with a two-day conference on “The Living Eucharistic Presence of Jesus.” The conference, entirely in Spanish, will feature Guatemalan preachers Rev. Oscar Gracias and Juan Ramón Martinez Hernandez, and coincides with the feast of Corpus Christi.

“That is the centre of our life,” said organizer Ignacio Mateo of the feast and the theme it inspired for the conference. “We gather as Latin-American people, and we gather for one reason — the blessed sacrament, the holy Eucharist. That is the reason we are united, why we live.”

Both days of the conference will include the rosary, Mass, and a procession of the blessed sacrament. The first day will focus on four themes — the Old Testament,  Church life, education, as well as life, healing and liberation — in relation to the Eucharist. The speakers will address these themes and, on the second day, focus on unity and family within the Eucharist.

Media fast introduced for new seminarians

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When Thomas Collins was in the seminary, he felt like the busiest, most rushed guy in town. Now, as Archbishop of Toronto, he wants to give seminarians a chance to stop and reflect — something he wishes he could have done more often.

For the incoming class at St. Augustine’s Seminary, that will mean a media fast — abstaining from electronic and traditional media of all types — for much of their first year. No phones or cellphones, no Internet or computer games, no TV or radio. No modern devices or even old friends like newspapers and magazines.

Beginning in September, the new class of seminarians will take part in a type of spiritual preparation called a propaedeutic year. The 10-month period, which falls between formation (at places like Serra House) and the traditional studies of the seminary, is meant to prepare discerning priests in a non-academic setting.

It will include reading traditional Church texts, a collection of retreats and, for five and half days per week, a “fast” from electronic and popular media.

Conservative policy convention supports traditional marriage and parental rights

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OTTAWA - The Conservative Party has given a ringing endorsement to traditional marriage, to family life and the rights of parents to raise children according to individual conscience and beliefs.

At its 2011 policy convention, held June 9-11, the Conservatives resolved to support legislation “defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman.” They also stressed that Parliament, not the courts, should determine the definition of marriage through a free vote.

“This is a party that’s not afraid of being conservative,” said Immigration Minister Jason Kenney, a Catholic, in an interview.  “It’s a dramatic change from the days of the old Progressive Conservative Party where social conservatives were not made to feel welcome.”

The party passed a resolution on family and marriage that affirmed the family unit is “essential to the well-being of individuals and society, because it is where children learn values and develop a sense of responsibility.” The resolution also stressed “the right and duty of parents to raise their own children responsibly according to their own conscience and beliefs.”

Marshall sentenced to two years in prison

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WINDSOR, ONT. - Father William Hodgson Marshall was sentenced to two years in prison for sexually abusing 16 boys and one girl in Ontario high schools while he was a teacher, coach and principal from the early 1950s to the mid-1980s.

Marshall, 88, was also given three years probation and his name will be added to the national sex offender registry. He pleaded guilty to charges of indecent assault that occurred in schools and private residences, from Windsor to Toronto, Sudbury and Sault Ste. Marie.

For the victims, it was an emotional two days in Superior Court where the priest pled guilty prior to numerous victims giving pre-sentence statements.

Ken Hills, one of Marshall’s earliest victims, was abused at Toronto’s St. Michael’s High School in 1953. His assault occurred in an office by the gymnasium where Marshall coached basketball.

“You began stalking me when I was in Grade 8,” he told the court. “This predatorial action continued through grades nine and ten and eleven.”

D&P flexes its muscles

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Canadian bishops are welcome to advise Development and Peace about overseas partnerships but D&P members are asserting their right to make final decisions about which organizations are funded.

D&P’s national council passed a unanimous resolution at a June 10-12 meeting that essentially reaffirms that funding decisions will be made by the council and its 12,000 strong predominantly lay members.

The national council consists of 20 elected, volunteer representatives from across Canada, plus bishops Richard Grecco of P.E.I and Claude Champagne of New Brunswick. D&P acts as the international development organization of the Catholic Church in Canada.

The national council resolution came in the wake of a recent decision by the D&P executive, acting on abortion-related allegations expressed by a Mexican cardinal, to revoke the funding of the Mexican human rights organization Centro PRODH. That decision prompted a defiant resolution from D&P members in Quebec and New Brunswick in support of Centro PRODH and calling for restoration of its funding.

Right to prostitution doesn’t exist

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TORONTO - Prostitution is an economic activity, not a constitutionally protected right, and public policy regarding prostitution is the responsibility of Parliament, a federal lawyer has argued in the Ontario Court of Appeal.

On the opening day of an appeal into a lower-court decision that struck down some sections of Canada’s prostitution laws, federal lawyer Michael Morris told the five judges that the state has no requirement to ensure a safe work environment for prostitutes.

“The ‘security of their person’ argument is based upon the argument that prostitution should be made more safe,” he said. “We say that requires they have a right to engage in prostitution in the first place.” No such right exists, he said.

Morris was challenging an Ontario Superior court ruling by Judge Susan Himel that said Criminal Code provisions that prohibit living off the avails, keeping a common bawdy house and soliciting for purposes of prostitution infringed the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The gift of cherry blossoms to ‘grow along with Japan’

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Within days of a violent storm that tore limbs from dozens of mature trees and uprooted others, the Scarboro Missions celebrated a gift of 15 new cherry blossom trees on their property.

The gift from the Sakura Project brought out Toronto’s Japanese Catholic community and a Japanese folk dance group in a show of solidarity with Japan June 12, three months after a devastating 9.0 earthquake and tsunami killed more than 15,000 and pushed the Fukushima nuclear power plant into a meltdown.

“These trees, in a sense, mark this disaster. But also, these trees will grow along with Japan,” said Masaya Otsuka of the consulate general of Japan’s office, which supports the Sakura Project.

The Scarboro Missions headquarters on Kingston Road was chosen as one of 55 sites in 18 municipalities across southern Ontario where the Japanese consulate has planted trees.

Since the Second World War the Scarboros have sent 40 missionaries to Japan. Several Scarboros served over 50 years in Japan and six are buried there.

Oakville memorial initiated by students

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OAKVILLE, ONT. - It began with children writing to WW II war veterans and families of Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan.

Five years later, the letter-writing efforts of Grade 7 and 8 students at St. Dominic Catholic Elementary School has led to a memorial for Canadian soldiers highlighting Halton’s “Veteran’s Highway.” It is Oakville’s first memorial to include veterans from Canada’s mission in Afghanistan.

The Bronte Veterans Garden, located within Donovan Bailey Park, officially opened June 14 with the unveiling of two plaques placed at the base of a tree in memory of Cpl. Robert James Mitchell and Private Paul Parkin. Poppies will be planted between the plaques and a flower bed shaped like the Canadian flag will be grown at the garden.

Mitchell’s mother, Carol, visited the school from Owen Sound, Ont. after receiving letters and posters from St. Dominic’s students. Cpl. Mitchell died in Afghanistan in 2006. Other students wrote to Parkin, a World War II veteran and prisoner of war, to show their support and thank him for his service. Parkin, an Oakville resident who died in 2009, spent his last two Remembrance Days with the students at the school.

‘Diversity of cultures’ comes together in Midland

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In 2003, Zofia Szaflarski was invited by a friend to join a weeklong walking pilgrimage to the Martyrs’ Shrine in Midland, Ont. Hesitant but curious, Szaflarski agreed and since then she has been “addicted.”

Several walks later, Szaflarski now helps organize and promote the annual pilgrimage.

“It’s very religious and very spiritual,” she said of the walking pilgrimage, particularly popular among Polish Catholics. “But what a lot of people forget is that it’s also a lot of fun.”

With about 1,000 other people, Szaflarski spent a week trekking  125 kilometres from St. Patrick’s parish in Wildfield, Ont., to the Shrine. The group celebrated Mass each morning and then walked, prayed, and sang until they lit a bonfire after they stopped for the night. This year’s pilgrimage will culminate at the Shrine on August 13.

Canadian pro-life leaders to gather in Toronto

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The leaders of the Canadian pro-life movement will examine strategies for effective change when they gather June 24-25 for the Toronto 2011 Pro-Life Forum.

Hosted by Campaign Life Coalition, the two-day conference will kick off at a dinner with keynote speaker Brian Lilley of Sun TV News, followed by a full day of panels and speakers. The forum will take place at Hotel Novotel Toronto Centre.

“Be informed, be inspired, be active,” said Alisa Golob, youth coordinator for the Campaign Life Coalition, echoing the conference’s theme. “First you have to know what’s going on… and hear the other side of the story.”

Canadians seldom see pro-life issues reported in the media, said Golob, and when they do, it’s usually negative coverage. This, according to Golob, is why CLC chose Lilley, host of Byline, as keynote speaker for the opening night dinner.

Small budget changes could have big social impact say critics

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OTTAWA — The June 3 Throne Speech reiterates modest campaign promises and the June 6 budget is virtually identical to the budget tabled Mar. 22. However, these little changes could have a huge impact on Canadian society, observers say.

Though the 400-page budget document emphasizes stability, a think tank concerned about a flourishing civil society says the Conservative government is “preparing for a coming storm in Canadian politics: one which they intend to shape and survive.”

That storm involves the aging of Canadian society that will see 2.5 workers for every retiree, up from the present 4.7 workers per retiree; a coming health care crunch that has not been publicly addressed; and the ways an increased free trade environment might hurt some sectors of the economy, Cardus warns.

“The increased emphasis on expenditure review and the advanced targets for returning to surplus are just two indicators that this budget is really about battening down the hatches and rolling out the foundations for shaping tomorrow’s social architecture,” said an analysis by Cardus, a think tank that now incorporates the former Centre for Culture Renewal.