{mosimage}TORONTO - The church doesn’t have a mission. Christ’s mission has a church. For 90 years the Scarboro Missions have been convinced the mission comes first.

At 10 a.m., Nov. 9, at the mission society’s main chapel, 2685 Kingston Rd. in Scarborough, Toronto Archbishop Thomas Collins will lead a Mass of thanksgiving for the 90 years Scarboros have been serving Christ’s mission. The missionaries will give thanks for the likes of Scarboro founder Msgr. John Fraser, first North American priest to take on missionary work in China, and Fr. Art MacKinnon, killed in the Dominican Republic in 1965 for standing up against arbitrary arrest and torture of young men in his parish.

{mosimage}TORONTO - Franciscans have been remembering the death of St. Francis for nearly 900 years, and it’s still a family affair, said Franciscans of all kinds who gathered at St. Bonaventure Church in Toronto for the Transitus Oct. 3.

Celebrated by Franciscans around the world on the eve of the Feast of St. Francis, the Transitus liturgy re-enacts and remembers St. Francis’ passing from this world.

{mosimage}TORONTO - Who should Wall Street look to as a model for corporate leadership in this time of economic crisis? Warren Buffet? Bill Gates? Steve Job? Or what about St. Ignatius of Loyola?

For Chris Lowney, a one-time managing director of American financial giant J.P. Morgan, the 16th-century saint and founder of the Jesuits offers an example of what it takes to lead a modern business enterprise.

{mosimage}TORONTO - As Dr. Henry Morgentaler receives his Order of Canada medal from Governor General Michaëlle Jean in Quebec City, Toronto's Archbishop Thomas Collins is urging all Catholics to pray the Sunday before Thanksgiving Day for women who face crisis pregnancies and for those who advocate for abortion as a right.

Collins calls the award to Morgentaler "a sad moment in Canadian history."

{mosimage}OTTAWA - Though Conservative Leader Stephen Harper faced hidden agenda charges during the election campaign, pro-life voters have grown increasingly disappointed that he has none.

So disappointed Catholic Insight magazine editor Fr. Alphonse de Valk called for Harper’s defeat in his Calgary Southwest riding.

The Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace doesn't think the Canadian election is just about Canada. For the development arm of the Canadian bishops, this election is also about Canada's obligations to the rest of the world. Development and Peace executive director Michael Casey has sent this open letter to candidates and media outlets across the country:

OTTAWA — People who think poverty is an election issue are getting their chance with a five party debate in Ottawa Oct. 6.

{mosimage}TORONTO - The Wall Street crisis is a story of how the privileged few took advantage of the middle class and the poor, and how the U.S. government failed its citizens, said anti-globalization activist Naomi Klein on the day the Bush administration’s $700-billion bailout plan failed to pass in Congress.

The U.S. House of Representatives could not agree on the plan, resulting in the bill’s failure on Sept. 29.

{mosimage}TORONTO - The Make Poverty History coalition of more than 1,000 individuals, churches, unions and organizations complains that the Conservative Party is missing in action on poverty issues.

Make Poverty History managed to get four of the five national party leaders to answer specific questions on poverty reduction leading up to the Oct. 14 federal election. The video of those interviews is available at www.makepovertyhistory.ca/ontherecord .

{mosimage}OTTAWA - Though they decided to appeal to the Supreme Court a month ago, the Canadian Council for Refugees , Canadian Council of Churches and Amnesty International made it official in their battle against the Safe Third Country agreement with the United States.

On Sept. 26 the refugee advocate organizations filed an application with Canada’s highest court seeking one more chance to strike down the agreement.