{mosimage}TORONTO - St. Norbert's Roman Catholic Church has acted as both a spiritual and physical stronghold in the weeks following Toronto's north-end propane storage plant explosion.

Complainant to appeal Catholic Insight ruling

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{mosimage}TORONTO - The saga of Catholic Insight's trouble with the Canadian Human Rights Commission is not over. After having a complaint against the small magazine dismissed in early July, it has now learned that it faces a judicial appeal of that decision.

Hiroshima, Nagasaki can never be forgotten

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{mosimage}TORONTO-Growing up in Japan, Sachiko Yasue never particularly noticed Hiroshima Day. Now living in Toronto, the carnage of Aug. 6, 1945 suddenly seemed very real as she surveyed a photo and art exhibit mounted in Toronto City Hall.

Churches challenge Ottawa to help refugees

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{mosimage}TORONTO - Administrative backlogs, a marriage of convenience with the United States and compromised due process in Canada's refugee system have churches taking Canada's government to the Supreme Court and refugee advocates pushing politicians to live up to a law Parliament passed in 2001 and then re-passed this summer.

The Canadian Council of Churches, Amnesty International and the Canadian Council for Refugees will challenge Canada's Safe Third Country agreement with the United States at the Supreme Court of Canada.

Jesuit leadership changes hands

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{mosimage}PICKERING, Ont. - As he accepted the blessing of Jesuits and their friends at the end of a St. Ignatius Day Mass in Pickering, Ont. July 31, Fr. Jim Webb took up a "heroic, humble task" in imitation of the man who founded the Jesuits 474 years ago.

Webb officially became the provincial superior for the Jesuits of English Canada, taking over from Fr. Jean-Marc Laporte.

Spreading the gospel of life through Facebook

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{mosimage}TORONTO - When Toronto resident Charbel El-chaar, 40, saw there was no online discussion for the cause of the late Pope John Paul II's sainthood, he quickly fixed that by starting a Facebook group called “John Paul II the Great is a saint. 1 Million person will say he is.”

Director of Manresa retires — again

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{mosimage}PICKERING, Ont. - The Jesuit priest who rescued the Manresa Jesuit Renewal Centre in Pickering from decay and decline, twice, is retiring.

Canadian philosopher Taylor reaps more honours

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{mosimage}TORONTO - For the second time in just over a year, Montreal-born philosophy professor Charles Taylor is being honoured for a lifetime of thinking about modern life, multiculturalism and morality. Along with University of Toronto molecular biologist Anthony Pawson and University of California computer scientist Richard Karp, Taylor has been tapped for this year's Kyoto Prize, worth $460,000.

Last year Taylor, 76, was granted the $2-million Templeton Prize for Progress or Discoveries in Spiritual Realities. The Kyoto Prize is awarded by the Inamori Foundation for significant contributions to science, culture and the spiritual development of humanity.

Petition supports war resisters

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{mosimage}TORONTO - More than 60 religious organizations, many of them ecumenical and many of them Catholic, have backed a petition asking Ottawa to halt deportations of U.S. soldiers who have come to Canada to avoid serving in Iraq.

The online petition sponsored by the Quakers asks Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Citizenship and Immigration Minister Diane Finley to create a policy to allow conscientious objectors to stay in Canada. The petition cites the June 3 advisory vote of Parliament which would have allowed American soldiers to stay in Canada as permanent residents.

Peace Garden proponents wary of new redesign

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{mosimage}TORONTO - Though nobody’s exactly sure what it will look like after it has been shifted about 200 metres west, redesigned and reconceived, the defenders of the old Peace Garden in Nathan Phillips Square are cautiously optimistic they will still recognize their beloved landmark after the square in front of city hall has been revamped.

“It started off that they were going to tear everything down, you know? And then we started to scream and holler,” Fr. Massey Lombardi told The Catholic Register.

Red tape slows Iraqi refugees’ entry to Canada

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{mosimage}TORONTO - Toronto’s Catholics are on pace to double the number of refugees they sponsor in 2008, but they face increasing frustration over Iraqi refugees tangled in red tape in Damascus.

It now takes the better part of two years for privately sponsored Iraqi refugees to be processed through the Canadian consulate in Damascus.