{mosimage}Cardinal Jean-Claude Turcotte, archbishop of Montreal, is returning his Order of Canada to protest the decision to honour Dr. Henry Morgantaler with Canada's highest civilian award.

{mosimage}MONTREAL - Canadian Catholics are being asked to help the tiny nation of Haiti that has borne the brunt of the storms during this hurricane season.

The latest storm to hit the impoverished Caribbean island was Hurricane Ike, which struck Haiti Sept. 7. The city of Gonaives was particularly hard hit by Ike, after already seeing severe flooding from previous hurricanes Hanna, Fay and Gustav.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper's promise to get Canadian troops out of Afghanistan at the end of 2011 is good, but not good enough for Catholics for Peace – Toronto.

I almost spilled my morning coffee all over my desk this morning as I turned to the Globe and Mail's editorial page. There before my eyes was an editorial defending Opus Dei. I had to read it twice, and pinch myself, to prove this wasn't a dream.

It's unlikely you'll hear political candidates talking about doctor-assisted suicide or euthanasia in this federal election campaign. But that doesn't mean it isn't a serious issue, or that federal politicians have a duty to deal with it.

The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops has a draft of a statement on the 2008 federal election, and the bishops plan to discuss it before going public perhaps as early as next week.

Stung by losing one of his own MPs, controversial priest Fr. Raymond Gravel, Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe has attacked the Conservatives for having a Montreal-area candidate who is a member of Opus Dei.

The Catholic Church may no longer tell the flock whom to vote for, but there certainly is a Catholic way to vote. In numerous statements and documents over the years, Catholic bishops around the world have offered principles to guide voters on how to align their decision on the ballot with their faith.

{mosimage}TORONTO - "The politics of poverty must be part of this election," said Mike Creek, spokesman for Voices from the Street, a Toronto advocacy organization that puts poor people in front of media cameras and microphones.

The 25 in 5 Network of more than 100 churches, unions and social agencies delivered a report Sept. 8 at Queen's Park outlining minimum demands for a provincial poverty reduction plan, but much of what they had to say was aimed at federal politicians as they headed out for the first full day on the campaign trail.

So the battle is on and one thing for sure, between now and Oct. 14 the federal election campaign will be marked again by suggestions, allegations and threats that the governing Conservative Party can’t be given a majority because they have a “secret agenda” that a majority will allow them to impose. And of course by “secret agenda” the opposition parties really mean a scary “right-wing Christian agenda.”