The news last week that a huge donation (valued at $19 million for church and land) to build a church in the Greater Toronto Area from auto parts magnate Frank Stronach had been turned by the archdiocese of Toronto created some awkward moments. No one likes to walk away from such magnificent generosity; nor does a potential donor like to see his offer of a gift spurned.

TORONTO - Archbishop Thomas Collins has made several new appointments in Toronto’s curial offices.

“Be assured of our ongoing commitment to be faithful and responsible stewards of all that has been entrusted to us by the people of the archdiocese,” Collins said in a letter to clergy, parish and diocesan staff.

TORONTO - As Christians, particularly Catholic Christians, “we live our lives between the ashes and the fire,” Toronto Archbishop Thomas Collins told more than 100 Catholic businesspeople Feb. 20.

TORONTO - Toronto’s archbishop is inviting members of the business community to join him for a Lenten Mass and breakfast on Feb. 20.

TORONTO - For Toronto’s Archbishop Thomas Collins, more diversity equals less controversy in Canada’s Catholic community over liturgy.

“We celebrate Toronto as the most diverse diocese in the world. We’ve just been enriched. I think the whole church has.” Collins told The Catholic Register following the release of Pope Benedict XVI’s motu proprio, Summorum Pontificum, which declared the 1962 Latin Missal one of two approved forms of the Mass. “This is a great thing, and it solves all of this disputing and all this stuff.”

TORONTO - Universities are at the centre of Catholic life, says Toronto Archbishop Thomas Collins, and that is why the Catholic Church began to create universities in the Middle Ages.

TORONTO - Scripture scholar Archbishop Thomas Collins is taking on a new role as liaison between the Ontario Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Catholic Biblical Association of Canada.

TORONTO - When Marie Comiskey and her younger brother Kevin heard Archbishop Collins was going to speak at a local pub they jumped on the opportunity to meet the archbishop for the first time.

TORONTO - Church unity hasn’t happened yet, but Catholics and Anglicans have a new list of concrete suggestions for ways to bring the two churches closer.

WATERLOO, Ont.  - The Book of Revelation is not meant to be used “like an Ouija board” to predict the end of the world, says Toronto Archbishop Thomas Collins. Rather this last book of the Bible is meant to offer hope and courage for Christians living in difficult times.

TORONTO - Toronto’s new archbishop will have something to say about what Canadian mining companies are doing to the environment and to local populations around the world in the kickoff for St. Dominic Roman Catholic Church’s lecture series, “Stewardship of the Earth, Calling the Mining Industry to Account.”

The motto “Deum Adora” (Worship God) is taken from the Book of Revelation 22: 9. When St. John seeks to worship the angel who has shown him the great visions of the book, the angel rebukes him: “Worship God.” It is God who claims our adoration and loyalty, in worship and in action. St. Thomas More expressed this when in his last words before martyrdom he said: “I die the king’s good servant, but God’s first.” Our priorities in life must be clear and determined by our adoration of the Lord.

The shield with a gold cross on a red background is based on that of St. Peter’s Seminary. The Alpha and Omega recall the Book of Revelation 22:13, where Jesus says: “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” The open Bible and the chalice represent the two great ways in which we experience Jesus in the church, in word and sacrament.

Editor’s note: A few days before officially being installed as chief shepherd of Toronto, Archbishop Thomas Collins sat down with The Catholic Register to talk about what it means to be a bishop and how the local diocesan church relates to its many parts. Below are some excerpts from that interview.

TORONTO - Toronto’s newest archbishop used his installation Mass Jan. 30 to call on his flock to help build a “New Jerusalem” on earth. While the real New Jerusalem can only be found after our death, we can strive while we are alive to live as if we are already among its residents, said Archbishop Thomas Collins.

TORONTO - Archbishop Thomas Collins, Toronto's new shepherd, will be hosting numerous Masses and related events throughout the archdiocese upon his arrival in Toronto beginning Jan. 28 and running through Feb. 20.