News/Canada

Sisters, brothers and religious priests across Canada are praying for the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, but they’re not talking about the organization that represents about 80 per cent of U.S. nuns.

“The LCWR has asked us not to comment at this point,” said Canadian Religious Conference spokesperson Louise Stafford. A number of religious communities across Canada contacted by The Catholic Register  also either declined comment or did not return calls.

OTTAWA - Canada’s bishops have expressed dismay over a B.C. Supreme Court decision June 15 to strike down Criminal Code provisions against euthanasia and assisted suicide.

“I strongly urge the government to appeal this extremely flawed and dangerous ruling,” said Vancouver Archbishop Michael Miller in a statement released the day of the decision.

The government has until July 16 to file a notice of appeal.

As the New Abortion Caravan makes its way across Canada, it has drawn a variety of reactions.

One of the most aggressive shows of disapproval came when a pregnant team member was egged, said Stephanie Gray. And in Winnipeg, a group of about 30 protesters gathered outside Living Christ Community Church, where the members were presenting, beating on pots and pans.

OTTAWA - Politicians across party lines in the House of Commons and Senate have launched the all-party Anti-Poverty Caucus to examine ways to fight poverty across Canada.

“I think we all understand the moral issues,” said Senator Art Eggleton, a former Liberal cabinet minister and mayor of Toronto, one of three co-chairs at the June 12 launch. “We all understand this is not right for our country.”

TORONTO - It's more jail time for anti-abortion activist Linda Gibbons, at least another month, as the next ruling in her case won't be made until July 20.

Gibbons remains imprisoned for violating a court order — from 1994 — for handing out graphic pamphlets of aborted fetuses outside a Toronto abortion clinic.

"The judge needs time to decide so she's going to have to sit there and wait until he makes his decision, Gibbons' lawyer Daniel Santoro told The Catholic Register.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI named Bishop Valery Vienneau of Bathurst, New Brunswick, to be the new archbishop of Moncton.

The Vatican announced June 15 that Pope Benedict had accepted the resignation of Archbishop Andre Richard, who will reach the usual retirement age of 75 June 30.

Archbishop Vienneau, 64, had led the Diocese of Bathurst since 2002.

Born in Cap-Pele, he earned degrees in philosophy and in education from the University of Moncton and taught in public schools for nine years. He later entered the seminary, studying in Ottawa, and was ordained to the priesthood in 1982 for the Archdiocese of Moncton.

He served in parish ministry and as a university chaplain until 2000, when he was appointed to lead a reorganization of several parishes and to train members of parish pastoral teams.

Archbishop Richard leaves the archdiocese after appointing former Supreme Court Judge Michel Bastarache to finish conducting a conciliation process with sexual abuse victims in the archdiocese within a year. The victims allegedly were abused by the late Father Camille Leger between 1957 and 1980. Father Leger, who died in 1990, was never convicted of any crimes.

Bastarache led a similar process with more than 90 sexual abuse victims in the Diocese of Bathurst in 2010. Nearly 80 of those victims chose to settle through the conciliation process.

Former Supreme Court Judge Michel Bastarache plans to wrap up a conciliation process with sexual abuse victims in the archdiocese of Moncton within a year.

Bastarache has been tapped by Archbishop André Richard to meet with victims of Fr. Camille Léger and award monetary settlements of $15,000 to $300,000. The archdiocese has also been offering counselling to victims through the Beauséjour Family Crisis Centre since April.

OTTAWA - The House of Commons voted 153-136 June 6 to repeal  Section 13, the controversial hate-crimes provision of the Canadian Human Rights Act June 6, drawing praise from the Catholic Civil Rights League.

MP Brian Storseth’s private member’s Bill C-304 now moves to the Senate where it will be shepherded through by Conservative Senator Doug Finley.

QUEBEC CITY - While university students, anti-capitalists and environmentalists have routinely mustered tens of thousands into the streets of Montreal and Quebec City over the last two months, a small coalition of conservative Christians managed 650 for the second annual Christian March from the Plains of Abraham to Quebec’s National Assembly.

The number of marchers for the June 2 event was down from about 1,000 the year before.

OTTAWA - The federal government’s National Action Plan (NAP) to Combat Human Trafficking announced June 6 will be a “huge help” in battling modern-day slavery, said Conservative MP Joy Smith.

“I’m absolutely delighted,” said Smith, who participated in the NAP’s roll-out in one of several news conferences across the country. “This adds a new step toward combatting human trafficking in Canada.