News/Canada

Witnessing the courage of Christians helping Jews in Nazi-occupied Holland during the Second World War inspired Canadian social justice pioneer Gerald Vandezande's faith and anti-poverty work.

A co-founder and the first director of the Ottawa-based Citizens for Public Justice, Mr. Vandezande passed away peacefully at his home on July 16. His funeral was held on July 21 at Pine Hills Visitation Centre in Toronto.

For four decades, Mr. Vandezande worked in public policy development and political advocacy. He was awarded the Order of Canada in 2001. His ordepioner citation described him as a “powerful and respected voice for social justice.”

Long-time friend Mark Vander Vennen recalls one of his last conversations with Mr. Vandezande who reminisced about his early influences.

“(The war experience) had a big impact on him. He saw first-hand some extremely courageous things done in resistance to the Nazis by Christians in the name of the Gospel,” said Vander Vennen, executive director of the non-profit Shalem Mental Health Network. “That had a life-long impact on him, including the defense and hiding of Jews.”

OTTAWA — When Bishop-elect Thomas Dowd is ordained to the episcopacy on Sept. 10 as auxiliary bishop of Montreal, he will be the youngest bishop in Canada and the second youngest in the world.

And Dowd, being of a wired, media-savvy generation, posted the July 11 official announcement on Facebook. He was thrilled to see that within five seconds somebody “liked” it.

Facebook is just the tip of the iceberg as far as the future bishop's media savvy goes. He is also a bloggist, and has been for some time. He plans to continue blogging, a hobby he has pursued as a priest at Frdowd.net since 2003. He began the blog because people in the parish he served only saw him on Sundays and wondered what he did during the other days of the week.

“So many amazing things happen as a priest,” he said. “Honestly, it’s a great life. If a person wants to lead a boring life don’t go into the priesthood.

“Here I am experiencing all these blessings. People like to know about them, so I’ll use the blog as a medium,” he said.

INUVIK, N.W.T. — Pictures tell stories. Stories tell us who we are. For 15-year-old Mary Masazumi the story falls into the category of mystery.

Her father Alfred is dead and there are no family photo albums at home in Fort Good Hope that stretch back into her father’s childhood. Mary hoped to fill that gap pouring through binders of photos from the archives of the diocese of Mackenzie-Fort Smith. The diocese came to Inuvik for the Northern National Event of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada June 28 to July 1 with as many photos of students as could be found. Visitors could take home up to five copies. The photos were the most popular attraction outside the commission hearings.

Masazumi’s father went to school at the Immaculate Conception residential school in Aklavik — at least she thinks it was Aklavik.

“He hasn’t told me about residential school,” she said.

OTTAWA — Bishop Raymond Lahey will have to wait several more months in jail before his sentencing on charges of importing child pornography.

Already postponed from June to early August, the sentencing hearing will continue into December because the forensic psychiatrist who examined Lahey is not available on the Aug. 4 and 5 dates that have been set aside.

According to the Ottawa Citizen, the Crown wants to cross-examine Dr. John Bradford on his sexual behaviours' assessment of the former Antigonish bishop, but he was unavailable for the August dates. An additional day has been added to for his testimony in December to accommodate Bradford's testimony.

MONTREAL — Montreal Auxiliary Bishop André Gazaille has been named the new bishop of Nicolet, Que., south of Trois-Rivieres.

Gazaille, who was named bishop by Pope Benedict XVI on July 11, fills the post vacated by Bishop Raymond St-Gelais who resigned due to age after 22 years at the helm of the diocese, in accordance with the Code of Canon Law.

Born in Montreal, Gazaille studied theology and pastoral ministry at the Montreal Grand Séminaire and at the University of Montreal. He was ordained a priest for the archdiocese of Montreal in 1971. Gazaille was ordained bishop in March 2006 and has since served as an auxiliary bishop in Montreal.

The diocese of Nicolet has 119 diocesan priests, 15 priests who are members of societies of apostolic life, 386 religious brothers and sisters, and 26 permanent pastoral agents serving 200,000 Catholics in 65 parishes and missions.

TORONTO — After more than 30 years with Serra Club, Mario Biscardi has been awarded the Harry J. O’Haire Award for exemplary dedication to the organization and its mission of promoting and fostering vocations to the priesthood and religious life.

The award, the club’s highest honour presented annually to one member of Serra International, pays homage to Biscardi for more than three decades of service to the club, which includes the formation of five different Serra Clubs and the founding of the annual Ordinandi Dinner in Toronto, among other accomplishments.

Biscardi received the award, named after the first president of the Serra Club, on July 8 in Ottawa during this year’s Serra International convention.

“It was just a tremendous shock,” said Biscardi, who lives in Toronto. “It’s a real honour and privilege. But you can’t help but feel humbled and modest.

TORONTO — Free the Children, the international children’s rights group founded by Craig and Marc Kielburger, has denied a web site allegation that their charity supports abortion.

“The policy of the organization has never changed or wavered,” said Marc Kielburger. “To be very clear, Free The Children is apolitical, and does not promote abortion, nor has it ever.”

Kielburger was forced to respond to allegations published by LifeSiteNews that accused the organization of taking a “direct stand in favour of abortion.”

The accusation was based on two fact sheets that briefly appeared 13 months ago on Free The Children’s web site. The documents criticized the Conservative government’s failure to include abortion funding in the maternal health care initiative it presented at the G20/G8 summits in 2010. The most contentious sentence read: “There is a consensus that family planning, including abortion, is crucial to reducing maternal deaths and improving the economic status of women in the poorest parts  of the world.”

OTTAWA - Bill Whatcott will be before the Supreme Court of Canada in October hoping to strike down the laws that allow human rights commissions to limit freedom of speech and religious expression.

Three hundred Catholic women from across Ontario will meet from July 10-13 in Hamilton for the 64th annual Ontario Catholic Women’s League Provincial Convention.

Three hundred Catholic women from across Ontario met from July 10-13 in Hamilton for the 64th annual Ontario Catholic Women’s League Provincial Convention, where Marlene Pavletic of Thunder Bay was chosen as the new provincial president.

This year’s four-day conference, which concluded with the election of a new provincial executive including Pavletic, was themed “Centred on Faith & Justice — Led By The Spirit." Held at the Sheraton Hotel in Hamilton, the convention offered representatives of the CWL, which has 54,000 members in 13 dioceses across Ontario, a chance to reflect on the past year, deepen and celebrate their faith and set their goals for the future.

Those goals consisted mainly of this year’s three resolutions, each focused on health. The resolutions, submitted by Ontarian dioceses, aim to provide clean water for First Nations communities, limit sodium use in food and raise awareness of colorectal cancer. These resolutions, which were passed at the provincial level, will be submitted to the national CWL, which will gather Aug. 14-17. A final set of resolutions will be chosen at the national convention and set as initiatives for the CWL over the next year.