News/Canada

OTTAWA - Quebec’s ban on God, prayers, songs to Jesus and religious instruction in subsidized day cares discriminates against religious believers, says the Catholic Civil Rights League.

The League has expressed support for Jewish and Catholic parents who are appealing to the Quebec Superior Court on grounds the ban violates the constitution by infringing on religious freedom.

“Quebec is leaning toward suppression and discrimination against believers of any religion,” said Jean Morse-Chevrier, the Quebec director for the League and chair of the Association of Catholic Parents of Quebec.

The ban is similar to Quebec’s mandatory Ethics and Religious Culture program (ERC), she said.  

“In effect, in the name of respect for diversity, the government is abolishing true diversity more and more in educational programs.”

The Canadian funding of a Mexican human rights organization was cut following a letter from the archbishop of Mexico City that directly accuses the Jesuit-founded body of supporting pro-abortion groups.

The Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace (D&P) cut the funding for Centro PRODH, whose director recently had speaking engagements cancelled in Ottawa and Cornwall, after Mexican Cardinal Norberto Carrera said the organization "does NOT represent the sentiments of the Church and has been characterized by its support and encouragement of groups and activities that are an affront to Christian values."

"With respect to the theme of defence of life, the organization has supported pro-abortion groups and promoted the purported woman's right over her body, against unborn life," said a translation of the letter obtained by The Catholic Register.

Carrera's letter was sent to the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, which two years ago cleared Centro PRODH of similar accusations.

TORONTO - Some 500 parish musicians from across Southern Ontario came together May 28 for a crash course to prepare them for the implementation of the third edition of the Roman Missal.

The musicians gathered at Toronto’s Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary parish for a day-long symposium on the impending changes.

The new missal, which will be used in English-speaking churches around the globe beginning on the first Sunday of Advent, contains changes in almost all parts of the Mass — changes especially important to musicians, according to event organizer Bill Targett.

“The musicians are on the front line,” said Targett, director of the archdiocese of Toronto’s Office of Formation for Discipleship.

New funding rules and the process of setting new directions for the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace (D&P) are running into stiff opposition in Quebec and New Brunswick.

Members of D&P in Francophone Canada used their regional assembly meeting to demand restoration of funding to Centro PRODH, the Mexican human rights organization that has drawn heat for apparently endorsing a campaign for legal access to first trimester abortions throughout Mexico.

D&P had ended its funding relationship with Centro PRODH based on doubts expressed by Mexico’s conference of Catholic bishops. In April Archbishop Terrence Prendergast and D&P cancelled an Ottawa speaking engagement with Centro PRODH executive director Fr. Luis Arriaga. Arriaga was photographed accepting an award from an organization that promotes legal access to abortion.

TORONTO - The Ontario Community Support Association wants to make home and community care a funding priority in Ontario to allow seniors and those affected by illness to live in their own homes as long as possible.

The OCSA, the voice of the province’s non-profit home and community care sector, launched its Aging With Dignity campaign in May.

“What we need to do is help people live healthily in their own homes rather than waiting until they’re sick and going into long-term care,” said Susan Thorning, CEO of the OCSA.

“(We have) a health-care system that focuses on sickness, on getting sick people well, on doctors and hospitals. We need to do a little bit of a shift and focus on prevention and wellness.”

Keeping people healthy and at home through part-time preventative care, Thorning said, is not only good for the individual but is also more cost-effective than long-term care.

OTTAWA - It’s rare for an outspoken, socially conservative Catholic to host a prime time news and opinion program on a mainstream media network, and Sun Media’s Brian Lilley is not wasting his moment.

When his 9 p.m. (ET) program Byline launched April 18 on the new Sun News channel, Sun Media’s senior parliamentary reporter waded right into one of the most politically incorrect subjects inside the Ottawa Queensway — abortion.

“I like a good debate, so I jump right in and say, ‘let’s talk about this,’ ” said Lilley in an interview in the conference room of Sun Media’s brand new newsroom and studio in Ottawa.

“It’s assumed that a lot of these issues are settled. The abortion issue is settled and we don’t need to ever discuss it. That is the prevailing view. And then it’s discussed in the dying days of every election campaign as an issue to scare people,” he said, noting none of the major political parties are pro-life.

On June 20, KAIROS will be reminding the Canadian government of its pledge to support indigenous rights in Canada.

The ecumenical group of 11 Christian churches and organizations has planned a Day of Action on Parliament Hill that day, part of its Roll with the Declaration campaign, to make sure the government doesn’t forget it endorsed the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) in November 2010.

Roll with the Declaration is a campaign run by KAIROS which will bring Canadians from coast to coast to Ottawa to support indigenous rights.

“Endorsement is but one small step — a necessary step, of course — for the Canadian government,” said Julie Graham, the KAIROS education and campaign program co-ordinator. “We don’t want it to be something written down on paper and forgotten about.”

OTTAWA - The retirement of two Supreme Court justices this summer gives Prime Minister Stephen Harper a chance to shape the court, but few expect he will appoint activist judges who will try to swing the court in a conservative direction.

Those on the front lines of court battles for religious freedom and moral issues prefer it that way. Catholic Civil Rights League president Phil Horgan, a Toronto-based lawyer, said he hopes Harper will choose justices who will interpret the existing laws and resist any temptation to make them.  

“When you are acting as an umpire on competing claims, you try to make the best decision without overstepping the bounds of the judicial role,” he said. “It’s one thing to be the referee; it’s another thing to rewrite the rules of the game.”       

Horgan wants judges that recognize the role of Parliament. For those who like an activist bench, he asks, “Are they prepared for the day when that activism doesn’t go in their favour?” He hopes the judges that will replace Justices Louise Charron and Ian Binnie are “cognizant of a healthy pluralism” in Canadian society.

OTTAWA - The funeral service for a Grade 12 student killed in a shop accident at Ottawa's Mother Teresa Catholic High School will be held June 3.

The service for 18-year-old Eric Leighton is scheduled for Ottawa's St. Patrick's Church.

Leighton died when an explosion ripped through an auto shop at Mother Teresa High School May 26. Five others were injured. Police reported the students had been cutting through metal making barbecues when residue in a 55-gallon drum exploded.

Leighton was found "without vital signs" at the scene but paramedics "initiated advance resuscitative measures" and by the time he reached hospital, he had regained a pulse. Leighton, however, died in hospital later in the day, according to police.

OTTAWA - Bishop Raymond Lahey’s sentencing hearing will take place June 24, when the judge gets to hear testimony from a forensic psychiatrist.

Lahey, 70, pleaded guilty to importing child pornography May 4 and opted to go directly to jail rather than stay out on bail until a date could be arranged for Dr. James Bradford to testify about his psychological evaluation. A charge of distribution of child pornography was dropped.

The bishop faces a minimum one-year jail term, but he could receive a sentence as high as 10 years.