News/Canada

OTTAWA - Toronto's Archbishop Thomas Collins is throwing out the welcome mat for all Anglicans in Canada who wish to become Catholic.

The archbishop has been named the liaison for groups of Anglicans who might want to avail themselves of the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum coetibus (AC). The AC offers a special structure so Anglicans can join the Roman Catholic Church corporately, while retaining aspects of their identity and patrimony, such as their liturgy.

“This is not an initiative by the Catholic Church,” said Collins. “It’s a response to groups of Anglicans that have indicated an interest in doing this.”

Canada's Christian church leaders have asked Prime Minister Stephen Harper to get serious about banning nuclear weapons.

Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican and Protestant bishops and leaders sent a letter to Harper June 25 urging him to "publicly and prominently" recommit Canada "to the energetic pursuit of the early elimination of all nuclear weapons."

A grassroots organization is calling on the Quebec public to stop euthanasia and assisted suicide “from being smuggled into the public health care system under the guise of medical treatment.”

But time is running out for the Montreal-based group, Vivre dans la Dignité (Living with Dignity), to sway public opinion on euthanasia. On June 22, the group launched a campaign to help people better understand the issues as the National Assembly draws an online survey to a close July 16, part of a public consultation on euthanasia.

QUEBEC CITY - With both gratitude and fear Cardinal Marc Ouellet has accepted a prestigious appointment from Pope Benedict XVI to become the new prefect of the Congregation for Bishops and President of the Commission for Latin America.

"Gratitude because it is a mark of great confidence from the Holy Father, obviously, and I am very grateful to him. And fear because it's a difficult responsibility and it's a huge responsibility," Ouellet said during a press conference June 30.

As this year's G8 and G20 meetings in Toronto steer their attention to maternal and child health care in poor countries, Caritas Internationalis and the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace are trying to keep the leaders  focused on last year's promises to boost aid spending on food security and agriculture.

The Catholic development agencies have named "the rising food crisis" as their number one priority for the summit of the world's most powerful leaders.

WINNIPEG - Nearly 80 senior religious leaders from every region of the world gathered for the World Religions Summit in Winnipeg June 21-23 to address the “most pressing practical, ethical and strategic issues of our time.” And after many words were spoken and considered, the interfaith assembly emerged with a four-page message to the most powerful people in the world.

Winnipeg area MP Stephen Fletcher received the statement, “A Time for Inspired Leadership,” on behalf of Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, and was expected to deliver the document to leaders of the G8 and G20 nations meeting in  Toronto and Huntsville, Ont., June 25-27.

WINNIPEG - Retired general Senator Romeo Dallaire told a packed audience of religion leaders that the proliferation of child soldiers in world conflicts is a sin and a crime against humanity.

Dallaire, the retired general who led the ill-fated UN peacekeeping forces during the mid-1990s genocide in Rwanda, was addressing some 71 delegates and 130 observers at the opening session of the World Religions Summit, June 21-23 at the University of Winnipeg.

WINNIPEG - Retired general Senator Romeo Dallaire told a packed audience of religious leaders that the proliferation of child soldiers in world conflicts is a sin and a crime against humanity.

Dallaire, the retired general who led the ill-fated UN peacekeeping forces during the mid-1990s genocide in Rwanda, was addressing some 71 delegates and 130 observers at the opening session of the World Religions Summit June 21-23 at the University of Winnipeg.

The umbrella group for 90 religious and secular development aid groups has laid off all but eight of its employees, put its building up for sale and emptied its $500,000 reserve fund for severance packages as it waits for final word on a funding decision from CIDA that’s now three months overdue.

The Canadian Council for International Co-operation is assuming it won’t get the $1.7 million the federal government normally contributes to its $2.4-million budget, said executive director Gerry Barr.

Rumours that Quebec Cardinal Marc Ouellet will replace the prefect of the congregation of bishops at the Vatican are just speculation, said an archdiocesan spokesperson.

“We won’t comment on those rumours because they are rumours, especially (because of) the fact that the actual prefect has not retired yet,” said Jasmin Lemieux-Lefebvre, director of communications for the archdiocese of Quebec.