News/Canada

{mosimage}TORONTO - His diocese is bigger than France and it has more moose and caribou than people. Yet Whitehorse Bishop Gary Gordon will drive his pickup truck thousands of kilometres to visit more than 20 parishes and mission churches that dot northern British Columbia and the Yukon with enthusiasm.

He says the faithful congregations, some as small as four people, are worth the effort, but without question need the financial help given to them every year by Catholic Missions In Canada .

{mosimage}TORONTO - The ecumenical social justice agency KAIROS is dumping five of its 27 employees and trimming its programs to focus on two areas of work.

Staff cuts were triggered by falling revenues from foundations and churches hit hard by last fall’s stock market collapse, said KAIROS executive director Mary Corkery. But even without the dip in investment income KAIROS would have had to eventually trim its expenses, she said.

“It’s a long-term problem. It’s a structural problem,” Corkery said.

{mosimage}OTTAWA - The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops has joined the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada to intervene in a Supreme Court challenge of the Assisted Human Reproduction Act.

The challenge was launched by the Attorney General of Quebec and is supported by the provinces of New Brunswick, Saskatchewan and Alberta. The challenge was heard at the court April 24.

The legislation was enacted in 2004.

{mosimage}TORONTO - When St. Paul spoke in the Areopagus, he proclaimed to the Athenians that the “unknown God” they honoured with an altar was in fact the Lord Jesus Christ.

It is this biblical passage that the archbishop of Toronto will present to the public in a prayerful meditation at the heart of the city — beside the bustling Eaton Centre in Dundas Square at Yonge and Dundas Streets May 17. The event caps off the church's year-long celebration of St. Paul.

{mosimage}A Canadian ecumenical agency working with subsistence farmers who face drought and starvation in rural Tanzania is enjoying record-breaking support, despite the recession.

The Canadian Foodgrains Bank raised $12.4 million in cash and crops in 2008-2009, $4 million more than its previous record.

“It was quite a remarkable year,” said Foodgrains executive director Jim Cornelius.

{mosimage}MEXICO CITY - The executive director of the Canadian Catholic bishops' aid organization has expressed confidence in the groups that receive agency funds in Mexico, even though five of those partners have been accused of promoting policies that violate church teaching.

Michael Casey, executive director of the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace, said he was "not dismayed" after an initial April 16 meeting in Mexico City with the five groups that allegedly have supported the liberalization of abortion laws. But Casey also stressed that the investigation by a committee of inquiry from the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops was far from being completed and that committee members were taking the allegations against their partner agencies seriously.

{mosimage}The Catholic Women’s League of Canada, along with 1,300 parishes nationwide, will be celebrating its first Day of Peace and Hope on April 26.

The day of reflection and action is expected to draw about 98,000 participants.

“We are a longstanding organization, and we want to show people that we are contemporary in our work for peace,” said Betty Anne Brown, CWL chair of communications.

{mosimage}OTTAWA - When Canada’s aboriginal leaders meet with the Pope April 29 they hope to turn the page on the tragic legacy of Indian residential schools.

“This meeting has the potential to be a historic and momentous occasion for First Nations, survivors, Canadian Catholics and indeed all Canadians,” said Assembly of First Nations National Chief Phil Fontaine at an April 15 news conference. “I am both honoured and excited to have this opportunity to meet with the Pope to discuss this important matter and to move forward to work towards real reconciliation.”

{mosimage}Canadian bishops are winging it to Mexico to speak with Mexican bishops and local non-governmental organizations, trying to get to the bottom of accusations the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace has funded groups lobbying the Mexican government for legal abortion.

Bishop Martin Currie of St. John’s, Nfld., and Bishop Francois Lapierre of Sainte-Hyacinth, Que., were scheduled to fly to Mexico on April 16 accompanied by staff from Development and Peace, CCCB general secretary Msgr. Mario Paquette and the outside eyes of Msgr. Carlos Quintana from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ secretariat for the church in Latin America. They planned to meet with representatives of five human rights organizations that LifeSiteNews.com alleges are promoting legalized abortion in Mexico.

{mosimage}He is constantly on the move, climbing the steep mountain slopes, crossing meandering rivers and trekking the forest for hours and at times days to be with the indigenous people whom he calls his “family by adoption.”

“This is my life and missionary condition and this brings me to meet with all sorts of people, hear all kinds of stories and be mixed up in a variety of situations,” says Fr. Pierre Samson, describing his reality living with members of the Manobos, the B’laan and the Tagakaolos tribes that eke out an existence in isolated settlements at the edge of jungles in the southern Philippines.