News/Toronto-GTA
It’s back to the future for new Toronto chancellor
By Quinton Amundson, The Catholic RegisterAs John Mulhall officially began his tenure as the Archdiocese of Toronto’s Chancellor for Temporal Affairs Oct. 31, his main task was looking to the past.
Treating Alzheimer’s as a matter of degree
By Michael Swan, The Catholic RegisterGetting a university degree at age 84 is a bit unusual. Preparing to start a Master’s program at 85 is a rarity. Doing all this while diagnosed with Alzheimer’s is stunning.
Classes to resume Tuesday
By Catholic Register StaffAs the Government of Ontario and striking support workers agreed to head back to the bargaining table, school boards across Ontario will begin welcoming students back to class Tuesday morning.
Guelph co-op garden grows community
By Wendy-Ann Clarke, The Catholic RegisterSince Sabina Strahija started working in the West Willow Village Co-op community garden at St. Peter Catholic School in Guelph, Ont., her eight-year-old son Sebastian has been by her side.
Advocates continue fight for police-free schools
By Wendy-Ann Clarke, The Catholic RegisterAdvocates for police-free schools were disheartened in June after a motion put forth by York Catholic District School Board (YCDSB) trustee Dino Giuliani called for retired officers to visit schools to talk to students about themes like bullying and making good choices.
St. Michael’s College School reeling in wake of six arrests
By Catholic Register StaffAn iconic Canadian Catholic high school is reeling following the arrest of six students who are charged with assault and sexual assault following an alleged incident in a locker-room that was posted on social media.
Youth celebrate religious diversity with their faith stories
By Catholic Register StaffMonica Marcelli-Chu had to go halfway around the world to figure out her life path, and it led her right back home.
Women building a solid faith foundation
By Meggie Hoegler, The Catholic Register
Pope names auxiliary Chaldean bishop in San Diego to head Toronto eparchy
By Catholic News ServiceBishop Soro, 63, has been an auxiliary bishop of the San Diego-based eparchy since the pope named him to the post in January 2014. He was ordained as a bishop in 1984, two years after his ordination to the priesthood.
The appointment was announced Oct. 31 in Washington by Archbishop Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States.
The bishop, a native of Iraq who came to the United States as a refugee in 1976, has spoken about the plight of displaced Iraqi Christians for years.
This past summer, at a news conference in Washington, he said the current situation for Christians in the Middle East remains fragile, as they suffer at the hands of radical Islamic groups.
"It is very unfortunate that Iraq as a country still lacks the certain constitutional amendments that guarantee liberty and equality to all Iraqis," he said. "It remains our dream that the Christians will not be second-class citizens in their own native homeland, Iraq. But instead, they will hopefully soon have equal social, economic, political, lives and statuses just as all Iraqis have."
In an interview with Catholic News Service in 1992, he lamented the plight of more than 50,00 Iraqi Christian refugees who fled their country along with hundreds of thousands of Kurds to escape the destruction unleashed by the Gulf War and Iraqi military operations against Kurdish rebels that followed.
"The future is unknown for these people," he said. "Mainly, they sit down and wait; they don't know what to do with their lives."
And in a 2004 interview, he told CNS that Christians and ethnic minorities have always played a "significant and civilized role" in the progress of Iraq, and sees the unification of Christians as even more crucial today. But he noted that the number of Christians in Iraq is dwindling.
