The Catholic bishops of Canada have made a “financial pledge” with a “target of $30 million” over five years “as a tangible expression of their commitment to walk with the Indigenous Peoples of this land.” Local parishes will be “encouraged” to take up special collections “to support healing and reconciliation initiatives for residential school survivors, their families and their communities.”

VANCOUVER -- Hopes are high for a generous response to the B.C. Bishops’ Campaign in Support of Healing and Reconciliation this month.

Fr. Ivan Nachachewsky is taking some vacation time this month, well-earned after completing a gruelling 2,000-kilometre bike ride to raise money for wheelchairs to those in need in Ukraine.

To say this is a challenging summer for Catholics and their Church in Canada is putting it mildly. But where there is challenge, there is also opportunity and it’s vitally important that it is seized.

As Catholics across Canada scramble to make up for the failed “best efforts” fundraising campaign of 2007 to 2013, they’re now answering questions about their “in-kind” contributions to the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement — a stream of compensation that Catholic residential school operators over-fulfilled by at least $5 million.

Even as ordinary Canadian Catholics and dioceses roll out plans to raise money and recommit to reconciliation, Indigenous Catholic Deacon Michael Robinson continues to feel the community anger over residential schools.

There are now a number of Catholic initiatives to raise money for residential school survivors and Indigenous communities. The Catholic bishops of Saskatchewan have launched a fundraising drive and there is a lay-led initiative to do the same. At least two dioceses which never operated residential schools — Calgary and Toronto — have announced that they will be raising funds.

Support for the 2021 ShareLife parish campaign is off to a promising start as the fundraising arm of the Archdiocese of Toronto has accumulated over $3.2 million following the first of three ShareLife Sundays.

EDMONTON -- Students at a high school in Red Deer, Alta., joined to raise awareness of mental health issues, and hoped at the same time to raise $40,000 for a foundation named after an alumnus who committed suicide.

This year Development and Peace knows what it’s up against. 

The Archdiocese of Toronto ultimately fell short of its $13.8-million target for the parish component of its annual ShareLife charitable appeal.

Elizabeth Pierce will celebrate her 25th year with Catholic Family Services of Durham in May 2021. The therapeutic work she and her colleagues do, particularly on behalf of women and children in abusive living situations, remains profoundly affecting.

The talents of Toronto-area Catholic musicians are being harnessed to celebrate the works of ShareLife agencies and their efforts to support those in need.

In an average year, the Knights Table in Brampton, Ont., serves 79,000 meals to individuals and families in need in its community.

As more parishes take the leap of faith that is the Diocese of Hamilton’s “One Heart, One Soul” Campaign, pastors play an instrumental role, of course.