Canadian News

News and events from across the country.

There's a new app for the new Mass

July 14, 2010

Mass app [images/stories/canada/canada10/mass_app.jpg]TORONTO - The new Roman Missal is coming to an iPhone near you. The new iPhone application is called the “The New Mass: The New Translation” and was released on July 7. The application allows cellphone users who have an iPhone or iPod device to download the missal for 99-cents and then read it on their screen.

D&P apology to Campaign Life clears the air

July 12, 2010

D and P Campaign Life [images/stories/canada/canada10/dp_camplife.jpg]TORONTO - The Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace has formally apologized to Campaign Life Coalition for "inaccurate" statements in a memo that called the pro-life lobby part of "the far right fringe element of North American society," linked Campaign Life with violent activists and accused it of misrepresenting facts and distorting reality to serve their ends. Development and Peace formally retracted the statements in the memo and apologized in a June 30 letter to Campaign Life national president Jim Hughes.

Order of Canada recognizes nun's role in caring for humanity

July 9, 2010

Order of Canada [images/stories/canada/canada10/orderofcanada.jpg]Of the 74 people named to the Order of Canada on Canada Day, only one of them has spent a lifetime explaining to the world how to be human. Sr. Simone Roach was named to Canada's highest honour for contributions to nursing, particularly her role in helping to write the first code of ethics for nursing in Canada. But that's just one small outgrowth from decades of scholarly dedication to the subject of caring.

Court of appeal gives conscientious objector to Iraq war a reprieve

July 7, 2010

Jeremy Hinzman [images/stories/canada/canada10/hinzmanhs.jpg]TORONTO - The federal government can't send Jeremy Hinzman and his family back to the United States just yet. A unanimous decision of the Federal Court of Appeal has ordered Citizenship and Immigration to consider the AWOL American soldier's religious, political and moral beliefs before deciding whether the Hinzman family can stay in Canada. The Hinzmans reside in Toronto.

Collins appointed liaison for Anglicans wishing to join Catholic Church

July 5, 2010

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.”

Church leaders seek PM's commitment to eliminate nuclear weapons

July 2, 2010

Nuclear Explosion [images/stories/misc/misc09/nuclearBomb.jpg]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."

Pro-life message gets out to the street

June 30, 2010

G20 pro-life protest [images/stories/toronto/toronto10/abernethyjmagees.jpg]TORONTO - The G8 and G20 summits certainly attracted protesters. Pro-lifers Julie Abernethy and Seanna Magee weren’t going to be left out. When Abernethy noticed a group of protesters with a pro-abortion banner walking through her downtown neighbourhood, she asked, “Is anybody representing our side?”

The unique path taken by Toronto's diaconate

June 30, 2010

Michael Power [images/stories/toronto/toronto10/bookpower.jpg]TORONTO - Bringing back the permanent diaconate was a spiritual stroke of Vatican II genius, according to historian Michael Power, one that traces its history to the Nazi death camp at Dachau. Priests in Dachau — facing their deaths, resigned to their imprisonment and steeped in a near monastic routine of prayer and work — began to ask themselves what had gone wrong with the world and the Church, that saving sacrament of their world. They came to the conclusion that priests were living in isolation from the people of God and that the Church needed a way to break through.

Time of essence in Quebec group's battle against euthanasia

June 30, 2010

euthanasia [images/stories/misc/euthanasia.jpg]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.

Ouellet called to Rome to take over Congregation for Bishops

June 30, 2010

Cardinal Marc Ouellet [images/stories/canada/canada10/ouelletspeaking.jpg]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.