Canadian News

News and events from across the country.

Toronto Chaldeans pray for homeland

March 19, 2010

TORONTO - Toronto’s Chaldean Catholic community continues to pray for peace in the wake of further violence affecting Christians in Iraq. “We go with prayer and in this Holy Week, we ask our Lord Jesus Christ, King of Peace, to make peace in this country. All our hearts go to the (people in Iraq),” Chaldean Archbishop Hanna Zora told The Catholic Register.

Euthanasia bill pitched again in Canada

March 18, 2010

OTTAWA - Bloc Quebecois MP Francine Lalonde made yet another pitch for euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide in the House of Commons March 16 with her private member’s Bill C-384. Only about 10 MPs were in the House for the debate. It will have one hour of debate before a vote on second reading. If it passes it will be sent to committee for further study.

Archangel Michael icon donated to archdiocese of Toronto

March 18, 2010

TORONTO - A window on the Kingdom of God now hangs in the chapel at the archdiocese of Toronto’s Catholic Pastoral Centre. Icon painter Janusz Charczuk donated the painting of the archangel Michael to the archdiocese. The icon of the patron saint of the archdiocese of Toronto took three months to paint using traditional materials and techniques, including a base of 16 layers of gesso made from marble dust, and hand-mixed colours in egg tempura.

St. Mike’s to host media conference

March 18, 2010

TORONTO - The University of St. Michael’s College will host a conference March 26 on “Evangelization in the Media.” The main topic is the role of evangelization in television, movies and music. “This was not supposed to be a media conference, but an ethics conference,” said Daniel Gibson, president of Compass Catholic Fellowship , which is organizing the event.

Rolheiser calls for a 'culture of vocations'

March 16, 2010

TORONTO - Two hundred people gathered to network and talk about fostering a culture of vocations at the National Association of Vocation and Formation Directors bi-annual conference March 14-17 in Toronto. The “Let our Lives Speak” Vocations Alive Conference welcomed representatives from close to 150 religious groups and several lay groups — namely the Serran Foundation of Canada , the Catholic Women’s League , Canadian Catholic Campus Ministry and Catholic Christian Outreach . NAVFD’s focus in the past two years has been on encouraging its members to help young people discern not only the priesthood and religious life but also the married and single life.

Food a spiritual experience from planting to table

March 12, 2010

TORONTO - Food forms a relationship between people, the Earth and God and thus should be a spiritual experience from production to consumption. Fr. Jim Profit, S.J., underscored this message during an evening of Lenten reflection hosted at the Newman Centre by the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace and Faith Connections March 8.

Toronto Catholics raise $3.7 million for Haiti

March 12, 2010

TORONTO - At almost $3.7 million, Catholics in the archdiocese of Toronto collectively made one of the largest donations from a North American diocese for Haiti earthquake relief. It is the largest donation from a Canadian Catholic diocese.

Montreal exhibit details the contributions of the Irish in Quebec

March 12, 2010

MONTREAL - When I learned of a new exhibit — The Irish O’Quebec — at Montreal’s prestigious McCord Museum , I knew I had to see it. The reasons were obvious: my maiden name was O’Donnell (the Irish part of me). My great-grandfather John Patrick O’Donnell had immigrated to Quebec in the 1860s so stories like his would be represented somewhere in this exhibit. My mother’s maiden name was La Branche (the French Canadian part of me). I had the perfect dual heritage. To top it off, I learned the guest curator of this exhibit was historian Dr. Lorraine O’Donnell. The exhibit is mounted with the usual creativity found in Quebec museums. McCord Museum, originally one of Montreal’s grand old mansions now added on to and owned by McGill University, has a strong link with Montreal’s past. Any museum exhibit has to have a rationale and the one behind this one is obvious: how did two distinct cultures — the French Canadian settlers and Irish immigrants — manage to blend so seamlessly in French Quebec? This exhibit provides the answers, as we move through the 17th century onward learning of both famous and ordinary folk of this mixed culture.

Canada's Christian numbers projected to fall over next two decades

March 12, 2010

In the next 20 years Canada is expected to be less Christian, and a little less religious. According to Statistics Canada, the most dramatic change in Canada’s religious landscape will be an increase in the number of Muslims. Muslims currently make up 35 per cent of all non-Christians. By 2031 they will be half of the non-Christian population.

St. Anthony relic comes to Toronto

March 5, 2010

TORONTO - A relic of St. Anthony of Padua will be returning to Canada accompanied by three Italian Franciscan friars this month. St. Anthony, commonly referred to as the patron saint of lost articles, joined the Franciscan order in 1221 at the age of 26. He is a Doctor of the church and is typically portrayed in art with a book and the Infant Child Jesus.