{mosimage}Sarah Robinson of Port Dover, Ont., has taken first prize in the eighth annual Friars’ Student Writing Award contest for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.

The Grade 11 student from Holy Trinity Catholic School was awarded an iPod touch for her essay that focused on the biblical passage “You are witnesses to these things.”

“For those who participated, it does send them back to the Scripture which is an important experience for the youth of today, and it’s one of the goals the archbishop has cited for Catholic education,” said Fr. Damian MacPherson, SA, director for ecumenical and interfaith affairs for the archdiocese of Toronto.”

MISSISSAUGA, Ont. -  Government-appointed overseer Norbert Hartmann announced Feb. 5 that he is seizing control of the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board.

A timeline of changes to Catholic education throughout Canada's history.

{mosimage}MISSISSAUGA, Ont. - A bruising battle over funding with the provincial government behind it, the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board is now embarking on a thorough re-examination of its Catholic mission for the first time in 15 years.

Editor's note: After a bruising provincial election campaign that revealed deep dislike among Ontario voters for any form of government-funded religious schools, Catholic education supporters have a right to be nervous. Their own system came under attack and will now be under an unfriendly microscope. In these stories, we explore some of the issues and possible solutions.

Public funding for Catholic schools varies from province to province. Some are fully funded — Ontario, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Yukon Territory and Northwest Territories — while Manitoba and British Columbia receive 50-per-cent funding.

The rest of the provinces, Quebec, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick and Nunavut, receive no funding for Catholic schools.

{mosimage}BRADFORD, Ont. - Catholic high school students in Bradford will get a little taste of Ontario’s $4-billion Good Places to Learn fund in the form of a $5.1-million renovation at Holy Trinity High School. And in another sign of the education boom outside Toronto, the Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District School Board has named its newest elementary school now under construction in Barrie’s south end.

{mosimage}TORONTO - Toronto’s Catholic school board may or may not hold an election to replace a trustee accused of passing off personal spending as board expenses then turfed for failing to show up for four meetings in a row.

Dear Readers,

{mosimage}Among Pope Benedict’s many thought-provoking speeches during his spring visit to the United States was a particularly important one on Catholic education. Though it received some coverage, the Pope’s insights into the role of Catholic schools were too often lost among the attention given to the most visual and spectacular aspects of his visit.

{mosimage}A Catholic high school in which every student has lost at least one parent to AIDS has turned the sod on a new permanent home on the edge of Africa’s second largest slum.