{mosimage}TORONTO - Catholic Family Services of Durham will soon launch a counselling centre to ease the pain that the economic downturn is having on families.

Mary Wells, executive director of Catholic Family Services of Durham, says that with job losses and the auto sector in decline in Oshawa, Ont., its new $90,000 centre which launches in March comes at a critical time.

{mosimage}TORONTO - It’s going to be a marathon of biblical proportions.

This Lent, 365 parishioners of Toronto’s Epiphany of Our Lord Church are planning a three-day, cover-to-cover reading of the Bible, starting March 20.

The event, titled “From Genesis to Revelation: Bible Proclamation,” will start with an English reading of Genesis by pastor Fr. George Parayil, C.F.I.C. It is scheduled to close with a reading of the Book of Revelation in Italian on March 23 at 9 p.m. by Fr. Domenico Rettura, C.F.I.C.

{mosimage}TORONTO - They decorated his favourite jeep with white flowers, wore buttons emblazoned with his military photo and filled the church with Lebanese and Canadian flags to welcome home the latest fallen Canadian soldier, 22-year-old Marc Diab.

It wasn’t the homecoming that parishioners at Toronto’s Our Lady of Lebanon Maronite Catholic Church had hoped for.

Friends and family were counting down the days when they would see Diab return to Canada. But on March 8 he was killed by a roadside bomb north of Kandahar, Afghanistan, a month before his expected return. Diab was the 112th soldier killed since Canada’s mission in Afghanistan began in 2002.

{mosimage}TORONTO - Bringing ethics and morals back into business is what’s needed during this time of economic turmoil, say some religious experts.

“Greed came before the fall,” Fr. Bill Ryan, S.J., told a crowd of about 40 people at the  “Global Economic Meltdown: A Secular and Religious Response” conference at the University of Toronto’s Multi-faith Centre March 19. It was sponsored by the university’s Amhadiyya Muslim Students Association and drew a mix of students and business professionals.

{mosimage}TORONTO - The archdiocese of Toronto is launching a new, multi-media outreach campaign for lapsed Catholics.

The public awareness campaign, launched this month, includes radio ads, a web site and an online video message from Toronto Archbishop Thomas Collins.

On the web site www.wearecatholic.ca , Collins talks about the work of Catholics in the city, including teaching at 500 schools and caring for the sick.

TORONTO - Looking for a free guided tour of historic churches in downtown Toronto? Just look for Eric Parker and Bill MacDonald and their blue umbrellas.

Both are volunteers with the Royal Ontario Museum who lead guided walks as part of the museum’s community outreach.

{mosimage}TORONTO, Ont. - Over seven decades in the priesthood, Fr. Angelo Pucci has been a fine example of the priesthood to many.

In fact, his friends at Oakville’s St. James Barnabite parish say the 93-year-old former science and chemistry teacher has inspired at least seven former altar boys from the parish to enter the priesthood.

As Pucci approaches his 70th anniversary as a Barnabite priest, associate pastor Fr. Louis Lenssen, CRSP, said he admires Pucci’s example.

{mosimage}TORONTO - Fifteen years after the genocide in Rwanda, 24-year-old survivor Patricie Mukundiyukuri has come to Canada to bring a message of hope and forgiveness.

“What happened to Rwanda can be an example to people who are going through problems,” she said through an interpreter from Cornwall, Ont.

“Things which have happened in the past are over. We need to sit down, talk, forgive one another and be able to talk about peace.”

{mosimage}TORONTO - For former sports journalist Bill Steinburg, the road to the world’s oldest marathon has been paved with grit, discipline and prayers during months of running along Barrie, Ont.’s snow-covered trails.

The Barrie resident qualified for the 113th annual Boston Marathon when he was timed in three hours and 15 minutes in the competition last April.

During his weekly training, which can add up to 110 kilometres or eight hours, Steinburg said he finds some time to pray. The act of running itself, he said, can be a form of prayer.

{mosimage}TORONTO - Instead of putting her faith in the markets, newly baptized Catholic Julia Oung says she’s rediscovered her faith in God.

Losing all of her life savings last year led to a dark period in Oung’s life. The Toronto accountant didn’t anticipate the economic downturn that would wipe out her pension. 

But amid her worries and tears, Oung says she was drawn to the Catholic Church.