Funny how carefully we choose our words. Working in the hospital, I see it all the time. If a woman is excited about the life in her womb, we call it a baby. With my own unborn child, my doctor, the ultrasound technician, a lady who greets me at the grocery store, they all use the same word: baby. Its very name implies it is human and it has worth. If it is not wanted, we call it a fetus.
It makes us feel better to talk to the post-abortive mother and ask, “How many weeks was the fetus?” rather than using the word baby. Somehow using the technical word removes us from the personhood of what it really is, but it doesn’t change anything.
TORONTO - Heresy is, as the 13 previous books written by author, columnist and TV host Michael Coren have been, nothing but the truth, about 75,000 words of it.
“It’s responding, as the last book did, to the most common and toxic attacks on Christianity, the ones you hear all the time,” said Coren before the April 24 launch of Heresy: The Ten Lies They Spread About Christianity. “I’m not talking about debating certain issues. Agree or disagree . . . people tell lies about Christianity.”
Former Thatcher adviser Lord Monckton defends reason in decision-making
By Herman Goodden, Catholic Register Special
LONDON, ONT. - It might seem perverse to think of someone so well connected and accomplished as Christopher Monckton, the third Viscount Monckton of Brenchley, as an “odd man out,” but he certainly does go his very own way.
He is a British politician and world famous puzzlist, a newspaper editor, a millionaire, a former adviser to British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, a Cambridge-educated architect, a Knight of Honour and Devotion of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, a member of the Royal Yachting Association, a lecturer and consultant who is on the payroll of no university, think tank, government or corporation. Monckton is regularly invited to address and take part in debates with university and political groups around the world (including the U.S. Congress), where he is valued and not infrequently reviled for the sturdy independence of his views.
At first it seemed only Italians could possibly care about petty office politics in the Vatican. But three months into the Vatileaks scandal, non-Italians are beginning to wonder.
The Vatican raised eyebrows when in late April Pope Benedict XVI established a three-cardinal commission to investigate a series of leaks of letters exchanged among Vatican officials and between these officials and the Pope himself.
TORONTO - Toronto’s St. Michael’s College School is revamping its Senior Division 1 hockey program with the aim of improving student grades while maintaining a competitive hockey program.
“The program we had, as it was, wasn’t working because the student athletes were asked to juggle too many commitments,” said Paul Forbes, the midtown Toronto private Catholic school’s athletic director, noting that many players were committed to the school team as well as their community team.
“The reality of it is that they don’t really have time to play for two competitive teams in this day and age.”
TORONTO - Frank Cosentino, who parlayed his start in coaching with the Catholic Youth Organization to the Canadian university ranks, will be honoured by York University for being the most successful football coach in school history.
The Toronto university will be holding a dinner to honour Cosentino on May 11.
“I’m honoured and very pleased that a group of people got together and thought I contributed something to their lives,” said Cosentino, a 10-year Canadian Football League quarterback, from his Eganville, Ont., home.
Scholarship honours Collins’ elevation to College of Cardinals
By Erin Morawetz, The Catholic Register
TORONTO - Two university level student leaders, yet to be chosen, will soon be the first of many to benefit from the elevation of the Toronto’s archbishop to the College of Cardinals.
The University of St. Michael’s College at the University of Toronto has created a scholarship fund in honour of Cardinal Thomas Collins, as well as to recognize “all the work he has already done to bring the Church and the faith closer together,” the school said in a statement.
TORONTO - Six of the province’s 21,000 principals were recognized April 27 by the Catholic Principals’ Council of Ontario for their contributions to the education community.
The 2012 Principal of the Year Award recipients are Nola Collins from the Bruce-Grey Catholic District School Board, Janet Demaiter from the Algonquin and Lakeshore Catholic District School Board, Andrea Iserhoff from the Northeastern Catholic District School Board, Romolo Villani from the York Catholic District School Board, and Odilia Pariselli and Maria Pereira from the Toronto Catholic District School Board.
Selected by their respective principal associations, winners were honoured with a gala dinner and a spherical glass trophy.
Blessed John XXIII's 'Pacem in Terris' is model for preaching, teaching, archbishop says
By Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY - As the Catholic Church increases its new evangelization efforts and works for justice and peace in the world, it would be wise to imitate the positive, prophetic approach taken by Blessed John XXIII in his encyclical "Pacem in Terris," a French archbishop said.
Archbishop Roland Minnerath of Dijon addressed the opening session April 27 of a meeting of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, which was holding the second of three planned meetings preparing to mark the 50th anniversary next year of "Pacem in Terris," the encyclical "on establishing peace in truth, justice, charity and liberty."
Challenges facing Polish Catholics mirror those of church in general
By Rick A. Richards, Catholic News Service
MICHIGAN CITY, Ind. - The issues surrounding the preservation of long-established parishes and the preservation of ethnic traditions are not all that different.
During the awards dinner of the 23rd annual Polish American Priests Association convention in Michigan City April 19, Father Czeslaw Krysa of the Diocese of Buffalo, N.Y., talked about the challenges facing Polonia in America and the impact that challenge is having on the Catholic Church and ethnic neighborhoods.
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Respecting Difference high on the agenda at Dufferin-Peel equity conference
By Evan Boudreau, The Catholic Register
BRAMPTON, ONT. - Staff from the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board came together April 21 to examine how to enhance equality, equity and inclusiveness in their school communities.
The Dufferin-Peel board’s 8th Annual (IN)Equity Conference was held at St. Marguerite d’Youville Secondary School in Brampton.
“As we look at all the changing demographics and the different population of students that come into our schools, we want to be able to be effective in how we educate,” said Les Storey, the board’s principal of equity, diversity and inclusive education.
TORONTO - If you can’t find Andrew Walker in choir practice, leadership meetings or studying to maintain his honour role status, try checking the Toronto Argonaut schedule — chances are, if there’s a game, he’s at it.
“I’m a big Argos fan,” Walker said. “I’m a season tickets holder. My dad and I go to every game.”
TORONTO - Two Toronto Catholic District School Board students and teammates with the Senator O’Connor Blues have made their debuts with Canada’s under-17 national rugby team.
“I’m honoured to be selected. It’s a real accomplishment for me,” said Lucas Rumball, 16, who scored his first international try against Belgium while touring the United Kingdom recently with Team Canada. “It was exhilarating. I pounded it in.”
Rumball shared his international glory during the first two weeks of April with Michael Douros, 17. The students now plan to apply their international experience to the Blues for the team’s season.
MARKHAM, ONT. - A York Region school will soon have more reason to sing and dance as construction on a new arts building nears completion.
St. Michael Catholic Academy in Markham, Ont., should be ready for a September opening. St. Michael’s is the only elementary school in York Region with a special focus on the arts: instrumental music, dance, drama and visual arts. Students in Grades 4 to 8 get special instruction on these subjects every day, in addition to the regular academic classes. When students return in September, they will be returning to a building with specialized facilities. Currently they are in a typical school building, without the facilities to cater to an advanced arts program.