TORONTO - Education is going to the birds at Hawthorn School for Girls, with Grade 3 teacher Magdolna Hamza taking advantage of a nesting goose named Lola directly outside the window of her second floor classroom as a teaching aid.
On April 2 Hamza first noticed her new neighbours nestled in the rooftop gravel of the independent Catholic school for girls in north Toronto.
“I was doing my chores and opened the window and oh, there’s an egg,” said Hamza. “I was surprised there was no nest, just an egg.”
Irish survey: Gap between church teaching, self-identified Catholics
By Michael Kelly, Catholic News Service
DUBLIN - Three out of four Irish who identified themselves as Catholics find the church's teaching on sexuality "irrelevant," according to new research published by the Association of Catholic Priests.
The survey -- conducted by the research association Amarach -- also showed that almost 90 percent of those surveyed believe that divorced or separated Catholics in a stable second relationship ought to be able to receive Communion at Mass. Under church law, divorced and remarried Catholics who have received an annulment may receive Communion.
As a man grows older: Papal milestones prompt celebration, speculation
By Dennis Sadowski, Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI's 85th birthday, April 16, and the seventh anniversary of his election, April 19, are obviously occasions for wishing the Pope well and reflecting on the events of his reign thus far. Inevitably, however, these milestones also prompt speculation about what Vatican officials and observers refer to diplomatically as "papal transition."
Pope Benedict, after all, is already the sixth-oldest Pope since the 1400s, when records became available. It has been almost two years since he told a German interviewer, "My forces are diminishing" and that, when it comes to public appearances, "I wonder whether I can make it even from a purely physical point of view."
TORONTO - Most Canadians are richer than their parents, far richer than their grandparents, infinitely richer than their great-grandparents. But are we happier for this?
For plenty of indebted, stressed and uncertain Canadians, their country’s rising Gross Domestic Product has not translated into a more meaningful, more satisfying life, either individually or on the level of community. How many can claim to live in a more harmonious, more confident community than the generation that endured the Great Depression and two World Wars?
What we measure matters. If our politics and our headlines are driven by the weekly, monthly and annual pulse of the GDP we end up living narrow, nervous lives on a shrinking and poisoned planet, according to Dennis Patrick O’Hara, a University of St. Michael’s College theology professor.
THORNHILL, ONT. - In their FIRST Robotics Competition debut, the St. Robert’s RetroRams mechanically orchestrated a regional championship while earning the rookie all-star award at the annual competition.
FIRST Robotics hosts high school regional championships and invites winners, and select teams, to the world championships, to be held this year in St. Louis.
At the Toronto West Regional competition on the last weekend of March, 52 teams packed the Hershey Centre in Mississauga for a Rebound Rumble showdown where three-team alliances hit the hardwood.
TORONTO - Although Loretto Abbey’s 4th Annual Charity Cup Hockey Game ended in a 5-5 tie, there was a winner at the end — the girls in Sudan who will benefit from the $4,860 raised at the event.
“We’re going to give it to the Loretto Sisters who are trying to build a school, a high school, for girls in South Sudan,” said Loretto Abbey principal Alda Bassani. “This year all our efforts for charity are going to that cause.”
About 450 tickets were purchased for the April 4 hockey game at North Toronto Arena which pitted the school team against a staff squad. At $10 apiece, ticket sales raised the bulk of the money. Additional funds came from t-shirt sales, a Chuck-the-Puck contest and the sale of raffle tickets.
Working to change Latin America's culture of violence against women
By Ezra Fieser, Catholic News Service
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic - On a Friday in mid-March, Dominican police were called to a three-story hotel that sits off a major highway in a busy neighborhood here.
Inside, they found a grisly crime scene: a woman, strangled to death, and the 37-year-old man who'd killed her hanged dead with the bed sheets.
The hard part of being a Christian isn’t staying on the right side of canon law or the 10 commandments or the catechism. It’s living a resurrected life — obeying the law of life.
It’s easy to forget what St. Paul tells us about living in Christ. Easy to forget because it can seem impossible to figure out what he means. He tells us, “The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death” (Romans 8:2).
What is “the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus?” In what sense is it a law? We all die and we all sin, so how have we been set free from either one?
TORONTO - We live in a sick society and the illness can be measured by the depth and the prevalence of poverty across Ontario, faith leaders who run shelters, food banks and counselling services heard on a visit to Queen’s Park March 29.
They weren’t talking about sickness as a metaphor for moral corruption. Rabbis, imams and bishops were discussing the epidemiology of diabetes, cancer, depression, hypertension, addiction, obesity and a dozen other conditions.
“The poor and the vulnerable are always the sickest,” Dr. Phil Berger, St. Michael’s Hospital chief of family and community medicine, told Interfaith Social Assistance Reform Coalition delegates at a day-long exploration of health and poverty.
Finding strength in prayer, despite Holy Sepulchre throngs
By Judith Sudilovsky, Catholic News Service
JERUSALEM - With Easter in full swing, it can be a daunting task to find a quiet moment of contemplation at any of Jerusalem's holy sites, but it is especially so at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
Throngs of pilgrim groups and tourists with cameras pack the church, posing for photos at the spots where Jesus was crucified or laid in the tomb. Some place souvenirs on the sacred sites for a blessing.
But at the Stone of Unction, which commemorates the anointing of Jesus before burial, some faithful find the noise from other visitors fades away. The smell of rose water with which the stone is periodically bathed permeates the immediate vicinity.
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Cuts, freezes and protections for education introduced in the 2012 Ontario provincial budget are not sitting well with some of the province’s partners in education.
While the province has chosen to protect small class sizes, full-day kindergarten and almost 20,000 teaching and support staff jobs in its austerity budget presented March 27, the government is also calling for the closure of under-utilized schools and potential board amalgamations to maximize resources.
Nancy Kirby, Ontario Catholic School Trustees’ Association president, acknowledges the importance of early childhood education, but said going “ahead with full-day kindergarten on the same timeline ... is an expensive decision.”
MONTREAL - Francois Gloutnay is stamping out poverty — one stamp at a time.
Gloutnay, communications officer at the Montreal office of the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace, the official international development organization of the Catholic Church in Canada, is an avid stamp collector. He also sells them. Every year he helps organize stamp sales at Montreal-area shows to raise money for D&P.
The stamps sell for a few cents each, but it all adds up. Since 1992, when Gloutnay became involved in the fundraising effort, he has helped raise over $335,000 for D&P programs around the world.
TORONTO - Toronto’s St. Michael’s Choir School topped the list in the Fraser Institute’s Ontario high school rankings for the second consecutive year.
The semi-private Catholic school — famed for its music program — earned a 9.6 out of 10 ranking, soaring above the provincial average of six. These figures are based on the provincial Grade 9 math and Grade 10 literacy test results.
The Fraser Institute — an independent think tank that conducts peer-reviewed research into economic and public policy — released its rankings April 1. The annual school report cards offer tables showing how well schools perform in academics over a number of years.
TORONTO - It may have been lights out for an hour at 95 Toronto Catholic schools during Earth Hour on March 30, but St. Ambrose Catholic School went three steps further by encouraging students to participate in the morning announcements, bring a littlerless lunch and dress in black.
“This year we are focusing on the theme of 60-plus, going beyond just Earth Hour,” said Kathleen Sztuka, Grade 4-5 teacher and school science representative. “We see the awareness of the kids growing.”
Sztuka, a 20-year educator, organized this year’s event and wanted to do more than simply flick a switch, which she did note is the equivalent of removing 43,000 cars from the road for an hour when done collectively. Making students stand out was the thinking behind ditching the school uniform for funeral wear.