Our Lady of Sorrows lunchtime series highlights organ’s beauty
By Vanessa Santilli-Raimondo, The Catholic RegisterTORONTO - Mozart called the organ the “king of instruments” for good reason, said Gordon Mansell, music director at Our Lady of Sorrows parish in Toronto. Beginning Dec. 7, Mansell intends on showcasing the instrument’s beauty through a free lunchtime concert series running every Wednesday at the west-end parish.
“What happens in most parishes is that the organ is not used to its fullest potential so the people do not really have a good perspective on the instrument,” said Mansell. “So when they hear organ music played professionally… their every sense is engaged. It is quite an experience unlike any other.”
Ukraine's Catholic university victim of old Soviet ways
By Sheila Dabu Nonato, The Catholic RegisterTORONTO - Canadians' support for the only Catholic university in the former Soviet Union — which was recently backed up by a $1.2 million donation from businessman James Temerty — sends a strong message that promotes democracy and religious freedom in Ukraine, said Fr. Borys Gudziak.
“After the Orange Revolution hit, we had very high hopes for fully democratic prospects of an independent Ukraine,” the rector at Ukrainian Catholic University told The Catholic Register while in Toronto as part of a six-week tour of Canada, the United States and some European countries.
“We have (since) turned towards authoritarianism and some politically motivated trials.”
Deacon's street ministry brings hope to prostitutes and dealers on Toronto's streets [w/ video]
By Sheila Dabu Nonato, The Catholic Register
TORONTO - It’s a cool autumn night, and Robert Kinghorn begins his downtown ministry as night falls on Jarvis Street in downtown Toronto. Amid the hustle and bustle of night life near a local hamburger joint, Kinghorn stands out sporting a white Roman collar.
But here on these streets, Kinghorn, the 26-year deacon with a background in prison ministry, seems at ease.
Toronto’s unofficial red light district isn’t where you’d expect to find hope and a prayer. But here on “the track,” the notorious downtown area with a well-earned reputation for crime and prostitution, is where Kinghorn has been ministering to people once a week for the past six years.
Kinghorn lends a sympathetic ear and offers prayers for the women and men on the track who seek his counsel, the prostitutes and drug dealers, many of whom are wrestling with broken childhoods and drug addictions.
TORONTO - Fear has silenced the voice of Pakistani Christians since the political murder of Shahbaz Bhatti last spring, said the retired archbishop of Lahore.
“People are very sad, very bitter. They said, ‘If that happens to him what happens to us?’ ” Archbishop Lawrence Saldanha said.
Bhatti’s killers remain at large. The convicted murderer of former Punjab Province governor Salman Taseer was greeted in court with rose petals and garlands. In an atmosphere of impunity for anyone who kills a Christian, educated Pakistani Christians are getting out of the country. Those who remain are keeping their heads down and their mouths shut, said Saldanha.
John Michael Talbot brings music ministry for the new evangelization
By Sheila Dabu Nonato, The Catholic RegisterTORONTO - He’s a Third Order Franciscan friar with an iPhone.
And through his music ministry, top-selling Catholic musician John Michael Talbot embraces new ways of evangelization while keeping his ministry grounded in the roots of prayer and Catholic tradition.
One of the ways Talbot is part of the “new evangelization” is through his latest album Worship and Bow Down. Seventeen tracks include choral background harmonies and the songs for the new “Mass of Rebirth” which he composed in contemporary chant style for the new Roman Missal. (Talbot is one of several musicians around the world who have been commissioned to compose new settings for the new Missal which will be launched at Masses the first week of Advent.)
Study finds more optimism, less depression among weekly churchgoers
By Nancy Frazier O'Brien, Catholic News ServiceWASHINGTON - Past studies have shown that those who attend religious services at least weekly tend to live longer and healthier lives. Now, new research indicates that frequent churchgoers also face those additional years with more optimism and greater social support than other people.
A study involving more than 92,000 postmenopausal women showed that those who reported weekly attendance at religious services were 56 percent more likely to be above the median in terms of their optimism level. They also were significantly less likely to be depressed or to be characterized by cynical hostility.
TORONTO - Nadir Shirazi calls religion "the black sheep of the diversity family."
Getting corporate Canada to sit down and talk about accommodating religion at work is a tough sell compared to other diversity-in-employment seminars, said Skills For Change executive director Cheryl May.
"It's more of an edgy topic," she said.
Love of drawing unites Register Christmas contest winners [w/ slideshow]
By Vanessa Santilli-Raimondo, The Catholic Register
Jade Cruz entered The Catholic Register’s Christmas drawing contest to show that we celebrate Christmas because it’s Jesus’ birthday.
Her drawing was one of more than 700 entries to the inaugural contest.
Cruz, 11, is one of the three contest winners depicting the Nativity of Jesus at the first Christmas of Bethlehem. The Holy Spirit Catholic School of Scarborough student took the top spot for the Grades 4 to 6 category.
“We should be thankful for Him because He always protects us and blesses us,” she said.
“We should also learn who His parents are and why He is the right hand of our Lord.”
Canada's new Roman Missal aims at improved liturgy
By Vanessa Santilli-Raimondo, The Catholic RegisterWhen Catholics begin using the new Roman Missal on the first Sunday of Advent, they will find an “awesomeness” to the new translation that maybe wasn’t as present in the previous incarnation, said Ottawa Archbishop Terrence Prendergast.
The Roman Missal’s new translation will mark the shift from using current principles of “dynamic equivalence” to “formal equivalence” on the first Sunday of Advent. Its aim is an improvement of the liturgy, said the Ottawa archbishop.
“It’s a historic moment in the life of the Church and the English-speaking world,” said Prendergast.
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The new, more literal translation of the original Latin text will give particular attention to maintaining biblical references and avoid simplifying the words and phrases into contemporary terms. The current translation, in effect for almost half a century, was primarily concerned with how the translated text would be understood by the community for which it was being translated and was often simplified to reflect contemporary English usage.
The arrival of a newborn baby usually brings cheers, not a doomsday prediction for the world.
But that’s how Philippine-born Danica May Camacho, symbolically called the world’s seven billionth baby, was introduced by international media on Oct. 31. Her birth was used in news stories to indicate the UN’s concerns about global overpopulation.
Overpopulation theorists charge that there are not enough resources to feed and care for seven billion people. They advocate for “population control” like contraception and abortion especially for Third World countries.
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Niagara board, King’s sign partnership to enhance faith learning
By Sheila Dabu Nonato, The Catholic RegisterThe Niagara Catholic District School Board and King’s University College at the University of Western Ontario have signed a partnership agreement to promote the life-long process of Catholic education.
The partnership reflects the Niagara Catholic board’s focus on “building a strong Catholic identity and community to nurture the distinctiveness of Catholic education,” said John Crocco, the NCDSB’s director of education.
Crocco said the agreement will provide faith formation for the adult faith community at King’s College and the Niagara Catholic board, including individuals at the diocesan level.
Latin America's indigenous demand voice in use of their lands
By Barbara J. Fraser, Catholic News ServiceLIMA, Peru - Most of the environmental battles Brother Paul McAuley fights seem endless, mainly conflicts between indigenous communities and loggers operating on their lands or oil companies that have spilled toxic substances into their waterways.
Sometimes, however, there's a victory. In mid-October, the Peruvian government overturned a law that would have allowed water from one of the main tributaries of the Amazon River to be diverted to irrigate export agriculture operations on Peru's desert coast, a measure critics called a political-patronage boondoggle.
EDMONTON - Caring for the remains of those who have died is a serious business.
Today, however, not everyone sees things that way.
The current trend to cremation, for example, often means that the remains of a person do not always end up in a cemetery. Some people choose to scatter the ashes of their loved ones.
TORONTO - The future of getting buried is all about choice, but the more choices you have to make the greater the need for planning.
“Pre-planning your estate and final burial options is important,” said Amy Profenna of Catholic Cemeteries, Archdiocese of Toronto.
“You’re taking a lot of important decisions out of an emotionally stressful time (for your family).”
The majority of Catholic Cemeteries funerals are still caskets buried in the ground. This may sound straight-forward, but there are still choices to be made, said Profenna.