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Researcher's advice to pastors: Spend more time on church suppers

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Research by Putnam and Chaeyoon Lim, assistant professor of sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, shows that the more church friends a person has, the happier he or she is.

WASHINGTON - Harvard public policy professor Robert D. Putnam has a tongue-in-cheek suggestion for pastors: "Spend less time on the sermons, and more time arranging the church suppers."

That's because research by Putnam and Chaeyoon Lim, assistant professor of sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, shows that the more church friends a person has, the happier he or she is.

"Church friends are super-charged friends, but we have no idea why," Putnam told a Feb. 16 summit on religion, well-being and health at Gallup world headquarters in Washington. "We have some hypotheses, but we don't know for sure."

Opening student minds to Canada's aboriginal experience [w/ slideshow]

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Catholic students in Toronto now read First Nations’ literature and learn about Canada's original culture.

TORONTO - In his Grade 9 art class at Fr. John Redmond Catholic Secondary School in west end Toronto, Roman Makuch is drawing beavers, turtles and geese, trying to see through aboriginal eyes and express himself with First Nations’ symbols. The semester dedicated to studying aboriginal art is not easy, Makuch tells a visitor. But he believes it’s valuable.

“We’re all Canadian,” he said. “We’re all proud of being Canadian and part of our past is aboriginal.”

Grade 12 student Radiyah Chowthury spent last year reading aboriginal authors in her Grade 11 University Enriched Natives Studies English class at Blessed Mother Teresa Catholic Secondary School in Toronto’s Malvern community. She can’t imagine not studying aboriginal authors. As an immigrant kid, she’s unwilling to settle for a history of Canada that begins and ends with European sailors bumping into a big, cold land mass on their way to India.

Fatima students witness to Christ in aiding Attawapiskat brethren

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Our Lady of Fatima students with the supplies they gathered for JR Nakogee School in Attawapiskat.

TORONTO - There is the poverty, the high cost of food, lack of clean water and acceptable housing, the lack of concern for the people’s wellbeing, the high rate of disease and of course the whole situation around the school. Nobody has the silver bullet that will fix education in Attiwapiskat in northern Ontario.

But that doesn’t mean we do nothing. Mother Teresa most often gets credit for telling us that we’re not called to be successful. We’re called to be faithful.

As a Toronto Catholic District School Board teacher, I’ve been working with Attawapiskat for 10 years. It started when I was a literacy resource teacher heading up our early reading intervention program. The principal of Attiwapiskat’s JR Nakogee School contacted me. The challenge at his school was and still is raising the literacy skills.

Finding Jesus in the swing

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Alisha Ruiss with partner Max Pitruzella at the Canadian Swing Championships.

MONTREAL - Alisha Ruiss knows very well that the performing arts community needs Jesus.

But while Catholics need to realize that God is calling out for people to evangelize the arts community, Ruiss believes He is also calling just as loudly for Christians to discover His presence in the arts.

Headed to the Summer Olympics? Check out London's Catholic history

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A main focal point of Westminster Cathedral in London is the crucifix that hangs above the sanctuary. The 30-foot-tall wooden icon was constructed in Belgium from designs by John Francis Bentley, the cathedral architect.

LONDON - Visitors to the 2012 Olympic Games might be surprised to discover the extent to which London has been marked by the Catholic faith over the centuries.

Riding the trains of the London Underground they notice stations with names such as Temple, Blackfriars, Charing Cross and Covent Garden. Above ground, the traces of Catholicism are yet more noticeable: Whitefriars, Greyfriars, Ave Maria Lane and Paternoster Square all denote a rich Catholic heritage that precedes the Reformation.

Finding solitude amidst the silence on retreat

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The grounds of Villa Maria Guadalupe in Connecticut are filled with statues of Mother Mary and the Holy Family.

STAMFORD, CONN. - They say silence is golden. Well, silence is also tough. I learned just how challenging it is to be completely silent during a young women’s retreat with the Sisters of Life in Stamford over the Feb. 10-12 weekend.

Going into the retreat, I knew there were going to be periods of silence. But I didn’t quite know the full extent of it. Following our first talk of the weekend on the theme “Love Never Fails,” the sisters informed us — to my dismay — we would start our silence after compline, or night prayer. We’d break the talking fast the next day with dinner at 6 p.m. About 20 hours, with talking only allowed within the context of confession and Mass.

Those devoted to Blessed Kateri 'walking on air' about canonization

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A painting of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha by Meltem Aktas hangs in the chapel at Loyola Academy in Wilmette, Ill. Devotion to the Catholic Mohawk-Algonquin young woman has spread in North America beyond the American Indian community. She is to be canonized by Pope Benedict XVI Oct. 21.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. - Since first learning in December that Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha was to be canonized, the head of a committee named for her in the Syracuse Diocese said those who have a devotion to the saint to be "are walking on air."

"I can't tell you how excited we are," said Emily Garrow-Stewart, a Mohawk who grew up hearing Blessed Kateri's story in her home.

"She has been a part of my life since I was a child," she said. "There was always a picture of her in the house. She is such a good role model and example. In my mind, there is always such a light about her."

Lent a time of action at Marshall McLuhan

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Jesuit Father Len Altilia with students at Marshall McLuhan's Ash Wednesday school Mass. Behind them is the "Witness to Faith Cross." The cross was built by Neil McNeil High School students to tour Toronto Catholic schools during the school board's "Year of Witness."

TORONTO - Students at Marshall McLuhan Catholic Secondary School in Toronto began Lent with a purpose. The 1,000-plus students at the midtown school are raising money to combat child sexual slavery.

Jesuit Father Len Altilia told the students Lent should make us want to reach out to the helpless, particularly the women and children who suffer most from violence and sexual exploitation.

"It's not just an act of charity," said Altilia. "It is an act of faith and an act of justice."

Ontario's teachers, trustees brace for cuts after Drummond report

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The Drummond Commission On the Reform of Ontario’s Public Services was commissioned by Premier Dalton McGuinty and released Feb. 15. It recommends dozens of cuts to education funding.

TORONTO - Full-day kindergarten may be off limits to the Drummond chainsaw, but Ontario’s Catholic schools are still bracing for a lean season.

The Drummond Commission On the Reform of Ontario’s Public Services was commissioned by Premier Dalton McGuinty and released Feb. 15. In it, TD Bank chief economist Don Drummond recommends dozens of cuts to education funding. That’s never good news for Catholic schools, said Paul Whitehead, Ontario Catholic School Trustees’ Association senior policy advisor for finance. Less money means less flexibility for school boards.

London Catholic board seeking input on values, mission

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London Catholic board seeking input on values, mission

The London District Catholic School Board will be holding an input session Feb. 29 allowing community members a voice on the values, vision and mission of the Catholic education system.

“We thought the best way to see if we are on track was to go back to our various constituencies and let them tell us how they think we are doing,” said Philip Squire, chair of the London Catholic board. “The challenge will be to talk to people about expectation versus what reality is.”

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