Features

After almost 50 years, the Southdown Institute has downsized for the better, says chief executive officer Dorothy Heiderscheit. 

Grade 12 student Ramy Elsayed has been master of ceremonies at school events, plays saxophone in the school band and is looking forward to joining his school’s work-placement program. In many respects, he is a typical student at St. Mary’s Catholic High School in Toronto. But Elsayed, 18, has autism. 

L'Arche has been with us for 50 years. A half century ago, in a very different world, Jean Vanier started something in the French countryside that has made the whole world think about what it means to be human, what we owe to our humanity and how we care for the broken and fragile among us. Fifty years of kindness and care, hope and humanity is worth celebrating.

There’s a fork in the road on Manger Street in Bethlehem, just before you reach the separation wall and the main Israeli checkpoint. Down the road that runs parallel to the wall you find Ma’an lil-Hayat, a L’Arche project. The Arabic name means “Human Life.” 

Today’s L’Arche finds itself challenged at both ends of life. 

Despite reports in August that about half of the candidates for Ontario's school board trustee positions were running uncontested, the Ontario Catholic School Trustees' Association isn't worried about the election's integrity. 

TORONTO - The last graduate from St. Michael’s College School to become a Basilian priest is now leading the Basilian-run high school as its president. 

The start of the school year is a time of excitement and anticipation for students, and a time of some anxiety for parents as they see their children off to a new school, a new grade or a new program. These feelings apply regardless of whether the students attend elementary or secondary school, or even if they’re off to college or university. 

TRAVESIO, ITALY - It’s not every Sunday you’re escorted to Mass by a procession. Upon arriving in Travesio in northern Italy, a marching band and about a dozen people carrying banners representing various comunes (or municipalities) in the region come into view. As they lead us through the winding streets to the parish of St. Quirino for a Mass celebrated by the regional bishop, we wave back at onlookers. With a backdrop of bells ringing atop the stone tower beside the church, it’s time for the celebration to begin. 

Jesuit novices in Guelph in 1918 expected to wake early to prayers and devotions, then Mass, then breakfast. They did not expect to be woken by military police.