Features
{mosimage}TORONTO - To Dorothy Pilarski, helping catechize mothers is almost an emergency today. This is one reason why the Toronto-based mother and pioneer of a mothers’ group organized a conference titled “Dynamic Women of Faith” this month.
“Mothers are getting busier and busier, more spiritually exhausted and spiritually depleted,” Pilarski said.
The March 6 event took aim at topics Pilarski said Catholic mothers need to give peace and meaning to their lives.
“Mothers are getting busier and busier, more spiritually exhausted and spiritually depleted,” Pilarski said.
The March 6 event took aim at topics Pilarski said Catholic mothers need to give peace and meaning to their lives.
Toronto teachers get closeup view of northern experience
By Sheila Dabu Nonato, The Catholic Register
{mosimage}TORONTO - It was a “life changing” experience for Toronto teachers attending a First Nations educational conference in Moose Factory, Ont., says teacher Brenda Stewart.
Stewart was part of a delegation of 12 Toronto Catholic District School Board teachers who made presentations at the Great Moon Gathering conference on Feb. 18 and 19. Two teachers from the Toronto District School Board and three members from Me to We/Free the Children also attended.
Stewart was part of a delegation of 12 Toronto Catholic District School Board teachers who made presentations at the Great Moon Gathering conference on Feb. 18 and 19. Two teachers from the Toronto District School Board and three members from Me to We/Free the Children also attended.
Brother André a saint for today
By Carolyn Girard, The Catholic Register
{mosimage}MONTREAL - Just two days after the announcement of Brother André’s canonization, St. Joseph’s Oratory had no lack of pilgrims filing past his tomb.
One young woman, who would not reveal her name, stopped and prayed at the various stations depicting St. Joseph’s life, leading up to Brother André’s crypt.
“I come often because I’m a believer and it’s renewing,” she said.
One young woman, who would not reveal her name, stopped and prayed at the various stations depicting St. Joseph’s life, leading up to Brother André’s crypt.
“I come often because I’m a believer and it’s renewing,” she said.
Encountering God in the lab
By Fr. Robert J. Allore, Catholic Register Special
{mosimage}One of the myths of our age declares that there is a war between the traditions of science and religion. Those who promote this myth assert that the conflict between science and religion is a necessary consequence of the fundamental incompatibility of these two systems.
The stakes of this conflict are heightened by claims that only science has the power to lead the world into a future that is rational, just and sustainable. While acknowledging the concern shown by people of faith for the marginalized of the world, the warriors of science accuse the religious of being dangerously ideological and distracted by vague concepts of the afterlife where the righteous will gain release from trials of this world.
The stakes of this conflict are heightened by claims that only science has the power to lead the world into a future that is rational, just and sustainable. While acknowledging the concern shown by people of faith for the marginalized of the world, the warriors of science accuse the religious of being dangerously ideological and distracted by vague concepts of the afterlife where the righteous will gain release from trials of this world.
The ugly truth of Canada's First Nations teen suicide
By Michael Swan, The Catholic Register
{mosimage}Stretched thinner and thinner across Canada’s North, the church is losing touch with First Nations communities as First Nations communities lose touch with hope. Another wave of teen suicides in the James Bay region has left church leaders wondering how they can offer hope to young aboriginals when they have so little contact with them.
“It used to be that the churches had a real big involvement in the communities,” said Bishop Vincent Cadieux, bishop of the Moosonee and Hearst dioceses. “That’s less and less now.”
“It used to be that the churches had a real big involvement in the communities,” said Bishop Vincent Cadieux, bishop of the Moosonee and Hearst dioceses. “That’s less and less now.”
Toronto Catholic board needs to direct surplus to special ed, union says
By Sheila Dabu Nonato, The Catholic Register
{mosimage}TORONTO - With a projected $3-million surplus for next year’s budget, the Toronto Catholic District School Board should sink the money into special education, says its teachers’ union.
Anthony Bellissimo, head of the Toronto Elementary Catholic Teachers’ union, said the board needs to reverse the reassignment of 67 special education teachers it made last year.
Anthony Bellissimo, head of the Toronto Elementary Catholic Teachers’ union, said the board needs to reverse the reassignment of 67 special education teachers it made last year.
School boards reject gender studies course
By Sheila Dabu Nonato, The Catholic Register
{mosimage}TORONTO - Most larger Catholic school boards in Ontario say they’re taking the Ontario bishops’ advice and rejecting a gender studies course being proposed by the Ministry of Education.
The Toronto, Dufferin-Peel, Halton, Ottawa and Windsor Catholic District School Boards will not implement the course which could be introduced as part of the high school curriculum as early as September.
The Toronto, Dufferin-Peel, Halton, Ottawa and Windsor Catholic District School Boards will not implement the course which could be introduced as part of the high school curriculum as early as September.
Maple school deals with student deaths
By Sheila Dabu Nonato, The Catholic Register
{mosimage}MAPLE, Ont. - A wooden cross now stands at the crash site which took the lives of two St. Joan of Arc Catholic High School students earlier this month.
A busload of students from the Toronto suburb of Maple school gathered two days after the accident, led by principal Antonella Rubino, to pray for their friends, Ryan Sheridan, 17, and Niko Di Iorio, 15. The students were killed in a car crash on Feb. 1.
A busload of students from the Toronto suburb of Maple school gathered two days after the accident, led by principal Antonella Rubino, to pray for their friends, Ryan Sheridan, 17, and Niko Di Iorio, 15. The students were killed in a car crash on Feb. 1.
Catholic school trustees are called to serve
By Sheila Dabu Nonato, The Catholic Register
TORONTO - In his 25 years as a Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic school trustee, Patrick J. Daly says he’s learned these key lessons: the importance of setting a good example and understanding your role as a trustee. Daly, Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic District School Board chair since 1991, was one of several speakers at a series of workshops for potential Catholic school board trustees which began on Jan. 9 and ends Feb. 13.
Canadian school campaigns lend a hand
By Sheila Dabu Nonato, The Catholic Register
{mosimage}TORONTO - Three weeks after Haiti’s devastating earthquake, children’s rights activist Craig Kielburger says remarkable efforts are already underway towards the rebuilding of the country.
Those efforts are being bolstered by the generosity efforts of Catholic students who are raising tens of thousands of dollars in Canada,
Those efforts are being bolstered by the generosity efforts of Catholic students who are raising tens of thousands of dollars in Canada,
Ontario bishops call proposed gender course anti-Catholic
By Sheila Dabu Nonato, The Catholic Register
{mosimage}TORONTO - The Assembly of Catholic Bishops in Ontario is urging Catholic secondary schools to reject a proposed gender studies course that contravenes church teaching on sexuality.
“A reading of the overall expectations leads us to believe that, though much of the content could be taught within a Catholic context ... the fundamental thrust of this proposed optional course reflects an ideology which is at variance with Catholic anthropology and moral teaching,” the bishops said in a recent letter to Catholic school board chairs and directors of education.
“A reading of the overall expectations leads us to believe that, though much of the content could be taught within a Catholic context ... the fundamental thrust of this proposed optional course reflects an ideology which is at variance with Catholic anthropology and moral teaching,” the bishops said in a recent letter to Catholic school board chairs and directors of education.