Features

{mosimage}Christians have debated Mary almost as long as they have been devoted to Mary. A renewed effort to persuade Pope Benedict XVI to declare a fifth Marian dogma may be setting the stage for a renewed tussle over Our Lady.

{mosimage}Editor’s note: The following is an excerpt from the article, “A Peace to Keep in Afghanistan,” by Ernie Regehr, a senior policy advisor for Project Ploughshares, an ecumenical advocacy group for peace and disarmament. It is a response to the Manley Report on the future of Canada’s military involvement in Afghanistan. The entire article can be found on the organization’s web site, www.ploughshares.ca.

The final report of the Independent Panel on Canada’s Future Role in Afghanistan (Manley Panel, 2008) reinforced a prominent misperception in the current debate over the role of Canadian forces in Afghanistan, namely that “there is not yet a peace to keep in Afghanistan.” In large areas of the country, essentially the northern half, there is indeed a peace to keep. To be sure, it is a fragile peace, but if it is not protected, built upon and genuinely nurtured it will yet be lost.

{mosimage}RICHMOND HILL, Ont. - The York Catholic District School Board. has named a new school in Richmond Hill after internationally renowned Canadian Jean Vanier.

{mosimage}TORONTO - When Michael Schmidt and Vanessa Nicholas got engaged they decided they wanted to symbolize their commitment ethically — with a socially and ecologically just ring.

{mosimage}TORONTO - If Catholics thought the debate over publicly funded religious education in Ontario’s last provincial election campaign was bruising, they should have a little history lesson. They would find that today’s battles are sedate compared to those of the 19th century.

{mosimage}TORONTO - The Toronto School of Theology has extended its reach down to London, Ont., by adding the Anglican Huron College of the University of Western Ontario as an affiliate.

{mosimage}TORONTO - How much your kid’s teacher makes and whether or not home room will be held on a picket line is likely to be determined at provincial framework discussions being held now as an overture to teacher-school board collective bargaining later this year.

WATERLOO, Ont. - An educational program at St. Jerome’s University transports students beyond educational, personal and emotional borders, combining the classroom with service to others.

Beyond Borders began during the 2005/06 school year as a way of helping students put their education into practice by travelling to and working abroad. The program, which runs for three terms, comprises three academic courses, fund-raising and a home stay and work placement co-ordinated through one of Beyond Borders’ international network of partners.

TROMSO, Norway - Norway’s Catholic parish of Var Frue Kirke (The Church of Our Lady) in Tromso may well be the most northerly Catholic church and most northerly Catholic cathedral in the world. It’s located 400 kilometres inside the Arctic Circle, at a latitude of almost 70 degrees, similar to Siberia. (There’s a Catholic mission house in the Canadian hamlet of Arctic Bay, Nunavut, at a latitude of over 73 degrees, but technically it’s not a church).

{mosimage}TORONTO - Among the 33 principals chosen for this year’s Canada’s Outstanding Principals Award were four Catholics from across Ontario.