TORONTO - In an effort to be facilitate local bargaining procedures, avoid potential strikes and remain responsible to younger teachers, the Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association (OECTA) signed a tentative two-year deal with the province earlier this month, a deal that has angered their public school counterparts.

"This framework will now constitute each and every collective agreement within the province. They'll go through the local bargaining process to go ahead and address that," said Kevin O'Dwyer, OECTA's provincial executive. "It tries to be pretty responsible to the younger teachers."

NEW YORK - Evangelists at a century-old missionary organization in New York spread the word of God without leaving their nondescript building in midtown Manhattan.

The people they evangelize never see the missioners, but they recognize the Light of the World in the materials they receive from the Xavier Society for the Blind.

The organization provides Catholic religious and spiritual material free of charge to more than 10,000 blind, visually impaired and physically restricted people throughout the United States.

WASHINGTON - Defending religious liberty is part of the bigger struggle to "convert our own hearts" and "live for God completely," Philadelphia Archbishop Charles J. Chaput said July 4 in Washington at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.

He delivered the homily at the Mass that brought the U.S. bishops' "fortnight for freedom" to a close.

"The political and legal effort to defend religious liberty -- as vital as it is -- belongs to a much greater struggle to master and convert our own hearts, and to live for God completely, without alibis or self-delusion," the archbishop said.

WASHINGTON - When the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops asked Catholics to dedicate 14 days to the preservation of religious freedom through prayer, education and public action, they listened.

Catholics in dioceses across the United States participated in Masses, devotions, holy hours, educational presentations and rallies during the June 21 to July 4 campaign to support the nation's "first and most cherished freedom" and draw attention to actions Catholic and other religious leaders say are weakening religious liberty, including the federal contraceptive mandate.

VATICAN CITY - The Holy See sustained its largest budget deficit of the past decade in 2011 as a result of global financial trends, the Vatican said July 5. But Vatican City State, which includes the income-generating Vatican Museums and Vatican post office, ended 2011 with a surplus of 21.8 million euros ($27 million).

The budget of the Holy See, which includes the offices of the Roman Curia and its communications outlets such as Vatican Radio, recorded a deficit of 14.9 million euros ($18.4 million) at the end of 2011. It was the largest budget deficit recorded in the past decade and reversed the 2010 surplus of 9.8 million euros ($12 million).

TORONTO - Parents as First Educators’ (PAFE) president Teresa Pierre is urging Ontario’s Catholic school trustees to pressure their boards into refusing to implement Gay-Straight Alliances (GSA) in Catholic schools.

“A legal opinion (from lawyer Geoff Cauchi) obtained by PAFE argues Catholic trustees are obliged to refuse to implement GSAs in Catholic schools,” said Pierre at a news conference held in the shadow of St. Michael’s Cathedral in downtown Toronto July 5. “Mr. Cauchi says a reasonable court should find that ‘it would be absurd to expect a Catholic board to tolerate the presence in its schools of student groups that present an anti-Catholic counter witness.’ ”

INDIANAPOLIS - Blogging offers the Catholic Church one more way to evangelize for the faith while reaching new audiences, especially young people, a panel of Catholic bloggers told a packed room during the Catholic Media Conference in Indianapolis.

The panelists, which included Bishop Christopher J. Coyne, apostolic administrator of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, a frequent user of Twitter, agreed that while not all bloggers are official church representatives, the relatively new but quickly growing form of communication has influenced how the church spreads its message.

St. Joachim’s, a small, historic parish in Châteauguay, Que., is going environmentally friendly in a big way.

The parish has joined “Green Church,” a national program developed by the Centre for Ecumenism that assists churches in adopting environmental practices, like becoming more energy and water efficient and buying local or organic.

St. Joachim is the first parish in the Valleyfield diocese to be recognized as eco-friendly, adopting the Green Church slogan, “For the love of God, let’s take care of the Earth.”

TORONTO - English Canada’s missionary orders will not go gentle into that good night without first issuing a warning.

“The missionary groups, are they the canaries of the Church? If they die out, do we cease to be Church?” asks Fr. Brian Swords, newly elected moderator of the Scarboro Missions. “If we cease to be, does that not suggest there’s something wrong?”

The majority of Scarboro priests are now past retirement age. The youngest ordained member is 53. There are two men in formation, with one just recently ordained a deacon and the other studying theology. The Scarboros also include a dozen lay missionaries.

TORONTO - While getting a tattoo may not be considered the holiest practice, it shouldn’t always be perceived as devilish.

“Religious tattoos are a sign of faith,” said Jason Gennaro, creator of religioustattoos.net. “Those who tattoo themselves with Christian symbols of faith are displaying a belief that many try to subjugate and hide.”

A father of five, devoted husband and faithful Catholic, Gennaro currently has 18 tattoos, 14 of which directly link to his faith. The other four need a little explanation to expose the religious relevance which Gennaro insists exists. “My tattoo choices are the result of prayer,” said Gennaro. “I will be struck by something I read in a book or see in a church. I take those items to prayer and let my conversations with God guide me.”