TORONTO - With an emphasis on transparency, clarity and compassion, revised policies and procedures regarding allegations of misconduct, released Oct. 15 by the archdiocese of Toronto, now explicitly include misconduct by lay employees and volunteers.

According to the much-anticipated document — “Policy and Procedure for Cases of Alleged Misconduct” — all employees and volunteers of the archdiocese are subject to the same strict policies that govern clergy and religious. The revised regulations also reiterate the archdiocese’s zero-tolerance policy for abuse, unequivocally define what constitutes abuse and underscore that the policy extends to all vulnerable persons, including minors or “persons of any age” afflicted with physical, mental, emotional or spiritual handicaps.

The Catholic Register is pleased to welcome Fr. Raymond de Souza to our stable of talented columnists.

Fr. de Souza, whose debut column appears on Page 19 of this issue, has established his credentials as an accomplished journalist while writing for several publications over the past decade. He is a regular contributor to The National Post and a past Rome correspondent for the U.S.-based National Catholic Register.

TORONTO - Toronto’s new rules for what to do when a priest or Church employee is accused of sexual misconduct will be revealed in early October.

Over the summer a panel of experts, working with the archdiocese’s judicial vicar Fr. Brian Clough, reviewed and revised Toronto’s Church law governing sex abuse cases, bringing it in line with the latest directives from the Vatican.

TORONTO - The very last day in the life of the old Nathan Phillips Square Peace Garden will commemorate the 65th anniversary of the first use of an atomic weapon on a civilian population.

Liberal foreign affairs critic Bob Rae, Hiroshima atom bomb survivors Setsuko Thurlow and Joe Ohori, Juno Award nominee Tom Barlow, the Yakudo Drummers and other community groups will be featured Aug. 6 at the 65th anniversary of the 1945 bombing of Hiroshima and, three days later, Nagasaki. Aug. 7 the city will begin decommissioning the old Peace Garden.

TORONTO - Forty communities of Catholic nuns were among 21 “Affordable Housing Champions” honoured by the City of Toronto June 3.

The sisters were singled out for their WRP Neighbourhood Housing project, which created 38 units of subsidized housing in southeast Scarborough.

The project began as a millennium jubilee project in 1999.

The faith leaders meeting to discuss the G8 and G20 agendas are absolutely not going to bomb any banks and have rejected violent protest, said the Canadian Council of Churches in a news release.

On May 18 activists bombed a Royal Bank of Canada branch in Ottawa causing $500,000 damage. A group calling itself FFFC-Ottawa claimed responsibility.

“In light of the recent acts of violence in Ottawa and Toronto by those protesting the upcoming visit of the G8/G20 to Canada, the Canadian Council of Churches, a member of the 2010 InterFaith Partnership, reiterates its belief in the importance of dialogue and conversation and rejects violence as a medium of protest,” said the release sign by CCC general secretary and 2010 InterFaith Partnership chair Rev. Dr. Karen Hamilton.

The following clergy appointments have been announced for the Archdiocese of Toronto, effective June 30 - July 1, 2010.

TORONTO - In the wake of the abuse scandal rocking the worldwide Church, Toronto Archbishop Thomas Collins will convene a committee of experts to examine and update the archdiocese’s  protocols for dealing with priestly misconduct.

Collins made the announcement in a pastoral letter read at Masses in parishes throughout the archdiocese the weekend of April 17-18.

TORONTO - Toronto’s new archbishop will have something to say about what Canadian mining companies are doing to the environment and to local populations around the world in the kickoff for St. Dominic Roman Catholic Church’s lecture series, “Stewardship of the Earth, Calling the Mining Industry to Account.”

TORONTO - Normally, Lillian Gomez of Toronto would not attend Mass on a Thursday but she did on Dec. 28. What compelled her to attend Mass that cold Thursday was the theme of the service.