OTTAWA - As the Conservative Party celebrates its fifth anniversary in power, it is recognizing a major reason for the success: a swing in the Catholic and the ethnic vote away from the Liberals.

It’s quite a change. It wasn’t so long ago that the Liberals could count on the Catholic and ethnic vote overwhelmingly going its way. In fact, a 2005 study by André Blais of the Canadian Political Science Association found that in the preceding 40 years, Catholics in English Canada were 18 per cent more likely than non-Catholics to vote Liberal.

But that changed when Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Conservatives were elected in 2006 to a minority government, and returned two years later.

Building on an October letter from Whitehorse Bishop Gary Gordon to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, the Church Council on Justice and Corrections is trying to galvanize opposition to Conservative justice and corrections policies by showing how much it’s going to cost to jail people for longer periods.

The council, which includes the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops among 11 national churches, sent its own letter to Harper just before Christmas. It repeats Gordon’s argument against tough-on-crime legislation.

“Your policy is applying a costly prison response to people involved in the courts who are non-violent offenders, or to repeat offenders who are mentally ill and/or addicted, the majority of whom are not classified as high risk. These offenders are disproportionately poor, ill-equipped to learn, from the most disadvantaged and marginalized groups,” said the letter.

TORONTO - Taking a cue from Pope Benedict XVI about spreading the Gospel through social media, the French Catholic school board serving the Greater Toronto Area is launching a Facebook and Twitter campaign to get the message out about the merits of a French Catholic school education.

Aside from the traditional TV, newspaper and radio ads, the Conseil Scolaire de District Catholique Centre-Sud is embracing social networks like Facebook and Twitter. Each of its eight high schools has developed a Facebook page and student-directed YouTube videos informing parents and potential students about their school.

“We wanted to reach them where they are,” said Réjean Sirois, director of education for the board.

TORONTO - Modern-day slavery is the most under-publicized human rights crisis of our time, said Karlee Sapoznik, a PhD student in history at York University. So Sapoznik, along with three others with ties to York, decided to take action.

They created the non-governmental organization Alliance Against Modern Slavery which launched with a fundraising concert and anti-slavery art auction on Jan. 28 followed by an inaugural conference on Jan. 29 at Toronto’s York University.

“Our vision is to combat modern slavery by collecting resources, building programs and creating alliances among a network of local and global partners so that every person has the opportunity for sustainable freedom,” said Sapoznik.

OTTAWA - Whether it is marriage, conscience rights, parental rights to educate their children or hot-button issues like prostitution, the real battles are taking place in the courts rather than in Parliament, say those on the front lines.

Catholic Civil Rights League president Phil Horgan said that changes to social policy are no longer coming from the legislative framework where politicians persuade their fellow citizens in elections and then get the support of other legislators to pass changes into law.

When the state does enter into areas of social policy — like Quebec’s Ethics and Religious Culture course and the recent related prohibition on religious instruction, prayers or songs in day cares run by religious groups — it has become almost impossible to combat that kind of secularism in legislatures.

OTTAWA - Canada’s Catholic bishops have issued a countercultural message to young people inviting them to lead lives of chastity.

“Today, chastity is often mistakenly associated with being old-fashioned, with a fear of passion or with sexual inhibition,” said the eight-page pastoral letter to young people on chastity issued Jan. 27 by the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Episcopal Commission for Doctrine. “But in reality it is much more than simply the absence of sexual relations.

“Chastity calls for purity of mind as well as body,” the document stresses. “If we are not working to develop a pure heart or a pure mind, then our bodily actions will reflect this. If we have no control over our desires or passions, then we cannot be trusted in either the big or the small things.”

TORONTO - After two-and-a-half years of provincial supervision, the Toronto Catholic District School Board has officially regained its local powers.

“All of us share a strong commitment to publicly funded Catholic education, and we collectively have a vision for the Toronto Catholic District School Board that focuses on student achievement, fiscal responsibility and public accountability,” said board chair Ann Andrachuk in a statement after the board officially took charge of its affairs again on Jan. 28.

Students from Our Lady Seat of Wisdom Academy in Barry’s Bay, Ont., joined an estimated 400,000 American pro-lifers at the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 24.

Organized by the pro-life group at the Catholic liberal arts college, 20 students and three staff members attended the march and with the opening prayer vigil Mass held at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.

“We walked, prayed the Rosary, prayed the Divine Mercy Chaplet and sang chants,” said second-year student Kathleen Dunn, president of the school’s pro-life group. “It was really amazing to be a part of it.”

Toronto - Despite the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, more than 77,000 Canadian pilgrims and three million people worldwide visited the Holy Land last year.

That is a single-year record, according to the Israeli government, and reflects the success of recent policies to attract more visitors to the birthplace of Christianity.

Increasing tourism is an investment in improving the lives of both Israelis and Palestinians, said Haim Gutin, Israel’s Consul and Commissioner for North and South America. Speaking at a Jan. 18 press conference, Gutin said pilgrims appear to have a heightened understanding that terrorism is a “global problem,” not just an issue for the Holy Land.

“(Terrorism) happens everywhere. It happened last week in Arizona,” he said, referring to the Jan. 8 attempted assassination of American Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and the killing of six people.

“We don’t ignore political issues, but that’s for politicians,” Gutin said.

Markham, Ont. - The Knights of Columbus has more than 14,000 councils around the world but none quite like the one opened recently in a small Toronto-area parish.

The council that opened last May at Jesus Melkite Catholic Church in Markham, Ont., is, according to Grand Knight Hisham Marrow, the world’s first and only Christian Arab council in the 129-year history of the Knights. 

“Our mission is to help rebuild the churches in the Holy Land,” said Marrow, adding the council also helps the Christian Arab community and churches in Canada.

The council has 40 members, all parishioners. But Marrow hopes to extend membership to other Christian Arab parishes.

Along with collecting donations to rebuild churches in the Holy Land, the council will be raising money by selling homemade rosaries, said Marrow.