A Canadian Jesuit gunned down in 2001 standing by his rectory door in Jamaica will have his name attached to an AIDS clinic in Burundi.

“The decision to name this clinic after Martin Royackers has been motivated by two things,” said SYM director Jesuit Father Desire Yamuremye in an e-mail to The Catholic Register. “The principal one is that the centre is at the service of the poor living with HIV and AIDS. I think Martin Royackers was murdered while he was at the service of poor people. The second reason is that part of the funds came from the Canadian Jesuit province.”

TORONTO - Catholic parishes in the downtown core plan to keep their doors open during the upcoming G20 summit in Toronto on June 26 and 27.

“We do not anticipate having to cancel any spiritual services," said John McGrath, the archdiocese's chancellor of temporal affairs, in a June 1 letter to all Toronto parishes. "It is important for those parishes in areas impacted by the summit to communicate effectively with parishioners that may be inconvenienced ie. weddings, funerals, etc. held on the weekend of the summit. Reminding all involved to leave ample time for travel, anticipate delays, etc. is an important part of our ongoing communication.”

TORONTO - Sr. Mary Emmanuel Escobedo and Sr. Danielle Paz carefully measure some polyester fabric for a priest’s cope and humeral veil, worn for the exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, in their brightly lit work room on a sunny end-of-May day.

A big order, 16 deacon vestments, has just been completed, but the Sisters’ work continues. On this day, they, along with Sr. Mary Immaculate Fournier, are back to work cutting, measuring and sewing priestly garments.

They are three of nine members of the Sister Disciples of the Divine Master in Toronto whose apostolate is to serve priests. In Canada, the congregation also works out of Montreal, with about 15 members. The Sisters have houses in 31 countries around the world and their ministry involves service to the Eucharist, the priesthood and the liturgy.

TORONTO - After nearly three years of getting to know Toronto, the Sisters of Life will celebrate their newly opened Sisters of Life Centre with a special Mass and social gathering on June 12.

Visitors to the celebration will get to tour the new centre, formerly the rectory of St. Catherine of Siena parish. Renovations began last fall and the centre contains two parlours on the first floor for meeting with visitors, a kitchen and dining room, and on the second floor a chapel and six offices equipped with phones and computers for the Sisters to connect pregnant women in need with volunteers and important services.

In the criminal justice system there are more grey areas than black and white, particularly when it comes to 20- and 30-year-old sex crimes.

When an adult tells church officials that as a child he or she was abused in the church, the internal process these days is pretty clear. But what about the police?

When Fr. George Smith was accused this May of inappropriately touching a young person while working in Deer Lake, Nfld., between 1986 and 1991 he was immediately suspended from his duties as a parish priest in Prince Edward Island. An internal investigation was launched in the diocese of Corner Brook and Labrador. Police, however, were left out of the picture.

TORONTO - Increased use of birth control and improved sex education in schools may be keys to a 10-year decline in Canada’s teen birth and abortion rate, according to a new study by the Sex Information and Education Council of Canada.

Canada’s teen birth and abortion rate fell by 36.9 per cent from 1996 to 2006, said the study published in the Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality. The study used Statistics Canada figures. The United States saw a drop of 25 per cent compared to 4.75 for England and Wales and a 19.1-per-cent jump for Sweden, according to the study.

OTTAWA - Recent attacks by federal politicians on Opus Dei have raised concerns about efforts to drive Christians out of public life.

A number of Opposition politicians accused Opus Dei of being “fundamentalist,” right wing and “creepy” and having an undue influence on the Tory government, attacks that began after Msgr. Fred Dolan, Vicar for Opus Dei in Canada, spoke at a May 26 luncheon at the Parliamentary restaurant for MPs, Senators and Parliament Hill staff.

OTTAWA - Toronto Archbishop Thomas Collins and Ottawa's Archbishop Terrence Prendergast, S.J., are among nine church leaders who will join an apostolic visit to Ireland to help the Irish Church reeling from a sexual abuse crisis.

“It’s a common practice when there is a problem or a struggle or a difficulty of any kind for the Holy See to have a visitation,” said Collins.

 

TORONTO - Deacon Rudy Ovcjak says being in a hospital room and sharing the hope and love of God to patients, like a woman whose faith was shaken while battling an illness, has provided an excellent training ground for his new ministry.

Ovcjak, 47, was ordained with 15 other men as a deacon for the archdiocese of Toronto on May 29 at St. Michael’s Cathedral. More than 500 people were in attendance at the packed cathedral to witness the ordination by Toronto Auxiliary Bishop Vincent Nguyen, the archdiocese's Vicar of Deacons.

An allegation of abuse in Newfoundland has triggered the immediate suspension of a priest in Prince Edward Island.

P.E.I. Bishop Richard Grecco suspended Fr. George Smith from pastoral duties at St. Malachy’s Church in Kinkora, P.E.I. within 24 hours of learning of the allegation against Smith in the diocese of Corner Brook and Labrador.