Cardus work and economics’ director Brian Dijkema believes promises made for family supports will still be in the next budget despite the drop in government revenues due to falling oil prices.

Income splitting, child benefit likely safe bets

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OTTAWA - A drop in oil prices has played havoc with federal government financial projections and raised doubts whether the federal government can balance the budget, but observers say election promises that would benefit families are unlikely to be affected.

On Jan. 29, Covenant House Toronto executive director Bruce Rivers launched the city's first "specialized longer-term transitional housing program" for female victims of sex trade and trafficking.

Covenant House partners with city to aid sex-trade workers

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TORONTO - Covenant House is stepping up to give young women and girls caught in the grip of the sex trade a way out.

MP Joy Smith will be leaving federal politics to focus on stopping human trafficking through her eponymous foundation.

MP Joy Smith leaving politics to fight human trafficking

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OTTAWA - Canada’s parliamentary crusader against prostitution and human trafficking is leaving federal politics.

Conservative MP Joy Smith said she will not run in the next federal election so she can devote her time to fighting human trafficking in Canada.

Senator Don Meredith tells faith leaders in Toronto Jan. 26 that they have to reach out and welcome young people before violent gangs do.

Churches must welcome youth before gangs do, says Canadian senator

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TORONTO - Senator Don Meredith called on faith leaders in Toronto to “engage, encourage and empower our youth” to keep young people out of the clutches of violent gangs.

This year’s closing liturgy for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity in Toronto drew an extraordinary number of archbishops, bishops and national church leaders. Among those leading the prayers were: the general secretary of the Canadian Council of Churches Rev. Dr. Karen Hamilton, Lutheran bishop Michael Pryse, Toronto Anglican archbishop Colin Johnson, Roman Catholic archbishop Thomas Collins, Coptic Orthodox bishop Mina, Catholic Slovak bishop John Pazak and Assyrian Church of the East bishop Emmanuel Joseph Mar-Emmanuel.

Toronto Christian unity service filled with hope

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TORONTO - Dave Williams happened into the closing liturgy for this year’s Week of Prayer for Christian Unity entirely by chance. He wandered into Yorkminster Park Baptist Church, saw what was happening and immediately called his wife, Beverly John.

By the end of the service, Williams and John were convinced they had stumbled into something important.

St. Joseph the Worker parishioners from Thornhill, Ont., raised money and lent their labour to fund the building of homes for the poor in San Felipe de Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic.

Mission-vacation concept takes hold at Thornhill parish

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THORNHILL, ONT. - In 1987 Elio Madonia, then in his 50s, sold his business, retired and with his wife went on vacation to the Dominican Republic with plans to continue enjoying retirement in Florida.

CSJ Office for Systemic Justice director Sr. Sue Wilson.

St. Joe’s Sisters spearhead call to protect migrants

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TORONTO - Pope Francis called for “the globalization of charity and co-operation” on the 101st World Day of Migrants and Refugees, but the Sisters of St. Joseph may have beaten the Pope to it with their submission to a United Nations commission in early January.

Gillian Fernandopulle left her Sri Lankan homeland as a refugee at age six. Despite being in Canada for the past 20 years, she says being a refugee is something that never leaves you.

A refugee is always an outsider

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TORONTO - At 20 Tarak has been divorced from everything — his family, his home, his childhood and a future that once seemed assured.

Aid to the Church in Need spokesperson Marie Claude Lalonde, right, speaks with Montreal Archbishop Christian Lepine. Lalonde says that in 60 per cent of countries around the world, religious liberty is compromised.

Christianity's survival in Mideast highly unlikely

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MONTREAL - The long-term survival of Christianity in the Middle East is threatened and “humanity in the region where Christianity was born will not be the same without it,” a spokesman for Aid to the Church in Need told a seminar in Montreal this week.

A homeless man takes advantage of St. Felix Centre’s 24-hour warming station during an extreme weather alert in Toronto earlier this month.

St. Felix Centre teams with city to stay open during deep freeze

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TORONTO - Catholics in the city have forged relationships with secular partners to provide the homeless somewhere safe and warm during the sometimes fatally freezing temperatures of Toronto’s winter.

Fr. Joseph Chandrakanthan holds a 16th-century lamp believed to have been used by St. Joseph Vaz in Sillalai, Sri Lanka.

Toronto priest treasures saint’s lamp that kept flame of faith alight

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TORONTO - A light in the darkness has travelled across centuries, cultures and continents to wind up in Fr. Joseph Chandrakanthan’s living room in Toronto.

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