NEWS

TORONTO - Fr. Frank Portelli is embracing a new challenge in his priestly life, taking the reins as the director of the archdiocese of Toronto’s Office of Catholic Youth.

“Successful youth ministry is when you’ve engaged the young person,” Portelli told The Catholic Register. “Not imposing something but finding out what their desire is, what their questions are and trying to meet that need.”

Portelli was assigned as director of the OCY Nov. 1 and is currently in a transition period as he works between his new post and as associate pastor at St. Luke’s parish in Thornhill. As of January, he will be able to focus his efforts solely on his new ministry. Replacing Christian Elia, his posting is for three years.

The Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace believes Canadians may be eating the planet to death, so they’re going to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to nudge the world into a whole new food system.

Next June the United Nations Development Program will host Rio+20, a conference aimed at evaluating progress since the landmark Rio Earth Summit of 1992. Development and Peace is one of several Catholic organizations planning on attending.

“For us, responsible care of the planet is part of our campaign. It’s part of our five-year theme. We see it as a priority issue,” said Development and Peace program officer Mary Durran.

KINSHASA, Congo - Catholic officials called for calm after a tense day of polling in which violent incidents claimed the lives of nearly a dozen people during Congo's presidential and legislative elections.

"The electoral campaign that took place in a tense atmosphere has ended with a funereal note," the Congolese bishops' conference said in a Nov. 29 statement that deplored deaths in a polling station in the southeastern city of Lubumbashi. Armed men in civilian clothes, reportedly members of a local Katanga separatist movement, attacked the polling station, killing two police officers and one female voter. In the same area, police also opened fire and killed seven or eight men who attacked a convoy carrying electoral materials.

Catholic agencies that help immigrants and refugees settle in Ontario don’t know how they will cope with their share of a $31.5-million funding cut to settlement agencies in Ontario.

This year’s cuts come on top of $42.5 million shaved off Ontario’s allotment for settling and retraining immigrants last year. Over two years, Ontario has lost 20 per cent of its funding from Citizenship and Immigration for services to newcomers, according to the Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants.

“We’re trying to make some plans and think through how we would react to a variety of different levels of cutbacks,” said Catholic Cross-Cultural Services executive director Carolyne Davis.

OTTAWA - A Conservative MP’s private member’s bill to repeal the controversial hate crimes section of the Canadian Human Rights Act is facing opposition in the House of Commons.

Though Justice Minister Rob Nicholson recently threw his support behind Brian Storseth’s private member’s Bill C-304, when it came up for second reading Nov. 22 Storseth was unable to find anyone from the NDP or the Liberal Party to speak in its favour. Members of both parties spoke against the bill, with NDP Associate Justice Critic Francoise Boivin accusing the government of scaring people and “leading them to believe that good citizens will be cheerfully brought before the courts to have their right to freedom of expression challenged and that it will cost them a fortune.”

ADELAIDE, AUSTRLIA - A prominent Church-appointed lawyer who investigated an Anglican archbishop’s claims of rape against a Catholic priest has found there is no substance to the allegations.

The primate of the Traditional Anglican Communion, Archbishop John Hepworth, claimed in September that a still-living Catholic priest had raped him more than 40 years ago when Hepworth was a young Catholic priest. He also claimed he had been a victim of two other priests who have since died.

VATICAN CITY - The head of the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X said a "doctrinal preamble" presented by the Vatican needs changes before it can be accepted as the basis for the group's reconciliation.

The statement by Bishop Bernard Fellay, superior of the society, appeared to hold out hope for further discussions with the Vatican, but it was unclear whether the Vatican would be willing to revisit the text.

"It is true that this doctrinal preamble cannot receive our endorsement, although leeway has been allowed for a 'legitimate discussion' about certain points of the (Second Vatican) Council. What is the extent of this leeway?" Bishop Fellay said in an interview posted on the society's website Nov. 29.

VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI urged international leaders to reach a credible agreement on climate change, keeping in mind the needs of the poor and of future generations.

The Pope made the remarks at his noon blessing at the Vatican Nov. 27, the day before officials from 194 countries were to begin meeting in Durban, South Africa, to discuss the next steps in reducing greenhouse gases and stopping global temperatures from rising.

"I hope that all members of the international community can agree on a responsible, credible and supportive response to this worrisome and complex phenomenon, keeping in mind the needs of the poorest populations and of future generations," the Pope said.

OTTAWA - Pro-family groups have welcomed a Nov. 23 British Columbia Supreme Court decision that upholds Canada’s anti-polygamy law.

“Anything that supports traditional, monogamous marriage is good and I think (the decision) sends a very clear message that our relationships are not exclusively personal and private,” said Catholic Organization for Life and Family (COLF) assistant director Peter Murphy. “They have implications for those with whom we live and for society in general, so for that reason we’re very pleased with the decision.”

The province of B.C. had asked the court whether the anti-polygamy law was constitutional after charges against a fundamentalist Mormon sect in Bountiful, B.C., were dropped based on concerns they would not stand up to a Charter religious freedom test.

PORTLAND, Ore. - Catholic and other opponents of the death penalty praised Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber for placing a moratorium on the use of the death penalty for the rest of his term.

"Those of us who respect the dignity of human life from conception to natural death applaud this decision," said Portland Archbishop John G. Vlazny.

"This is what we have been praying for and asking for," said Ron Steiner, a member of Queen of Peace Parish in Salem and an organizer for Oregonians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty.