NEWS

New funding rules and the process of setting new directions for the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace (D&P) are running into stiff opposition in Quebec and New Brunswick.

Members of D&P in Francophone Canada used their regional assembly meeting to demand restoration of funding to Centro PRODH, the Mexican human rights organization that has drawn heat for apparently endorsing a campaign for legal access to first trimester abortions throughout Mexico.

D&P had ended its funding relationship with Centro PRODH based on doubts expressed by Mexico’s conference of Catholic bishops. In April Archbishop Terrence Prendergast and D&P cancelled an Ottawa speaking engagement with Centro PRODH executive director Fr. Luis Arriaga. Arriaga was photographed accepting an award from an organization that promotes legal access to abortion.

MADRID - Spain’s National Court has invoked a special law to order the arrest and trial of 20 former Salvadoran military officers for the 1989 murder of six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her daughter.

Five of the six Jesuits were naturalized Salvadorans of Spanish birth. In announcing the charges, the Spanish court invoked its universal jurisdiction law, which says that some crimes are so grave they can be tried anywhere.

Issuing an indictment May 20, Judge Eloy Velasco Nunez said El Salvador’s juridical process “was a defective and widely criticized process that ended with two forced convictions and acquittals even of confessed killers.” Among those he indicted were a former Salvadoran defense minister.

A 1993 UN Truth Commission report said high-ranking Salvadoran military officials were responsible for ordering the murders and ordered a cover-up.

TORONTO - The Ontario Community Support Association wants to make home and community care a funding priority in Ontario to allow seniors and those affected by illness to live in their own homes as long as possible.

The OCSA, the voice of the province’s non-profit home and community care sector, launched its Aging With Dignity campaign in May.

“What we need to do is help people live healthily in their own homes rather than waiting until they’re sick and going into long-term care,” said Susan Thorning, CEO of the OCSA.

“(We have) a health-care system that focuses on sickness, on getting sick people well, on doctors and hospitals. We need to do a little bit of a shift and focus on prevention and wellness.”

Keeping people healthy and at home through part-time preventative care, Thorning said, is not only good for the individual but is also more cost-effective than long-term care.

OTTAWA - It’s rare for an outspoken, socially conservative Catholic to host a prime time news and opinion program on a mainstream media network, and Sun Media’s Brian Lilley is not wasting his moment.

When his 9 p.m. (ET) program Byline launched April 18 on the new Sun News channel, Sun Media’s senior parliamentary reporter waded right into one of the most politically incorrect subjects inside the Ottawa Queensway — abortion.

“I like a good debate, so I jump right in and say, ‘let’s talk about this,’ ” said Lilley in an interview in the conference room of Sun Media’s brand new newsroom and studio in Ottawa.

“It’s assumed that a lot of these issues are settled. The abortion issue is settled and we don’t need to ever discuss it. That is the prevailing view. And then it’s discussed in the dying days of every election campaign as an issue to scare people,” he said, noting none of the major political parties are pro-life.

TORONTO - On May 28, more than 10 years of progress came to fruition for the Toronto Chaldean community, as the Good Shepherd Chaldean Church was officially consecrated.

The Saturday evening consecration — meaning that the parish is now officially allowed to conduct spiritual activities including holy Mass — marked the end of a long process for the largest congregation of Chaldeans in Canada. It was followed by a Sunday Mass celebrated by Cardinal Emmanuel III Delly, the patriarch of the global Chaldean Catholic Church, which is an Eastern Church in full communion with the Roman Catholic Church.

“This was a very significant event for us,” said Deacon Wamid Shamoon. “Since building this church in 2001, the community… we were all waiting for this moment.”

On June 20, KAIROS will be reminding the Canadian government of its pledge to support indigenous rights in Canada.

The ecumenical group of 11 Christian churches and organizations has planned a Day of Action on Parliament Hill that day, part of its Roll with the Declaration campaign, to make sure the government doesn’t forget it endorsed the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) in November 2010.

Roll with the Declaration is a campaign run by KAIROS which will bring Canadians from coast to coast to Ottawa to support indigenous rights.

“Endorsement is but one small step — a necessary step, of course — for the Canadian government,” said Julie Graham, the KAIROS education and campaign program co-ordinator. “We don’t want it to be something written down on paper and forgotten about.”

OTTAWA - The retirement of two Supreme Court justices this summer gives Prime Minister Stephen Harper a chance to shape the court, but few expect he will appoint activist judges who will try to swing the court in a conservative direction.

Those on the front lines of court battles for religious freedom and moral issues prefer it that way. Catholic Civil Rights League president Phil Horgan, a Toronto-based lawyer, said he hopes Harper will choose justices who will interpret the existing laws and resist any temptation to make them.  

“When you are acting as an umpire on competing claims, you try to make the best decision without overstepping the bounds of the judicial role,” he said. “It’s one thing to be the referee; it’s another thing to rewrite the rules of the game.”       

Horgan wants judges that recognize the role of Parliament. For those who like an activist bench, he asks, “Are they prepared for the day when that activism doesn’t go in their favour?” He hopes the judges that will replace Justices Louise Charron and Ian Binnie are “cognizant of a healthy pluralism” in Canadian society.

OTTAWA - The funeral service for a Grade 12 student killed in a shop accident at Ottawa's Mother Teresa Catholic High School will be held June 3.

The service for 18-year-old Eric Leighton is scheduled for Ottawa's St. Patrick's Church.

Leighton died when an explosion ripped through an auto shop at Mother Teresa High School May 26. Five others were injured. Police reported the students had been cutting through metal making barbecues when residue in a 55-gallon drum exploded.

Leighton was found "without vital signs" at the scene but paramedics "initiated advance resuscitative measures" and by the time he reached hospital, he had regained a pulse. Leighton, however, died in hospital later in the day, according to police.

OTTAWA - Bishop Raymond Lahey’s sentencing hearing will take place June 24, when the judge gets to hear testimony from a forensic psychiatrist.

Lahey, 70, pleaded guilty to importing child pornography May 4 and opted to go directly to jail rather than stay out on bail until a date could be arranged for Dr. James Bradford to testify about his psychological evaluation. A charge of distribution of child pornography was dropped.

The bishop faces a minimum one-year jail term, but he could receive a sentence as high as 10 years.

OTTAWA - An explosion ripped through an auto shop at Ottawa's Mother Teresa Catholic High School May 26, killing Grade 12 student Eric Leighton, 18, and injuring five others.

Police reported the students had been cutting through metal making barbecues when residue in a 55-gallon drum exploded.

Leighton was found "without vital signs" at the scene but paramedics "initiated advance resuscitative measures" and by the time he reached hospital, he had regained a pulse.  Leighton, however, died in hospital later in the day, according to police.

Paramedics assessed four other students and a 33-year old teacher at the scene.  They were sent to hospital for monitoring of possible concussive injuries.