NEWS

TORONTO - Toronto Archbishop Thomas Collins’s monthly lectio divina sessions have provided the inspiration for his new book, Pathway to our Hearts: A Simple Approach to Lectio Divina with the Sermon on the Mount.

The archbishop started lectio divina when he was the archbishop of Edmonton because he thought it was important for bishops to speak the Word of God to the people. Collins continued these sessions when he came to Toronto, and he runs lectio divina monthly at St. Michael’s Cathedral.

An audience of about 50 people was on hand for the launch of the book at the Catholic Pastoral Centre March 11.

TORONTO - A private plane jetted Baby Joseph Maraachli to a hospital in St. Louis March 13, ending the family's battle with the London, Ont., hospital that sought to withdraw the breathing tube keeping the seriously ill 13-month-old alive.

The family's legal team of Windsor, Ont., lawyer Claudio Martini and the Washington, D.C.-based American Centre for Law and Justice (ACLJ) helped secure the transfer of Baby Joseph to SSM Cardinal Glennon Children's Medical Centre in St. Louis. The private plane, hired by the New York-based Priests for Life, landed at midnight in St. Louis. Priests for Life will also cover the family's medical costs.

The Baby Joseph saga has been played out for the past month as the Maraachli family battled London Health Sciences Centre, hoping for a tracheotomy for their dying child and the right to bring him home to live out his final days surrounded by family and loved ones. The child has a neurodegenerative disease and needs a breathing and feeding tube to survive. A Feb. 18 Ontario Superior Court ruling ordered the family to consent to the removal of the breathing tube on Feb. 21, confirming the recommendations of the hospital's doctors and the Consent and Capacity Board of Ontario. But Joseph's family defied the legal order.

TORONTO - As the Baby Joseph medical and legal drama plays out in Canadian and American media, what must not be forgotten is the toddler's best interests, say Catholic bioethicists.

The Baby Joseph saga has tugged at the hearts of many as the Maraachli family battles London Health Sciences Centre, hoping for a tracheotomy for their dying 13-month-old child and the right to bring him home to live out his final days surrounded by family and loved ones.

Baby Joseph has a neurodegenerative disease and doctors say he won't recover. He requires a breathing and feeding tube to survive. A Feb. 18 Ontario Superior Court ruling ordered the family to consent to the removal of Joseph's breathing tube on Feb. 21. The ruling confirmed the recommendations of the hospital's doctors and the Consent and Capacity Board of Ontario.

TOKYO — Damage from a magnitude 8.9 earthquake and ensuing tsunamis were preventing Church officials in Japan from assessing needs as tsunami warnings were issued for 50 other countries and territories.

Yasufumi Matsukuma, a staffer at the Japanese bishops' conference, told the Asian Church news agency UCA News that most staffers would remain in the offices overnight because of suspended rail service and continuous aftershocks.

"In Tokyo, telephone lines are so busy that I cannot contact diocesan chancellor offices in Japan. Aftershocks have followed. The tsunamis are terrible and we cannot get any information concerning the Church yet," he said.

TORONTO - The sale of Loretto Abbey Catholic High School to the Toronto Catholic District School Board on March 9 ensures the school's 164-year tradition of Catholic education for young women will continue, said Sr. Evanne Hunter.

“Our members made many sacrifices to ensure that Catholic families could avail themselves of a Catholic education for their children, and we are pleased that this beautiful building, so rich with history and tradition, will continue to operate as a Catholic school for young women,” Hunter, provincial leader of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary, also known as the Loretto Sisters, said in a statement.

“Though the giving up of this repository of so much of our history is painful, we Loretto Sisters take solace in the fact that we will continue to be connected to the school for many years,” she said.

VATICAN CITY - In his new volume on "Jesus of Nazareth," Pope Benedict XVI presents the passion and resurrection of Christ as history-changing events that answer humanity's unceasing need to be reconciled with God.

The 384-page book, titled "Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week -- From the Entrance Into Jerusalem to the Resurrection," was officially released March 10. The pope had worked for several years on the text, the second in his series exploring the main events of Jesus' public ministry.

The Vatican said 1.2 million copies of the book had already been published in seven languages, and that an e-book version was also planned.

VATICAN CITY - Wishing all Christians a "happy Lenten journey," Pope Benedict XVI said fasting, almsgiving and prayer are traditionally suggested for Lent because they have proven to be effective tools for conversion.

Lent is a time "to accept Christ's invitation to renew our baptismal commitments" in order to arrive at Easter in a new and stronger state, the Pope said at his weekly general audience March 9, Ash Wednesday and the start of Lent for Latin-rite Catholics.

"This Lenten journey that we are invited to follow is characterized in the Church's tradition by certain practices: fasting, almsgiving and prayer," he told the estimated 7,000 people gathered in the Vatican audience hall.

TORONTO - Standing in the rain outside Ontario Finance Minister Dwight Duncan's office with about 100 church-based protesters demanding a $100 food supplement in the up-coming provincial budget, Redemptorist Father Paul Hansen said he was there for the sake of the Eucharist.

"The Eucharist is first a verb before it's a noun," he said.

Appealing to the most ancient Catholic belief in the corpus mysticum Christi, that the people of God are the body of Christ, Hansen said we can't ignore the hunger and poverty of parts of the body of Christ.

TORONTO - Basilian Father Albert Lawrence Williams was like a “grandfather” to students and teachers at Toronto’s Michael Power/St. Joseph High School.

Known as “Fr. Bob” to his friends, Williams died on Feb. 15, leaving behind a four-decade legacy as a teacher at Michael Power/St. Joseph.

He also taught at St. Michael’s College School and was a former Secretary General of the Basilian Fathers.

TORONTO - War, history and ecumenism are perhaps not the first associations Christians have with table-top models of baby Jesus nestled in the manger. But the Friends of the Creche intend to take on all three serious subjects at a three-day international convention in Toronto Nov. 10 to 12.

It’s the first time the American branch of the La Universalis Foederatio Praesepistica (known in Canada and the United States as the Friends of the Creche) has held it’s biennial convention in Canada. It’s expected to draw 350 conventioneers, plus hundreds more who will visit a display of rare, historic creches on display at the Royal York Hotel.