NEWS

TORONTO - My wife and I were serving soup and sandwiches to university students at the Newman Centre on the campus of the University of Toronto when we first met Bishop Gary Gordon, the bishop of Whitehorse. We felt that we already knew the bishop because we had seen him featured in two fine documentaries on Salt + Light TV.

Strangely enough, the gathering was called “A Retreat in the City,” and Gordon came through the front door, rosy cheeked and carrying a back pack and looking as if he had just pulled himself off the Chilkoot Trail. It seemed to me that the last thing he would be seeking would be solace in the Big Smoke.

TORONTO - With elections looming next year both provincially and nationally, political parties are jockeying to position themselves on poverty.

At Queen’s Park politicians made time to talk to the Interfaith Social Assistance Reform Coalition Nov. 18 and trade blows over who really cares about the poor. In Ottawa, opposition politicians ganged up on the Conservatives Nov. 17 to issue a 300-page report calling for a national poverty reduction strategy to support the half-dozen provincial plans.

RICHMOND HILL, ONT. - World famous Catholic author Fr. Henri Nouwen has a new resting place, in an Anglican cemetery.

In July Nouwen’s remains were moved from the Sacred Heart Catholic Cemetery in King City north of Toronto to St. John’s Anglican Cemetery in Richmond Hill. The author of The Wounded Healer, The Inner Voice and The Return of the Prodigal Son had been buried at Sacred Heart in 1996 after his sudden death while visiting his native Holland.

TORONTO - At the sound of the doorbell, Br. John Frampton swings open the door at St. Francis Table restaurant to welcome more diners.

“Hi, Brother John,” says a man, obviously a regular. He takes a seat and is served a meal by volunteers in aprons. Frampton, in his robes, bustles from table to table speaking with patrons enjoying a meal of soup, meatloaf, peas and fries.

INCHEON, South Korea - A South Korean chancellor whose diocese was affected by the recent North Korean military provocation criticized the aggression and expressed concern for local residents.

"The relationship between the North and the South worsened under the current South Korean government," Fr. John Kim Yong-hwan, chancellor of Incheon, which covers Yeonpyeong Island, told the Asian church news agency UCA News. "The South Korean government should introduce dialogue and embrace the North."

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia - The Catholic Church in Cambodia planned a special Mass for victims of a bridge stampede during the Water Festival on Diamond Island in Phnom Penh, reported the Asian church news agency UCA News.

The chaos Nov. 22 that killed more than 375 people and injured at least 755 was seen as the biggest tragedy for Cambodians since the Pol Pot regime, said Prime Minister Hun Sen. The government announced it will give five million riel ($1,230) to each family of the dead for transporting the bodies. It also scheduled Nov. 25 as a national day of mourning.

ROME (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI's book-length interview is certain to spark global attention, and not only for his comments suggesting that condom use might be acceptable in some circumstances.

In the 219-page book, "Light of the World: The Pope, the Church and the Signs of the Times," the German pontiff spoke candidly on the clerical sex abuse scandal, relations with Islam, papal resignation and the "threatening catastrophe" facing humanity.

TORONTO - Four missionary bishops are in the archdiocese of Toronto in November to spread the word about the needs of Canada’s mission territories.

Bishop Vincent Cadieux, O.M.I., of Moosonee and Hearst in Northern Ontario, Bishop Fred Colli of Thunder Bay, Archbishop Martin Currie of St. John’s and of Grand Falls, Nfld., and Bishop Gary Gordon of Whitehorse have been visiting parishes around the archdiocese and will continue to do so until the end of the month.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti  - Cholera in Haiti has killed close to 1,000 people and hospitalized more than 14,000 as parish volunteers and international aid organizations scramble to minimize the impact in Port-au-Prince, where one million people are still living in tents after last January’s devastating earthquake.

As of Nov. 15 the official death toll was 917 and it is not expected to peak for a number of weeks yet.

Symptoms of cholera, a water-borne infectious disease, include diarrhea, vomiting and fever. Untreated, the resulting dehydration is fatal.

WASHINGTON - The president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops urged the U.S. government to “redouble its efforts to assist Iraqis” in providing safety for its citizens, especially religious minorities.

“To meet its moral obligations to the Iraqi people, it is critically important that the United States take additional steps now to help Iraq protect its citizens, especially Christians and others who are victims of organized attacks,” said Cardinal Francis George in a Nov. 9 letter to U.S. President Barack Obama.