NEWS

In the criminal justice system there are more grey areas than black and white, particularly when it comes to 20- and 30-year-old sex crimes.

When an adult tells church officials that as a child he or she was abused in the church, the internal process these days is pretty clear. But what about the police?

When Fr. George Smith was accused this May of inappropriately touching a young person while working in Deer Lake, Nfld., between 1986 and 1991 he was immediately suspended from his duties as a parish priest in Prince Edward Island. An internal investigation was launched in the diocese of Corner Brook and Labrador. Police, however, were left out of the picture.

TORONTO - Increased use of birth control and improved sex education in schools may be keys to a 10-year decline in Canada’s teen birth and abortion rate, according to a new study by the Sex Information and Education Council of Canada.

Canada’s teen birth and abortion rate fell by 36.9 per cent from 1996 to 2006, said the study published in the Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality. The study used Statistics Canada figures. The United States saw a drop of 25 per cent compared to 4.75 for England and Wales and a 19.1-per-cent jump for Sweden, according to the study.

OTTAWA - Recent attacks by federal politicians on Opus Dei have raised concerns about efforts to drive Christians out of public life.

A number of Opposition politicians accused Opus Dei of being “fundamentalist,” right wing and “creepy” and having an undue influence on the Tory government, attacks that began after Msgr. Fred Dolan, Vicar for Opus Dei in Canada, spoke at a May 26 luncheon at the Parliamentary restaurant for MPs, Senators and Parliament Hill staff.

OTTAWA - Toronto Archbishop Thomas Collins and Ottawa's Archbishop Terrence Prendergast, S.J., are among nine church leaders who will join an apostolic visit to Ireland to help the Irish Church reeling from a sexual abuse crisis.

“It’s a common practice when there is a problem or a struggle or a difficulty of any kind for the Holy See to have a visitation,” said Collins.

 

VATICAN CITY - The Vatican deplored the "useless loss of life" in an assault by Israeli commandos on a flotilla of ships taking aid to the Gaza Strip.

In a written statement released May 31, Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Vatican press office, called the incident "a very painful event" that Church officials were following closely.

In Gaza, the parish priest, Fr. Jorge Hernandez, said June 1 would be "a day of mourning in the Strip. All of Gaza will stop. There will be demonstrations, some of which are already under way in various parts of the city and throughout Gaza. The climate here is heavy and the risk of an escalation of violence is very real, which is why we are calling for caution and prudence."

TORONTO - Deacon Rudy Ovcjak says being in a hospital room and sharing the hope and love of God to patients, like a woman whose faith was shaken while battling an illness, has provided an excellent training ground for his new ministry.

Ovcjak, 47, was ordained with 15 other men as a deacon for the archdiocese of Toronto on May 29 at St. Michael’s Cathedral. More than 500 people were in attendance at the packed cathedral to witness the ordination by Toronto Auxiliary Bishop Vincent Nguyen, the archdiocese's Vicar of Deacons.

An allegation of abuse in Newfoundland has triggered the immediate suspension of a priest in Prince Edward Island.

P.E.I. Bishop Richard Grecco suspended Fr. George Smith from pastoral duties at St. Malachy’s Church in Kinkora, P.E.I. within 24 hours of learning of the allegation against Smith in the diocese of Corner Brook and Labrador.

As Jeremy Hinzman faced final judgment on whether Canada would keep him, Parliament began debate on a bill that would force the government to respect the conscience of U.S. soldiers like Hinzman who fled to Canada rather than fight in Iraq.

The Federal Court of Appeal has reserved judgment on legal issues underpinning Hinzman’s application for humanitarian and compassionate leave to remain in Canada despite a 2008 deportation order. The court’s decision on Hinzman’s case could take months.

A St. Michael’s Hospital doctor and researcher trying to save millions of Canadians from an early death, blindness and organ failure can’t rustle up enough volunteers to complete a study.

Dr. David Jenkins needs 400 people with type two diabetes — the kind people normally get over the age of 45, but is increasingly showing up among overweight young people. After months of advertising, Jenkins has recruited fewer than 70 volunteers to take on special diets and monitor their health.

OTTAWA - A eucharistic procession across the Ottawa River to Parliament Hill May 22 provided a sign of the spread of a new youth movement’s from Quebec to the rest of Canada.

The Pentecost Eve procession crowned the May 21-24 Youth Summit/Montée Jeunesse here.  The summits began in the years leading up to the 2008 International Eucharistic Congress in Quebec City as a way of harnessing youth creativity and energy.  Now the Summits continue as a fruit of the congress.  The Ottawa summit was the sixth and the first held outside of Quebec.