NEWS

{mosimage}TORONTO - Toronto is 14,000 kilometres from Sri Lanka, but the war between Tamils and Sinhalese on the island nation is never far away for Toronto’s 100,000-strong Tamil community.

Margaret Jegasothy found herself standing at the end of a memorial Mass April 26 to thank the community for their prayers for her brother, Fr. M.X. Karunaratnam. He was killed in a roadside bomb attack April 19.

{mosimage}OTTAWA - The newly appointed chair of the Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission plans wide-ranging public hearings that will hear from all sides.

{mosimage}TORONTO - The debate over how, when, where and whether scientists should be allowed to experiment on human embryonic stem cells should not be left in the hands of bureaucrats, academics and scientists, London Bishop Ron Fabbro said at a Canadian Catholic Bioethics Institute conference for doctors April 27.

{mosimage}QUEBEC CITY - While Pope Benedict XVI may not attend the 49th International Eucharistic Congress in person, his virtual presence will be there for all to see.

{mosimage}NEW YORK - As his Alitalia Boeing 777, dubbed “Shepherd One,” lifted off from New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport, Pope Benedict XVI had reason to smile. During his April 15-20 visit to the United States, he had been received warmly by hundreds of thousands, faced the sex-abuse crisis head on and offered a message of hope in Christ to American Catholics.

{mosimage}ASUNCION, Paraguay - Retired Bishop Fernando Lugo was elected president of Paraguay April 20, ending the six-decade rule of the Colorado Party.

Lugo took an early lead in the pre-election polls, despite official disapproval from the Vatican and, initially, from the Paraguayan bishops’ conference. As support for Lugo remained high in the largely Catholic country, the conference refrained from further comment.

{mosimage}OTTAWA - This year’s National March for Life in Ottawa May 7-9 will honour the 60th anniversary of the United Nations’ adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

{mosimage}TORONTO - Toronto’s first real warm spring day welcomed 36 glove-clad volunteers carrying plastic garbage bags or brooms throughout a downtown section of the city April 18.

{mosimage}TORONTO - St. Basil's Church in downtown Toronto hosted the ordination of two young men to the priesthood for the Basilian order on April 19.

It was a significant day for the Basilians, as Fr. Glenn McDonald and Fr. Andrew Leung, both 29 and from Alberta, were two of only three men ordained as priests within the Basilian order in North America since 2001. The third was ordained earlier this year in Houston, Texas.

{mosimage}NEW YORK - As his final goodbye to the American people, Pope Benedict XVI prayed at Ground Zero, the location of the worst terrorist attack ever conducted on U.S. soil, and celebrated Holy Eucharist with 57,000 Catholics at Yankee Stadium.