NEWS

TORONTO - The Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace has jumped into the debate on whether to abolish the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).

TORONTO - William Downe, president and chief executive officer of BMO Financial Group, has been appointed as chair of the 28th annual Cardinal’s Dinner, the largest fund-raising dinner in Canada.

TORONTO - A healthy dose of silence and the discipline of meditation are on tap at St. John’s Convent, 233 Cummer Ave. in Toronto, when the Christian Meditation Community of Toronto hosts its May 11-13 retreat.

OTTAWA - Green Party Leader Elizabeth May hopes to change the conversation in Ottawa.

Though best known for its environmental stance, the Green Party also stresses social justice, fair trade instead of free trade and non-violence. But Mays views on families, communities and the common good may also attract Catholic voters and potential candidates.

Newmarket, Ont. - Inside the main gathering space of Rose of Sharon Services for Young Mothers hangs homemade colourful quilts, boxes of infant toys lay on the carpet, all by a well-used rocking chair. The all-female 15-person staff create a home-away-from-home atmosphere for hundreds of teen mothers and their pre- and post-natal children who use the centre’s services.

Mississauga, Ont. - A Tragic Events Response Team (TERT) arrived at St. Alfred’s Catholic School here April 12 to give support to students and teachers in their time of grief for 10-year-old schoolmate, John Pham, who died as a result of a bus accident on Hwy 410 south of Brampton the day before.

LONDON - The head of Great Britain’s military diocese has come under fire from politicians, military leaders and the media after he welcomed Iran’s release of 15 sailors and marines as religiously motivated “good deeds.”

TORONTO - The Archbishop of Canterbury will meet with the American Episcopalian House of Bishops in September in an effort to prevent a schism between Anglicans in the rich, first world and the Anglican majority in the global south.

Ontario’s Catholic bishops have chosen Bishop James Wingle as president of its executive.

TORONTO - It’s unlikely that the Oct. 10 Ontario election will be fought over the issue of prayer and meditation at Queen’s Park. It’s equally unlikely members of the provincial legislature and their staffs will have a room set aside for contemplation and related inactivities before election day.