WINDSOR, Ont. - Ontario Education Minister Leona Dombrowsky was taken to task by Catholic principals and vice principals here over her government’s recent budget bill which could hit them in the wallet.

Bill 16 proposes that non-bargaining employees across the public sector — about 350,000 employees altogether — have their wages frozen for two years as part of an austerity move by the province to cope with a severe deficit.

Dombrowsky was speaking before more than 300 delegates at the annual meeting of the the Catholic Principals’ Council of Ontario in Windsor April 22.

TORONTO - Sr. Helen Prejean, the American nun renowned for her opposition to the death penalty and for accompanying those about to die in their final steps, captivated a Toronto audience April 20 with the story of her continuing journey.

Prejean’s first experience spiritually accompanying a convicted killer, Patrick Sonnier, was chronicled in a book and made into the 1995 feature film Dead Man Walking.

CALGARY - Just five months after trespassing charges were stayed for members of a pro-life club at the University of Calgary, eight student members are now facing charges of non-academic misconduct.

The charges resulted from a Genocide Awareness Project display the group hosted April 8 and 9. Its display, which compares abortion to atrocities such as the Rwandan genocide and the Holocaust, had been hosted without incident eight times since 2006. On April 8, campus security allegedly asked the students to turn their signs inward or leave the campus grounds. They refused.

TORONTO - The Assembly of Catholic Bishops of Ontario has welcomed Premier Dalton McGuinty''s decision to rethink a controversial sex ed curriculum for elementary school students.

“We certainly welcome this new round of consultations and the Catholic community will offer its input. We will continue working with the Ministry of Education as we always have,” Lou Piovesan, the Assembly's general secretary, told The Catholic Register.

TORONTO - Well-known capital punishment opponent Sr. Helen Prejean, C.S.J., will be giving the inaugural lecture honouring the prison ministry of the late Fr. Martin Royackers, who was murdered in Jamaica nine years ago.

Royackers was 41 when he was gunned down in front of his parish in Annotto Bay, Jamaica.

{mosimage}TORONTO - Students from Toronto’s Don Bosco High School are helping to commemorate the historical bond between Canadians and the Dutch people in a new monument celebrating the 65th anniversary of Holland’s liberation from the Nazis.

Don Bosco Catholic High School teacher Tim Stewart wrote the English and Dutch text accompanying a 1.2-metre tall, 900-kg black granite memorial that will be unveiled April 13 at Queen Wilhelmina Park in Meppel, Holland. The text speaks of the Toronto Scottish Regiment’s contribution to the liberation of Holland as the Second World War ground to an end.

{mosimage}TORONTO - Putting to rest rumours that Loretto Abbey is going to close, the Toronto Catholic District School Board says it plans to buy the Catholic high school property from the Loretto Sisters.

Angelo Sangiorgio, the board’s associate director of planning and facilities, told The Catholic Register that the board’s lease with the Loretto Sisters, also known as the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary, expires in 2013.

{mosimage}TORONTO - The 12th annual Catholic Principals’ Council of Ontario conference will highlight the vocation of Catholic school principals across the province.

The theme of this year’s conference is “Embracing Our Catholic Vocation.” The conference runs from April 22 to 24 in Windsor, Ont.

Council president Paul Lacalamita said principals are “invested” in the faith formation of their community.

{mosimage}Catholic higher education is about to establish a new outpost in Peterborough.

Peterborough Bishop Nicola DeAngelis has collected $1.6 million in donations and entered into talks with Trent University in hopes of offering university level liberal arts courses at Sacred Heart parish in downtown Peterborough.

The first non-credit courses at Sacred Heart College could be up and running as soon as this September.

{mosimage}TORONTO - A silver lining to the troubles plaguing the Toronto Catholic District School Board over the past three years is that it has encouraged members of the Catholic community to stand for election or become more informed voters, says Ontario’s new education minister.

“I think it’s fair to say that what has unfolded at (the Toronto Catholic board) has required everyone to look at the role and function of school board trustees. I think that’s an important outcome,”  Education Minister Leona Dombrowsky told The Catholic Register.