Features/Features
{mosimage}TORONTO - Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
It is a simple and logical instruction that transcends many of the world’s religions, ethical codes and cultures — and one that is now being used in Toronto-area classrooms to help form a common bond between diverse groups of students.
“The Golden Rule preaches unity,” said Canadian filmmaker Tina Petrova. “You may have a different skin colour or a different label on your religion, but under God we are all the same.”
It is a simple and logical instruction that transcends many of the world’s religions, ethical codes and cultures — and one that is now being used in Toronto-area classrooms to help form a common bond between diverse groups of students.
“The Golden Rule preaches unity,” said Canadian filmmaker Tina Petrova. “You may have a different skin colour or a different label on your religion, but under God we are all the same.”
Carroll drops appeal of dismissal
By Sheila Dabu Nonato, The Catholic Register
TORONTO - Former Toronto Catholic school trustee Oliver Carroll has dropped an appeal of a court decision which found him guilty of conflict of interest charges and led to his removal from the Toronto board.
“At end of the day, it’s really about Catholic education. There’s no point in having this replayed every two months for the next year,” he told The Register.
“At end of the day, it’s really about Catholic education. There’s no point in having this replayed every two months for the next year,” he told The Register.
St. Jerome's does e-mail fast
By Michael Swan, The Catholic Register
{mosimage}On the campus of the university that helps fuel the world's instant communication addiction - e-mail all the time and everywhere courtesy of Blackberry phones - it might be something like heresy. But for St. Jerome's University staffer Jim Robson, giving up internal e-mails for a day is actually a spiritual exercise.
St. Jerome's had its first No E-mail Day Feb. 11 and held another March 11. The idea is that by fasting from internal e-mails, workers will be encouraged to actually talk to one another, said Robson.
St. Jerome's had its first No E-mail Day Feb. 11 and held another March 11. The idea is that by fasting from internal e-mails, workers will be encouraged to actually talk to one another, said Robson.
Religious belief keeps anxiety at bay
By Michael Swan, The Catholic Register
{mosimage}TORONTO - Maybe the bus ads should read, “There probably is a God, so stop worrying and get on with your life.”
A team of Toronto scientists has found that believers perform better in certain mental tasks because religious people are less likely to experience anxiety when they make a mistake. People who believe in God worry less.
“We suggest that religious conviction buffers against anxiety by providing relief from the experience of uncertainty and error, and in so doing, strengthening convictions and narrowing attention away from inconsistencies,” wrote psychology professor Michael Inzlicht and his team of researchers from the University of Toronto and York University in an article called “Neural Markers of Religious Conviction” published in Psychological Science on March 4.
A team of Toronto scientists has found that believers perform better in certain mental tasks because religious people are less likely to experience anxiety when they make a mistake. People who believe in God worry less.
“We suggest that religious conviction buffers against anxiety by providing relief from the experience of uncertainty and error, and in so doing, strengthening convictions and narrowing attention away from inconsistencies,” wrote psychology professor Michael Inzlicht and his team of researchers from the University of Toronto and York University in an article called “Neural Markers of Religious Conviction” published in Psychological Science on March 4.
Trustees trying to regain public's trust
By Sheila Dabu Nonato, The Catholic Register
{mosimage}TORONTO - Catholic school trustees say they are taking steps towards rebuilding trust among themselves and with the public.
“We need to be able to talk with each other and try to rebuild the trust that we once had,” said Angela Kennedy, who was elected chair of the board on Jan. 22 but has not been able to take her seat.
A public display of trustee infighting led provincially appointed supervisor Norbert Hartmann to delay the appointment.
“We need to be able to talk with each other and try to rebuild the trust that we once had,” said Angela Kennedy, who was elected chair of the board on Jan. 22 but has not been able to take her seat.
A public display of trustee infighting led provincially appointed supervisor Norbert Hartmann to delay the appointment.
People are not for sale
By Michael Swan, The Catholic Register
{mosimage}TORONTO - While in Bangkok Jenny Cafiso met a woman who was happy to be in a prison cell with 50 other people.
“It was a relief. It was the only way to sort of get away from the clutches of these people,” recalled Cafiso, director of Canadian Jesuits International — an agency that supports the international missionary work of English Canada’s Jesuits.
“It was a relief. It was the only way to sort of get away from the clutches of these people,” recalled Cafiso, director of Canadian Jesuits International — an agency that supports the international missionary work of English Canada’s Jesuits.
Stem cell breakthrough doesn't calm ethical storm, yet
By Michael Swan, The Catholic Register
{mosimage}TORONTO - A major breakthrough in stem cell research may take the science of regenerative medicine beyond the stage of turning human embryos into raw material for medical procedures, but at least one Catholic ethicist wants to know more before she declares the end of ethical wars over the research.
Toronto's Dr. Andras Nagy of Mount Sinai Hospital announced a new technique for creating pluripotent stem cells that can develop into most other types of human tissue. Nagy's method of turning just about any cells (skin cells, blood cells, etc.) into stem cells avoids the use of spare embryos from in vitro fertilization and bypasses previous techniques that used viruses to turn back the clock on adult cells.
Toronto's Dr. Andras Nagy of Mount Sinai Hospital announced a new technique for creating pluripotent stem cells that can develop into most other types of human tissue. Nagy's method of turning just about any cells (skin cells, blood cells, etc.) into stem cells avoids the use of spare embryos from in vitro fertilization and bypasses previous techniques that used viruses to turn back the clock on adult cells.
Celebrating excellence in our schools
By Michael Swan, The Catholic Register, with additional reporting by Carolyn Girard and Sheila Dabu
{mosimage}Dear Readers,
In Ontario’s Catholic schools students, teachers, trustees, parents and administrators walk by faith, not by fear. The gallery of excellence on the following pages is testament to what faith can do with us, among us and for us.
There is a spectre of fear hovering over our history. Before Confederation immigrant Catholics knew the Anglican-controlled school system was a mechanism for their assimilation by the Protestant establishment. They knew very well the establishment held Catholic newcomers in contempt. At Confederation the danger of assimilation was real enough for Catholics to fight a political battle to ensure their education rights in the basic law of the new country.
As Catholic education rights were maliciously and illegally undercut after the First World War, Catholics relied on a secret weapon — religious sisters and brothers who would give their lives to ensure a Catholic education and to preserve the culture and spirituality which sustains the church. As high school became the new standard for a basic education after the Second World War, Catholic parents made financial sacrifices to give their children the necessary education in a Catholic context.
Winning the political and legal battle for full funding in 1984 and for more equal funding in 1998 hasn’t erased the spectre of fear. Today, Catholics worry about the bureaucratization of Catholic education, the focus on testing and measurement at the expense of free enquiry and intellectual growth, a funding formula that leaves boards in a financial straight jacket, falling enrolments everywhere but the suburbs surrounding Toronto and the failures of leadership which have become an embarrassment to us all.
Excellence is not founded in fear. Nor is it the product of worry. Examine especially the young faces in these pages. The excellence they have achieved is founded in faith, hope, love and charity.
In Ontario’s Catholic schools students, teachers, trustees, parents and administrators walk by faith, not by fear. The gallery of excellence on the following pages is testament to what faith can do with us, among us and for us.
There is a spectre of fear hovering over our history. Before Confederation immigrant Catholics knew the Anglican-controlled school system was a mechanism for their assimilation by the Protestant establishment. They knew very well the establishment held Catholic newcomers in contempt. At Confederation the danger of assimilation was real enough for Catholics to fight a political battle to ensure their education rights in the basic law of the new country.
As Catholic education rights were maliciously and illegally undercut after the First World War, Catholics relied on a secret weapon — religious sisters and brothers who would give their lives to ensure a Catholic education and to preserve the culture and spirituality which sustains the church. As high school became the new standard for a basic education after the Second World War, Catholic parents made financial sacrifices to give their children the necessary education in a Catholic context.
Winning the political and legal battle for full funding in 1984 and for more equal funding in 1998 hasn’t erased the spectre of fear. Today, Catholics worry about the bureaucratization of Catholic education, the focus on testing and measurement at the expense of free enquiry and intellectual growth, a funding formula that leaves boards in a financial straight jacket, falling enrolments everywhere but the suburbs surrounding Toronto and the failures of leadership which have become an embarrassment to us all.
Excellence is not founded in fear. Nor is it the product of worry. Examine especially the young faces in these pages. The excellence they have achieved is founded in faith, hope, love and charity.
Conversations with Calvin
By Michael Swan, The Catholic Register
{mosimage}TORONTO - Rev. Paul Bong Kyu Choi is not your grandfather’s kind of Calvinist. He’s definitely not Scottish, nor Dutch, and seems quite uninterested in the sort of dogmatic absolutism that translates into rules against dancing or contempt for Catholics trafficking in hocus-pocus spirituality and mystery.
The pastor of Toronto’s Holy Mountain Presbyterian Church is from Korea, where 19th-century Calvinist preaching swept the Asian nation and became the first widely successful brand of Christianity there. He is also working on his PhD thesis under Jesuit Father John Dadosky at Regis College. The Knox College student chose a Catholic thesis supervisor to deepen his understanding of iconic 20th-century Catholic monk and spiritual writer Thomas Merton.
The pastor of Toronto’s Holy Mountain Presbyterian Church is from Korea, where 19th-century Calvinist preaching swept the Asian nation and became the first widely successful brand of Christianity there. He is also working on his PhD thesis under Jesuit Father John Dadosky at Regis College. The Knox College student chose a Catholic thesis supervisor to deepen his understanding of iconic 20th-century Catholic monk and spiritual writer Thomas Merton.
Trustee to fight dismissal
By Sheila Dabu Nonato, The Catholic Register
{mosimage}TORONTO - Toronto Catholic District School Board trustee Oliver Carroll says he will fight his dismissa l from the board.
While Carroll withdrew a motion to appeal an Ontario Superior Court decision which found him guilty of conflict of interest charges scheduled for Feb. 18, he told The Register that he would be filing an appeal of the decision within a month, along with an appeal to stay on as trustee while the court hearings take place.
While Carroll withdrew a motion to appeal an Ontario Superior Court decision which found him guilty of conflict of interest charges scheduled for Feb. 18, he told The Register that he would be filing an appeal of the decision within a month, along with an appeal to stay on as trustee while the court hearings take place.
Campus pro-life groups regain status
By Catholic Register Staff
{mosimage}The battle for freedom of speech on Canadian university campuses has resulted in two more pro-life clubs regaining status with their student unions.
Choose Life McGill, the pro-life club at McGill University in Montreal, regained status Feb. 12, and Youth Protecting Youth, a club at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, rejoined the ranks of other ratified clubs Feb. 10.
Choose Life McGill, the pro-life club at McGill University in Montreal, regained status Feb. 12, and Youth Protecting Youth, a club at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, rejoined the ranks of other ratified clubs Feb. 10.