WASHINGTON – Amid a federal judge ordering the government to broaden the exemptions to the immigration travel ban upheld partially upheld by the Supreme Court, U.S. Catholic and Lutheran leaders lamented that the immigration cap had been reached for refugees without such exemptions for the 2017 fiscal year.

Canada welcomed World Refugee Day on June 20 with at least 45,000 already-sponsored refugees scattered across the globe, stuck waiting as long as four years while their ready-and-willing sponsors in Canada marvel at the willingness of government bureaucracy to squander their dedication, faith and good will.

OTTAWA – Holy Redeemer, a parish in the Ottawa archdiocese, didn’t stop at bringing in one Syrian refugee family. They brought in three — and plan to bring in three more.

DAUPHIN, Manitoba – Ken Yakielashek, a Catholic and semiretired farmer in the Canadian Prairies, says he remembers when Christians of varying denominations “wouldn’t talk to one another.”

In what will be a record year for refugees finding a new home in the Archdiocese of Toronto, an 18-hour flurry of paperwork may have made the difference for as many as 700 Syrian refugees.

Among the first planeload of Syrian refugees to land at Toronto Pearson International Airport around 9 p.m. Dec. 10, at least one family has made it to Canada thanks to Catholic refugee sponsorship.

TORONTO - For Ghina Al-Sewaidi — lawyer, Muslim and Iraqi-Canadian — the correct word to describe Islamic State attacks on Yezidi and Mandaean people is genocide. The correct response is to sponsor the survivors through Canada’s refugee system.

TORONTO - Catholic refugee sponsors stand ready to do their part in bringing 10,000 Syrian refugees to Canada, but they want to hear more from the federal government about its plans.