A Canadian priest who served in three different Canadian dioceses from 2010 to 2013 has been convicted by a French court in the 2019 sexual assault of four teenage girls in France and Italy.

Helpful solution

The Archdiocese of Toronto recently announced that, as of Oct. 8, it requires “all employees,” including priests, lay ministers and parish volunteers, at “the workplace, be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or provide regular proof of … negative COVID-19 test results.” Essentially it has mandated vaccination but also offered an alternative.

The federal government’s policy of requiring applicants for summer jobs grants to attest support for abortion rights was “reasonable,” a federal court judge has ruled.

Healing path

Re: Money will be raised, but how to spend it? (Fr. Raymond J. de Souza, Oct. 10):

Contrition needed

I wondered why the Indigenous peoples had a lukewarm response to the Canadian bishops’ apology. Could the reason be that it was termed an “apology”? 

Incomplete apology

We can be grateful that the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops has finally issued an apology for the Church’s role in residential schools.

Great deception

Re: Digging deep into ‘The Warning’ signs (Sr. Helena Burns, Sept. 19):

Secular observers note that the “present time” is experiencing “signs” of apocalyptic proportions: plague, pestilence, fire, flood, military defeat and economic turmoil. For Catholics these signs are augmented by distress over the scandal of the residential schools, the extension of MAiD and the juggernaut of the continuing sexual revolution.

Act of love

Re: Best, worst of times for abortion debate (Peter Stockland, Sept. 12):

Mr. Stockland’s observations are, as usual, insightful, thoughtful and poignant. I am however perplexed by his concluding paragraph. While I acknowledge that the Church discerns that vaccination is “a matter of individual conscience,” also note that the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith dismisses the objections some individual Christians have regarding the morality of using some of the COVID-19 vaccines. More recently, Pope Francis has stated: “Being vaccinated with vaccines authorized by the competent authorities is an act of love. And contributing to ensure the majority of people are vaccinated is an act of love.”