BURLINGTON, ONT. - It can be dangerous to say so, but there is no real proof that the Shroud of Turin is authentic. Even the Vatican has never pronounced itself on the authenticity of the world’s most famous piece of linen.

There’s no historical record of it before 1390. Skeptics ask what are the odds that for more than 1,000 years Christians ignored the existence of an image that accurately records Jesus’ likeness at the time of His crucifixion?

In the 14th century there was an enormous industry which produced, bought and sold relics. There were, of course, genuine relics. But the real thing could never possibly satisfy demand for ever more, and ever more dramatic, remembrances of holiness. A shroud somehow recovered from the empty tomb of Jesus — like all the vials of precious blood, and the many, many nails from Jesus’ cross — would surely have been a money maker.

When Ontario Minister of Health Deb Matthews appointed a supervisor to run Windsor’s Hotel-Dieu Grace Hospital Jan. 5, the government-appointed new man took charge of the hospital’s board — including responsibility for the hospital’s Catholic mission and identity.

The previous board chair was dismissed 10 days before Christmas by Catholic Health International, which owns the hospital. That followed a provincial investigation last summer that highlighted an “alarming lack of respect between medical leaders, senior management and the board of directors.”

The dismissed board chair would not comment on whether the board was getting the job done at the Windsor hospital. Read More

For weeks Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace members have been getting their word in edgewise in the House of Commons.

Before Parliament broke for the summer MPs tabled about a dozen petitions asking the government to restore the Canadian bishops’ development agency’s CIDA funding to $49.2 million over the next five years. In February the Canadian International Development Agency cut that number to $14.5 million.

The petitions, most of them from Quebec, also ask the Conservatives to recommit to increasing Canada’s overseas development assistance to 0.7 per cent of gross domestic product. Canada currently spends 0.34 per cent of GDP on foreign aid, one of the lowest percentages among all donor countries. The 2012 federal budget announced plans to cut development assistance a further 7.5 per cent over the next three years.

Christians aiding refugees is nothing new. Christians taking the Canadian government to court so refugees won’t be denied medication, artificial limbs or rehabilitative therapy is.

Hospitality House Refugee Ministry in Winnipeg has launched a lawsuit on behalf of the Anglican diocese of Rupert’s Land claiming breach of contract against Citizenship and Immigration Canada. Hospitality House is trying to block government plans to strip down its health insurance plan for refugees.

Cuts to the Interim Federal Healthcare Program for refugees take effect June 30.

Young and Catholic? That's not good enough for the latest Catholic youth group to start up in English-speaking Canada. For YouFra, the youth wing of the Secular Franciscans, you have to want to change the world — starting with yourself.

"It's about being with and being together and doing together," said YouFra member Kendal Freeman.

The 24-year-old master's student at Antioch University in New Hampshire was attracted to YouFra because she found in St. Francis somebody willing to talk about how the world is and how the world should be.

CALEDON, ONT. - There’s no such thing as Catholicism for the few. Catholic means universal, and Secular Franciscans declared their intention to take their message out to the known universe as they inaugurated a new fraternity at the first ever Franciscan Family Fest at Mt. Alverno Retreat Centre June 24.

Deacon Michael Robertson is one of the founders of the new group of lay Franciscans. He describes it as “a new option to offer people who might want to take their spiritual life beyond the norm.”

When Ottawa-based photographer Mark Schacter realized he had amassed a pretty extensive collection of church photographs, he was a bit surprised.

Schacter will be spending the next year building on his library of church photos, following in the footsteps of some of the great photographers of our day, from Ansel Adams to James Nachtwey. Schacter is adding more churches, as well as synagogues, mosques, gudwaras and temples, for his Houses of Worship project — a book to be published in 2013. The book of photos and essays will concentrate on architecture inspired by faith in Canada and the United States.

Sisters, brothers and religious priests across Canada are praying for the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, but they’re not talking about the organization that represents about 80 per cent of U.S. nuns.

“The LCWR has asked us not to comment at this point,” said Canadian Religious Conference spokesperson Louise Stafford. A number of religious communities across Canada contacted by The Catholic Register  also either declined comment or did not return calls.

The Catholics in Rio de Janeiro for the Rio+20 Earth Summit aren’t quite sold on classic capitalism, nor are they buying a new green version of the markets-solve-everything ideology.

“We have allowed the rules of the marketplace to get out of control and to distort our desires and imaginations,” said a statement from the coalition of the developed world’s Catholic aid organizations, CIDSE, just before the United Nations-sponsored event, which took place June 20-22.

Former Supreme Court Judge Michel Bastarache plans to wrap up a conciliation process with sexual abuse victims in the archdiocese of Moncton within a year.

Bastarache has been tapped by Archbishop André Richard to meet with victims of Fr. Camille Léger and award monetary settlements of $15,000 to $300,000. The archdiocese has also been offering counselling to victims through the Beauséjour Family Crisis Centre since April.