Editor’s note: This is the first in our series of profiles on the men who will graduate from St. Augustine’s Seminary this spring and be ordained to the priesthood for various dioceses.

Russell Asch’s life has been filled with travel, music and culture. Now, it will be filled with the Catholic faith.

The son of opera singers, Asch was born in Montreal but was raised in England. He was an active member of Bevis Marks Sephardic Synagogue during his formative years, as he studied Restoration stone-carving.

It wasn’t until 1997 that Asch, 39, was baptized into the Catholic faith.

TORONTO - The Ontario Catholic School Trustees’ Association conference takes place April 28 to 30 at the Fairmont Royal York in Toronto.

Ontario Minister of Education Leona Dombrowksy will be a keynote speaker at the conference on the opening day of the annual conference.

Among the topics conference speakers and participants will discuss will be the Ontario government’s equity and inclusive education strategy and how it applies to Catholic schools and how the strategy will be implemented in Catholic schools. The issue has caused controversy as Catholic school boards try to implement the strategy while staying true to the teachings of the Catholic Church.

OTTAWA - The Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace launched its annual Share Lent fundraising campaign here March 16 with the goal of raising $10 million.

Under the banner Building a World of Justice, the Canadian bishops' overseas development agency aims to collect $10 million across Canada to go towards more than 200 sustainable development projects it supports in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East.

The theme for this year’s campaign expresses the collective work of the many local organizations that D&P has supported over the last 40 years.

TORONTO - More than 500 members of the Toronto Irish community applauded Norita Fleming as she was chosen Irish Person of the Year at a Hilton Hotel luncheon on March 6.

“I was stunned when I heard — and felt very humble,” said Fleming.

Fleming emigrated to Canada in the mid-1960s where she soon met her husband, Bill. They went on to raise four children in Toronto.

She became one of the founders of the County Cork Association Toronto. As an active member of St. Cecilia’s parish in Toronto, she worked on the St. Patrick’s Day Mass Committee. She headed up the World Youth Day committee at her present parish, St. Luke’s in Thornhill, where she arranged billeting for large groups of pilgrims arriving in Toronto. As one speaker put it, “After that there was no stopping her.”

TORONTO - The sale of Loretto Abbey Catholic High School to the Toronto Catholic District School Board on March 9 ensures the school's 164-year tradition of Catholic education for young women will continue, said Sr. Evanne Hunter.

“Our members made many sacrifices to ensure that Catholic families could avail themselves of a Catholic education for their children, and we are pleased that this beautiful building, so rich with history and tradition, will continue to operate as a Catholic school for young women,” Hunter, provincial leader of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary, also known as the Loretto Sisters, said in a statement.

“Though the giving up of this repository of so much of our history is painful, we Loretto Sisters take solace in the fact that we will continue to be connected to the school for many years,” she said.