Vocation transports her overseas for decades of missionary work in the Land of the Rising Sun
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Sister Michalec shops for fresh produce in Tokyo. She was sent to Japan in 1966
and became fluent in Japanese to teach high school and university students about the
environment. She learns alongside her students "to love our earth with all its mystery,
and history." Special to The B.C. Catholic. |
Alistair Burns has a story about a sister from New
Westminster who works for
God in Japan:
Sister Jean Mary Michalec, MM, has spent decades in Japan preaching the Good News. Born in New Westminster, she celebrated a half-century as a Maryknoll Sister of St. Dominic June 17.
To "put it in a nutshell, I originally wanted to be a missionary," she said in a telephone interview from Japan. "Instead, I went to become a sister."
Read the full story at
The B.C. Catholic website.
OT’s difficult stories draw us deeper into mystery of the Triune God
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Speaking at St. Paul University July 2, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary Scripture
scholar Edith Humphrey addressed the ways even problematic parts of the
Old Testament can draw us more deeply into the mystery of the Trinity.
Deborah Gyapong / CCN. |
The B.C. Catholic has a story from CCN's Deborah Gyapong about a theology scholar who explains how the
Old Testament links to the
Holy Trinity:
It may be tempting to ignore the Old Testament, or to spiritualize its more bloodthirsty or seemingly contradictory stories, but wrestling with them can lead to a deeper understanding of the Gospel and the nature of the Triune God, says Scripture scholar Edith Humphrey.
Whether it is the story of Abraham being told to sacrifice his only son Isaac, God’s genocidal ban placed on some of the peoples who already inhabited the Promised Land, or God portrayed as angry, jealous, or vengeful, these difficulties have sometimes led to heresy, and they continue to tempt Christians today to avoid the Old Testament.
“When God enters the world, He enters this world with all its limitations, corruptions, and conditions,” the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary professor told a plenary session at the Metropolitan Andrei Sheptytsky Institute of Eastern Christian Studies' annual Study Days at Saint Paul University July 2. “That route is messy, and ultimately led to the cross and beyond the cross to Hades itself – which Our Lord conquered, not by waving a wand or by mere proclamation, but by entering those domains and destroying them from the inside.”
Read the full story at
The B.C. Catholic website.
Supporters say 'partisan' charge misses point of bishops' efforts
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| Dr. Matthew Bunson |
Catholic News Association is pointing out in this story that U.S. media do not seem to be totally impartial.
Critics who accuse the U.S. bishops of "partisanship" have misunderstood their motives by viewing religious questions in secular terms, supporters of the Catholic hierarchy say.
"The media has no quibble at all when the bishops issue a statement questioning some aspects of Paul Ryan's budget, or when they express their support of recent decisions on the part of the Obama administration relating to immigration," Church historian Dr. Matthew Bunson told CNA.
"It's only when the bishops decide to exercise their authority in areas the media disagrees with," such as marriage, sexuality, or theological orthodoxy, "that the bishops are suddenly 'reactionary.'"
For
full story see
The B.C. Catholic website.
Catholics provide Syrian refugees with medical treatment
This Catholic News Association story tells of the heartache being caused by the violence in Syria.
It was the end of March when the violence in Syria became unbearable for Salwa, a young mother who lived in the besieged city of Homs with her husband and four children. After more than a year of almost daily bloodshed, she and her family left behind everything they owned and fled Syria with nothing more than the clothes they were wearing.
They crossed the border into neighbouring Jordan, where they finally found safety in the town of Mafraq. There, with the help of Catholic Relief Services, Caritas Jordan is helping families like Salwa's get through the crisis.
For
full story see
The B.C. Catholic website.
Popular pastor faces theft and fraud charges
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| Father Joe LeClair. |
The B.C. Catholic has a story by CCN's Deborah Gyapong about a priest who is accused of taking money from his parish:
Father Joe LeClair, 55, will appear in court July 25 to answer the charges related to the financial administration of Blessed Sacrament Parish in Ottawa’s Glebe neighbourhood.
The Ottawa Police Organized Fraud investigation found more than $240,000 in parish cheques were “misappropriated by the parish priest, Joseph LeClair,” according to a July 3 news release, and “over $160,000 in cash revenues were unaccounted for.” The investigation reviewed parish finances from January 2006 to May 2011
The police found $20,000 worth of furniture and other parish property had been taken from the rectory and some of that was recovered at a residence outside the province.
Read the full story at
The B.C. Catholic website.
Stewardship director gives account of recent International Eucharistic Congress
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| A Virgin Mary statue at St. Damian's monastery in Dublin keeps watch over the faithful. |
Alistair Burns didn't go to the
International Eucharistic Congress in
Dublin but he talked to Barb Dowding,
the vice-chancellor and Stewardship Director of the Archdiocese of Vancouver, who did. The event also included a talk by Archbishop J. Michael Miller, CSB:
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The archbishop's talk highlighted how "important and vital" it is
for mutual respect to exist between clergy and laity.
Barb Dowding / Special to The B.C. Catholic.
|
Barbara Dowding, the vice-chancellor and Stewardship Director of the Archdiocese of Vancouver, usually plans and hosts events for priests, laity, and Catholic organizations. However, at the 50th International Eucharistic Congress in Dublin, she came not as an organizer, but as a pilgrim looking for solace.
"I went with my husband, not in an official capacity, and it was the first time in a long time I didn't have to look out for everyone," she said.
She arrived in the Irish capital for the week-long event June 10. Throughout the week, her enthusiasm grew.
Read the full story at
The B.C. Catholic website.
Government cannot take away true freedom, Archbishop Chaput teaches
This Catholic News Association story records the end of a 2-week campaign in the U.S.
Government cannot give or take away the ultimate freedom found in obedience to God, Philadelphia Archbishop Charles J. Chaput said during his homily at Mass at the close of the U.S. bishops' "Fortnight for Freedom."
"True freedom knows no attachments other than Jesus Christ," Archbishop Chaput said in his July 4 homily at Washington, D.C.'s National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. "True freedom can walk away from anything: wealth, honour, fame, pleasure," he said. "It fears neither the state, nor death itself."
For
full story see
The B.C. Catholic website.
Holy Father extends message of 'deep gratitude' to Patriarch of Constantinople
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| Pope Benedict XVI chats with a member of the Orthodox delegation June 28. (CNS) |
The Vatican newspaper,
L'Osservatore Romano, reports on the Holy Father's meeting
with a delegation sent by the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew I. The group was received on the eve of the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul.
The Pope expressed the hope that progress may be made “to arrive soon at the blessed day when we will be able to share in the Eucharistic banquet."
He recalled the importance of the Second Vatican Council in the development of ecumenical dialogue, which inspired the Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras and the Pontiffs John XXIII and Paul VI. They “made themselves champions of courageous projects that led to renewed relations between the patriarchate and the Catholic Church."
For this very reason the Pope asked the members of the delegation to convey to the patriarch “sentiments of fraternal affection and deep gratitude.”
Read the
full story here.
Pope to visit Lebanon, meet Christians, Muslims in September
Here is a Catholic News Service story about the Pope's next trip abroad.
Pope Benedict XVI will present a papal document addressing the Church's concerns in the Middle East, meet with representatives of local Christian and Muslim communities, and address political and cultural leaders on a three-day visit to Lebanon Sept. 14-16.
Pope Benedict's primary task on the trip will be to present a document, called an apostolic exhortation, based on the deliberations of a special synod of bishops held at the Vatican in 2009. That two-week meeting, which was attended by 185 bishops, most of them from the 22 Eastern Catholic Churches in communion with the Holy See, focused on the precarious circumstances of 5.7 million Catholics in 16 Middle Eastern countries.
For
full story see
The B.C. Catholic website.
Bishops urge Congress to fix health law flaws after high court decision
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| A woman opposed to the administration's health care reform law speaks shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court decision. |
This Catholic News Service story discusses the ramifications of a court
decision on the U.S.'s Patient Protection Act, with particular reference
to the moral issues for Catholics.
The U.S. Supreme Court's June 28 decision upholding the health reform law makes it even more urgent for Congress to act to fix the law's "fundamental flaws" on abortion funding, conscience protection, and immigrants' access to health care, the U.S. bishops said. The court found that although the individual mandate in the 2010 health reform law does not pass constitutional muster under the Commerce Clause of the Constitution, it can be upheld as an acceptable exercise of Congress's taxing powers.
In a 65-page opinion announced by Chief Justice John Roberts, five members of the court upheld the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in full but limited the federal government's right to withhold its share of Medicaid funding from states that do not expand the health program for the low-income and disabled as mandated by the law.
Sister Carol Keehan, president and CEO of the Catholic Health Association, said she was pleased that the health-care law "has been found constitutional and will remain in effect." The Daughter of Charity noted that CHA had submitted friend-of-the-court briefs urging the court to find in favour of the individual mandate and the Medicaid expansion.
For full story see The B.C. Catholic website.
Catholic royal family waits for outcome of July 1 referendum
According to
Maclean's magazine, the citizens of the Principality of Liechtenstein will have an official say on whether their monarch can veto referendum results July 1.
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| Liechtenstein's official flag. |
The voting cycle began when Prince Hans-Adam II, the ruler of Europe's fourth smallest country, threatened to overturn a referendum to legalize abortion in the country.
However, he dropped that threat when the vote failed to pass. The Alpine tax haven is sandwiched between Switzerland, and Austria.
Catholics make up 80 per cent of the population (36,000). Read the
full story here.
Father Larry Richards speaks to a male-only crowd of more than 800
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Father Larry Richards gives his "Be a Man" presentation to over 800 men at
St. Mary's Church June15. Nathan Rumohr / The B.C. Catholic. |
Recently I attended the "Be A Man" talk by
Father Larry Richards at St. Mary's Church. The straight-talking, no-nonsense priest said real men love, pray, and serve God:
The less a man expresses his love to his loved ones, the wimpier he is, said Father Larry Richards.
"If you can't tell your wife and kids you love them, then you are a wimp!" Father Richards said during a presentation called "Be a Man" at St. Mary's Church June 15.
Father Richards is a leading voice in reclaiming the Catholic male identity. The presentation is part of the archdiocesan effort, organized by the archdiocese's Office of Evangelization, to encourage male Catholics to rediscover their God-given manhood.
Read the full story at
The B.C. Catholic website.
University of Texas study says children raised by same-sex couples worse off
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| The homepage of The New Family Structures. a U. of Texas study of the family (www.familystructurestudies.com.) |
Deborah Gyapong of
Canadian Catholic News reports that a new report released by the University of Texas has raised eyebrows.
The New Family Structures study has a large sample size of 15,000 Americans aged 18-39, making it more statistically representative of the U.S. national picture.
The study looks at behaviour rather than identity and asks respondents “if their biological mother or father ever had a romantic relationship with a member of the same sex.” Regnerus was able to find in his sample 175 children who were raised in homes where the mother had a lesbian relationship, and 73 from homes where the father had a homosexual relationship.
He found children raised in the same-sex-relationship homes did less well than children of biologically intact families on a range of outcomes: they were more likely to do poorly in school; to report lower mental and physical health; to experience depression; to be sexually molested; to experience unemployment or part-time employment as adults; to have been in trouble with the law.
Andrea Mrozek, the Institute for Marriage and Family Canada (IMFC)’s research manager says the study was not claiming a cause and effect relationship. “The study does not attempt to address the 'why'; it does not assert causality,” she said.
Read the
full story on The B.C. Catholic website.
Washington rally brings 2,000 together in support of religious freedom
This Catholic News Service story shows that Americans holding out for religious freedom are still loyal to their country; in the photo the Catholics at the rally are saying the Pledge of Allegiance to their country.
In prayerful celebration, more than 2,000 Catholics from all regions of the Archdiocese of Washington gathered June 24 as part of the local church's "fortnight for freedom" campaign in support of the United States' "first and most cherished freedom," religious liberty.
The U.S. bishops dedicated June 21 to July 4 as days to encourage Catholics nationwide to focus on prayer, education, and action in defence of religious freedom. Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl of Washington was joined by Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, the apostolic nuncio to the United States.
For
full story see
The B.C. Catholic website.
Journalist hired for new Holy See post of senior communications adviser
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| Greg Burke, former Fox correspondent in Rome, will work in the Vatican's Secretariat of State. (CNS) |
Carol Glatz of
Catholic News Service reports that the Vatican has hired a layman to communicate the Church's message to major media outlets.
Burke, a native of St. Louis, said he'll make sure everyone at the Vatican "stays on message." He has spent the past 24 years based in Rome as a journalist, the last decade with Fox News.
A good example of a past media storm that could have been avoided was during Pope Benedict XVI's speech on Islam in Regensburg, Germany, in 2006. The Holy Father quoted a medieval Byzantine emperor, who said the prophet Mohammed had brought "things only evil and inhuman."
There might have been no problem, but as a talk televised to the world, "in a sound-bite, headline culture, it's a whole different thing," Burke pointed out.
Despite the Vatican's communication challenges, he said the Church "still has a great message" that needs to get out there. "It's a message of spread the love, which often gets lost in a lot of the static."
Read the
full story here.
Christians cautious about Mohammed Morsi's victory
Here is a Catholic News Service story about the election of a new president in Egypt.
Christians expressed caution about the election of Islamist Mohammed Morsi, the chairman of the Islamic Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party, as Egypt's new president, saying they hope he will follow through on his pledge "to be a president for all Egyptians."
"We have to accept Morsi and now we will see what he will do," said Michel Agram, a 45-year-old worshipper at the Melkite Catholic Church in Cairo's Heliopolis district June 24. "Not all Egypt wants Morsi. You can see that from the results," Agram said of the narrow 882,000-vote margin of victory over Ahmed Shafiq, the last prime minister under ousted President Hosni Mubarak. "I hope he (Morsi) knows this and acts accordingly."
The election of Morsi, 60, has fed fears among Christians and more liberal Muslims that the Islamists will use their political mandate to impose conservative restrictions on dress and behaviour.
For
full story see
The B.C. Catholic website.
Anti-human-trafficking bill passes the Senate
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| Conservative MP Joy Smith |
The B.C. Catholic has a story from Deborah Gyapong, Canadian Catholic News's eye on Ottawa, about the upcoming passage of MP Joy Smith's anti-trafficking bill:
Bill C-310 will receive royal assent June 28 and become law.
It makes human trafficking an extra-territorial offence under the Criminal Code, thus allowing Canada to prosecute citizens and permanent residents for human-trafficking offences committed in other countries where there might be weak laws, inadequate policing, and/or ineffective justice systems.
Read the full story at
The B.C. Catholic website.
New guidelines say parents should be careful not to block vocations
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The Archdiocese of Vancouver's newest priest, Father Pablo Santa Maria, (second
from right) with his sister Ana (left) father Pablo, mother Maria, and brother Humberto.
Father Santa Maria credits his journey to the priesthood to an authentic Catholic upbringing.
Special to The B.C. Catholic.
|
The B.C. Catholic has a story from Catholic News Agency about the Vatican's suggestions to Catholic families to encourage vocations:
Parents should be careful not to block their son’s calling to the priesthood, new Vatican guidelines on promoting vocations say.
“Even though a sense of respect for the figure of the priest is cultivated in Christian families, it is still noticeable, especially in the West, that they have a certain difficulty in accepting that their child may have a vocation to the priesthood,” says the document launched by Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski, head of the Congregation for Catholic Education, at the Vatican June 25.
However, “if families are animated by a spirit of faith, charity, and piety they become, as it were, an ‘initial seminary,’ and they continue to offer favourable conditions for the birth of vocations.”
Read the full story at
The B.C. Catholic website.
Conference titled Vatican II: For the Next Generation, will examine signs of today's times
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| Catherine Clifford |
A conference in Ottawa Sept. 27-29 marking the 50th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council will examine how to "hand on the Gospel today" in light of Vatican II's teachings, said Catherine Clifford, a Saint Paul University theology professor and an organizer of the conference. The conference will be titled
"Vatican II: For the Next Generation."
The conference line-up has drawn some controversy, however.
The SoCon.ca blog has launched an
online petition that blogger John Pacheco hopes will reach 200 names before he sends it at the end of June to Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop Pedro Lopez Quintana.
The letter urges the nuncio to advise
Cardinal Peter Turkson, the president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, who is to give a keynote address, to avoid the "scandal" of appearing at a conference of "dissenters."
For
full story see
The B.C. Catholic website.
