Satan will be overwhelmed if men discover the power of Christ within themselves
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Caption: Peter Herbeck, from EWTN's Crossing the Goal TV show, leads 1,400
men in prayer at the Centre for the Performing Arts in Vancouver Oct. 27.
The men were gathered for the "Man Alive" Catholic men's conference.
Nathan Rumohr / The B.C. Catholic. |
Speakers at the recent
"Man Alive" Catholic men's conference in Vancouver challenged men to man up for Christ and discover that faith is spelled R-I-S-K:
"The power and the dynamism of the Christian life comes when you're ready to take a risk and get off the lazyboy," he said.
Peter Herbeck and Crossing the Goal co-host Brian Patrick were two of the main speakers at the "Man Alive" conference Oct. 27 at the Centre for Performing Arts in Vancouver. They talked about conversion, transformation, and mission.
"'Man Alive!' That's a great title and that's why we are here today," Patrick exclaimed. "We're not here today by accident, because Jesus has called each and every one of us to man up."
"When men's hearts come together in one love and Christ becomes the centre of your life there is a level of brotherhood, friendship, and joy that is shared and is hard to find anywhere else," Herbeck said.
Herbeck said the day's three talks covered the three dimensions that make up the life of a disciple. He noted that humanity is in a time of crisis for discipleship.
Read the full story at
The B.C. Catholic website.
Father Marc Cramer stalled by security but aboriginal parishioners watched historic event
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| Father Marc Cramer. |
The B.C. Catholic has a story by Roman Gonzalez of the Western Catholic Reporter about an Alberta priest who still had a "profound experience" at
St. Kateri Tekakwitha's canonization despite being left out of the event:
Father Marc Cramer was one of seven pilgrims from Our Lady of Seven Sorrows Parish in Hobbema and dozens from across Alberta that attended the canonization of St. Kateri in Rome Oct. 21.
“Kateri is the first native American-born saint and so it’s very important for my parish of Hobbema and for the people there. That’s why I’m glad some people from the parish went as well.”
Other priests that went, including one from St. Paul and another from Saskatoon, were able to get into St. Peter’s Square and managed to reserve seats for Father Cramer and company.
“Unfortunately I couldn’t get in,” he lamented.
“We spent about three hours going through security. We were there early and everything, but it was such a crowd. By the time we got to the gate they had decided to close it off.”
However, all the aboriginal people got into the square and had a good view of the celebration, he said.
Read the full story at
The B.C. Catholic website.
Lower Mainland Catholics invited to open house at Holy Name of Jesus Church
 |
An illustration of the new John Paul II Pastoral Centre which will be located
W 33rd Ave. and Heather Street. |
The historic
John Paul II Pastoral Centre is hoping to move to a new location in 2014, and Lower Mainland Catholics are invited to
an open house rezoning meeting Nov. 8 at
Holy Name of Jesus Church.
The open house starts at 4:30 p.m. and goes to 7:30 p.m.
Read the full summary of the meeting at the
Archdiocese of Vancouver website. Holy Name of Jesus is located at 4925 Cambie Street.
Vancouver crisis pregnancy centre takes Joyce Arthur to court
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Joyce Arthur (pictured here during a recent interview with Brian Lilley
of Sun News Network) is being sued by Christian Advocacy Society
and the Crisis Pregnancy Centre of Vancouver for defaming
the centre in a 2009 report. |
One of Canada's most prominent pro-abortion advocates, Joyce Arthur, is being sued by
the Christian Advocacy Society and the
Crisis Pregnancy Centre of Vancouver.
LifeSiteNews.com reports the suit alleges that Arthur's 2009 report
“Exposing Crisis Pregnancy Centres in British Columbia” gave false information on crisis pregnancy centres:
In the suit against Joyce Arthur and the Pro-Choice Action Network, the Crisis Pregnancy Centre of Vancouver and The Christian Advocacy Society argue that the report by the pro-abortion group not only gave false information but has harmed the ability of the pro-life groups to provide care and help to women in crisis pregnancies.
An Access to Information request revealed that Pro-Choice Action Network received $27,400 from Status of Women Canada starting in 2005 for a project to “expose” crisis pregnancy centres, which the abortion-rights organization calls “fake clinics.”
Read the full story
here.
CISVA progresses with 21st-century education
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St. Patrick's Grade 11 students Candice Binga-an (left) and Tracy Blanco use
a smartphone to research information on Canadian politics during their social
studies class. Nathan Rumohr / The B.C. Catholic. |
The B.C. Catholic has a story about some of the technological and learning advancements in today's Catholic schools:
The modern-day teacher can no longer be the sage on the stage, says Doug Lauson, superintendent of the Catholic Independent Schools of the Vancouver Archdiocese (CISVA); "They have to be the guide on the side."
Education has changed in the 21st century, and Lauson said CISVA has been a driving force. For the last decade CISVA has been getting away from an old education model based on reading, writing, and regurgitating. They now focus on developing a student's skill set by incorporating new teaching methods and technology. Lauson calls this shift "empowering education."
"We have a curriculum now that is based on learning outcomes: in other words, what you want the student to know when they finish the curriculum," he said.
The Ministry of Education recognized the success of this shift earlier this year and sent videographers to St. Patrick's, Our Lady of Mercy, Holy Cross, and St. Helen's schools to document these developments. The videos are on the CISVA website and appear on the B.C. Ministry of Education's YouTube channel.
Read the full story at
The B.C. Catholic website.
Development and Peace launches fall campaign
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A screenshot of a video produced by the Canadian Catholic Organization for
Development and Peace for their fall campaign "International Development - Do it Justice." |
Deborah Gyapong explains the newest campaign from the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace called
“International Development - Do It Justice:”
“International development assistance should be a priority and concern for all Canadians, especially Catholics,” said the statement from Edmonton Archbishop Richard Smith and CCODP National Council president Ron Breau.
According to the CCCB website, the statement also seeks to “respond to possible misunderstandings” that arose out of the delay of this year’s campaign.
“You are aware that changes have been made to the campaign material. Speculation in the media and among some of the membership as to the reasons for the changes has caused considerable anxiety for many,” the statement said. “We want to assure you there is no cause for worry.”
Read the full story at
The B.C. Catholic website.
Montana passes parental notification abortion law
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| People wave flags as they exult over the result of the presidential election. CNS photo / Kevin Lamarque, Reuters. |
Here is a Catholic News Agency story reporting on the results of the Nov. 6 general election in the U.S.
Montana passed a measure requiring abortion facilities to notify parents at least 48 hours before performing the procedure on those under 16 years old.
Gregory Smith, a senior researcher who specializes in Catholic politics at the Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion and Public Life, said it is difficult to pinpoint what effect the contraception mandate and religious freedom issues had on the Catholic vote.
For
full story see
The B.C. Catholic website.
Priest says male gathering was a 'bolt of lightning'
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Tom Peterson (left), Peter Herbeck, and Brian Patrick listen to a question from
the audience during the "Man Alive" Catholic's men's conference Oct. 27 at the
Centre in Vancouver for Performing Arts. Photo by Nathan Rumohr / The B.C. Catholic. |
Here's my story about the recent
"Man Alive" Catholic men's conference in Vancouver:
Kyle Neilson hopes men will set their world on fire for God's glory. The director of evangelization spoke to approximately 1,400 men gathered at the first ever "Man Alive" Catholic men's conference Oct. 27 at the Centre in Vancouver for Performing Arts.
"To become men of faith and set the world on fire we need a model, and that model is Christ," Neilson said.
On stage during the conference was an icon of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which Neilson, who also organized the conference, said served as a visual model for the men.
"Today is going to be an opportunity to look at our lives and consider our mission and the great task the Lord is calling us to," said Archbishop J. Michael Miller, CSB, who celebrated Mass at the event.
********
"I think today's conference was like a bolt of lightning in a dark sky," said Msgr. Gregory Smith, pastor of Christ the Redeemer Parish in West Vancouver and the leader of his parish's men's group, called MEAT (Men Eating And Talking).
"We have a culture that needs renewing and a masculine culture that needs strengthening. I saw those things happening in front of my eyes today."
Read the full story at
The B.C. Catholic website.
Author of Raising Good Children offers 11 principles
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Thomas Lickona poses for a photo with Gillian Roussy, an event organizer for
the Neeje Association, at an event sponsored by the association in Ottawa.
Debroah Gyapong / CCN. |
The B.C. Catholic has a story by Deborah Gyapong about a development psychologist who gave Ottawa parents some tips on how to build character and virtue in their children:
“I am not a perfect parent,” said the grandfather of 10. “All of us blow our stacks and do things we regret.”
Our children do not need a perfect role model, only someone who is trying, he said, noting that it is good for them to see someone struggling, because the life of virtue is a life of struggle.
First, parents must make character development in their children a priority and stress the long view, Lickona said, stressing parents must know what virtues make up good character. He listed wisdom or good judgment, justice, fortitude or inner toughness, self-control, love (being willing to sacrifice for others,) a positive attitude, hard work, integrity (honesty with oneself), gratitude and humility (a desire to be a better person.) These virtues allow us to do our best work, forming performance character and allow us to be our best self, forming our moral character, he said.
Read the full story at
The B.C. Catholic website.
Lawyers say country shocked about decision
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| Pro-life activists demonstrate in front the Council of Europe in
Strasbourg, France, over an abortion issue. CNS photo / Vincent Kessler,
Reuters. |
Catholic News Agency reports that the
European Court of Human Rights fined Poland $80,000 U.S. dollars Oct. 30 for denying an abortion to a girl who was allegedly raped as a 14-year-old in 2008.
Anette Ignatowicz, a former policy adviser for European Dignity Watch, an organization which investigates EU institutions, weighed in that the court's fine "is yet another attempt to push legalizing abortion in Poland."
"It's enough to look at the Centre for Reproductive Rights website to see the cases titled 'high-impact cases' seek to strengthen legal protections for women's reproductive rights in courts and human rights bodies around the world," Ignatowicz said.
According to statistics, Poland is pro-life, and the tendency is growing, with 76 per cent of Poles aged 15 to 24 favouring a total ban on abortion.
For
full story see
The B.C. Catholic website.
Graham Osborne hosts educational conferences across B.C. from November until March
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| Graham Osborne |
There will be nine Shy Catholic Conferences
occurring at local parishes in the upcoming months. The first three will be in close succession
to lead up to the start of Catholics Come Home and the Year of the Faith.
The first event takes place at Sacred Heart Parish
in Ladner Nov. 17. Events on Dec. 1 and 8
will then be held at St. Mary’s in Chilliwack and St. James in Abbotsford
respectively. February will see five conferences: Immaculate Conception in
Delta on the 9, Our Lady or Mercy in Burnaby on the 16, Christ the Redeemer in
North Vancouver on the 17, Our Lady of Good Counsel in Surrey on the 18, and
Star of the Sea in White Rock on the 23. The final scheduled conference will be
on Mar. 9 at St. Ann’s in Abbotsford.
Graham Osborne reports that more conferences may be booked
in the upcoming weeks. Contacting your parish priest or office will provide more
information on the booking or attending of these events. To contact Graham Osborne, send an email to:
grahamosborne@telus.net.
Shepherd lays out three challenges
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Caption: Archbishop Miller poses for a photo with Tom Peterson, president and
founder of Catholics Come Home, during the first annual Archbishop's Dinner Oct. 25.
Photo by Jeff Tsang / Special to The B.C. Catholic |
Recently I joined almost 1000 Lower Mainland Catholics at the first annual
Archbishop's Dinner at the Hyatt Regency Hotel Oct. 25 to hear Vancouver's archbishop share his vision for the archdiocese:
"Where is the pathway of history pointing us as an archdiocese?" Archbishop J. Michael Miller, CSB, asked. "The duty of the universal Church in any age, and so it is also for our local church, is to read the 'signs of the times'; that is, to discern the particular challenges, possibilities, and difficulties that confront it in living and proclaiming the good news."
The archbishop proposed three challenges at the event: to build up the infrastructure in the archdiocese, to foster a culture of vocation, to and bring fallen-away Catholics home.
But before the archbishop detailed his challenges, he talked about the successes and developments of the archdiocese over the last 50 years.
"Fifty years ago there were fewer than 120,000 Catholics in the archdiocese, about 13 per cent of the total population," he said. "Today, we are over 465,000, 17.5 per cent of the total."
Read the full story at
The B.C. Catholic website.
Joy Smith invites civil society to join the fight fight
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| Conservative MP Joy Smith. Photo courtesy Joy Smith MP's office. |
The B.C. Catholic has a story by Deborah Gyapong about a new foundation, established by Conservative MP Joy Smith, that assists victims of sex trafficking:
The Joy Smith Foundation is a registered, non-profit organization where “every red cent goes to the victims and the NGOs that take care of them,” Smith said in an interview from San Jose California Nov. 2. She was a keynote speaker at the city's Not for Sale 2012 Global Forum.
Nonpolitical and nonpartisan, the foundation is all about the victims. “I bring in the money for the people who need it,” she said.
She hopes the Canadian public become engaged and stand up for what’s right. “No one comes to Canada to be bought and sold but to build a new life,” she said. “This is not what our country stands for.”
Read the full story at
The B.C. Catholic website.
Saint Frances Xavier shrine back in action in Chicago after a decade
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| Construction workers are seen outside the newly renovated National
Shrine of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini in January. CNS photo / Karen
Callaway / Catholic New World. |
Catholic News Agency reports that, after being closed for 10 years, the
National Shrine of Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini in Chicago has reopened.
For a decade the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus have worked to reopen the shrine, which is the former chapel of Columbus Hospital. Mother Cabrini founded Columbus Hospital in 1905, but the hospital was torn down in 2001 and the shrine closed in 2002.
Mother Cabrini, born in Italy, arrived in the U.S. in 1889. She went on to establish 67 institutions including hospitals, schools, and orphanages across North America and Latin America. She became the first U.S. citizen to be canonized and she is the patron saint of immigrants.
For full story see
The B.C. Catholic website.
Lower Mainland Catholics invited to open house at Holy Name of Jesus Church
|
An illustration of the new John Paul II Pastoral Centre which will be located
W 33rd Ave. and Heather Street. |
The historic
John Paul II Pastoral Centre is hoping to move to a new location in 2014, and Lower Mainland Catholics are invited to
an open house rezoning meeting Nov. 8 at
Holy Name of Jesus Church:
The application will permit the development of the John Paul II Pastoral Centre, which will house the administrative offices of Catholic Charities, on the southwest corner of the site, along with nine residential units for retired priests, and a small chapel.
Specifically, the rezoning application is to amend the CD-1 Bylaw for the Campus of Care, once that Bylaw is enacted by Council. The proposed amendments, which will apply to Sub-Area C of the newly enacted Bylaw, are to amend Section 3.2 of the Draft CD-1 Bylaw to:
• add “General Office (Social Service Centre)” as a permitted use, to permit both administrative functions and the delivery of social services offered by Catholic Charities to occupy the building;
• add “Multiple Residential” as a permitted use to permit the construction of 9 residential units for retired priests, to be developed as social housing; and,
• add “Church” as a permitted use to permit the inclusion of a “Chapel” and “Religious Meeting Room.”
Read the full summary of the meeting at the
Archdiocese of Vancouver website. Holy Name of Jesus is located at 4925 Cambie Street.
Three South Sudanese kids attend Catholic school, thanks to Immaculate Conception cookie drive
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Maddie Buss (left)learned about the plight of
South Sudanese children from Father Martin Ochaya.
Special to The B.C. Catholic.
|
Carolyn Francis has a story about Maddie Buss, a lector at Immaculate Conception Parish, who along with some friends are selling homemade cookies to raise money for
needy children in South Sudan:
The group, from Immaculate Conception Parish in Vancouver, got to know visiting priest Father Martin Ochaya and heard from him about the plight of Sudanese children.
"Maddie spent a few weeks during the summer holidays going to daily morning Mass and reading at the service," said Maddie's mother, Cate Buss. Through this daily interaction Maddie got to know Father Ochaya well.
"As she listened to him talk about the kids in South Sudan the children became very real to her. She wanted to do something to help."
The Church remains the main provider of education in South Sudan. During this time of peace, children are flocking to schools in huge numbers. Schools are unprepared for this, so single classrooms can have up to 200 students. Many of the children are orphans due to AIDS or war.
Read the full story at
The B.C. Catholic website.
Activist for the unborn counts on Christ’s strength to cope with imprisonment
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A screenshot of a video documenting Linda Gibbon's Oct. 30 arrest outside a
Morgentaler abortion clinic in Toronto. |
Pro-life activist Linda Gibbons has been arrested again for breaking a
"temporary injunction" and praying in front of a Toronto abortion clinic. Deborah Gyapong caught up with the recent recipient of the
Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal, who shared why she continues to advocate for the unborn despite the hardships she has gone through:
“We will remain free in our love, we will not be coerced by the government to turn our backs on the unborn child,” Gibbons told CCN in an exclusive phone interview from Toronto days before her latest arrest. “If that lands us in court, that’s a gift, another providential opportunity to do the Lord’s work.”
“When hoping and praying become a criminal activity, where is our freedom?” she asked.
Gibbons said her fellow inmates often ask her how she can stand the confinement, and being away from her family. “I always tell the girls, ‘One day at a time with Jesus.' It is Christ’s strength that gives you that fortitude to persevere.”
Read the full story at
The B.C. Catholic website.
Second company wins injunction against federal contraception mandate
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| Members of a pro-life youth group join hundreds for the "Stand Up For
Religious Freedom Rally" June 8 in Chicago. Rallies held across the
nation took aim at the government's HHS mandate that will require most
employers to cover contraception and sterilization procedures in their
health plans. CNS photo / Karen Callaway, Catholic New World. |
This Catholic News Agency story reports that a federal judge in Michigan has granted the second
temporary injunction against the federal contraception mandate to plaintiffs who argue that it violates their right to freely practise their religion in business decisions.
"This is not only a victory for our clients, but for religious freedom," said Erin Mersino, lead counsel on the case for the Thomas More Law Center, which is representing Weingartz Supply Company and its president Daniel Weingartz.
Joining in the lawsuit was Legatus, a non-profit organization of Catholic business owners and CEOs seeking to live out their faith in their professional and personal lives.
For
full story see
The B.C. Catholic website.
A Guardian blog says a group of sex workers are 'inspiring examples'
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Shabana, a member of the Vamp collective of sex workers in India. She proudly
boasts that had she been married she would have had HIV.
Photo by Stephanie Hardt. |
So making a living off sex is an example of female empowerment? That's what a post on the Guardian's
POVERTYMATTERBLOG says. The blog is sponsored by the
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
The post was written by
Andrea Cornwall, a political anthropologist at the University of Sussex in Brighton, U.K. who serves as the director of
an organization that focuses on the "development" of women. Cornwall profiles a group of sex workers in India who were proud of their line of work:
When the multi-country research program that I direct, Pathways of Women's Empowerment,
began its search for inspiring examples of empowerment, in 2006, few
might have imagined it would take us to a collective of sex workers in a
town in the heart of Maharashtra in India.
But the stories of empowerment I heard when I visited the Sangli headquarters of the Vamp collective
not only summed up some of the most important lessons we were learning
in the program about what works to support women's empowerment, they
were also among the most impressive.
Read more
here.
Archbishop's Augustinian prayer reflects how 'our hearts are restless until they rest in Him'
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A university student recieves communion from Archbishop J. Michael Miller, CSB,
during the fourth annual university students' Mass at Holy Rosary Cathedral Oct. 20.
Alistair Burns / The B.C. Catholic. |
Here's a story about the recent university Mass:
Archbishop J. Michael Miller, CSB, said the Mass with seven priests concelebrating. Among them were three university chaplains: Fathers Robert Allore, SJ (St. Mark's College), Justin Huang (Redeemer Pacific College), and Fernando Mignone (Simon Fraser University). On high, in the choir loft, the choir from Redeemer Pacific College provided exquisite hymns in Latin and in English.
Archbishop Miller began his homily by saying we are "called by Blessed John Henry Newman to allow the radiant light of Gospel truth to shine on our studies, our research, and our lives."
"You give hope to me because of your apostolic initiatives on campus, so I thank you for your witness."
He asked those in attendance to reflect on the prayer found at the beginning of St. Augustine's seminal work, Confessions.
"You made us, O Lord, for Yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in You."
Read the full story at
The B.C. Catholic website.
