Iraqi Christian horrors explored in documentary

Documentary exposes persecution

Residents place Iraqi national flags on coffins during a funeral at the Syrian Catholic cathedral in Baghdad, Iraq.
Thaier al-Sudani / Reuters / CNS

The B.C. Catholic profiles an upcoming Vision TV documentary "Persecuted Christians." The documentary focuses on the horrors experienced by Christians in the Middle East:

Martin Himel's documentary "Persecuted Christians" will be shown on VisionTV Wednesday, March 14, at 7 p.m. Pacific Time.

The film contains rare footage of locations where Himel, an award-winning filmmaker and veteran war correspondent, was able to shoot atrocities taking place. These include Our Lady of Deliverance Church in Baghdad, where a bloody attack on Iraqi Christians broke out in 2010.

Read the full story at The B.C. Catholic website.

Parents organization says parents are first educators

Parents must defend children against anti-family indoctrination says PAFE director

Parents groups in B.C. are also taking a stand against the government's education polices. Representatives from the Catholic Civil Rights League and the Kids First Parent Association of Canada, sign “The Declaration on the Authority of Parents and Guardians in the Education of their Children,” in front of Premier Christy Clark's office. The B.C. Catholic will have full coverage in the March 12 issue.

 It looks like parents across Canada are getting a bit testy with the government's "indoctrination" of their children. Deborah Gyapong of Canadian Catholic News Service reports on the efforts an organization is having in Ottawa:

Parents must assert their rights as first educators of their children or bear the consequences of a government policy that will profoundly re-engineer their children’s views on family and sexuality.

That’s the message that Parents As First Educators (PAFE) director Teresa Pierre brought to three Ottawa Catholic churches Mar. 3-4.

“You need to start getting involved,” she warned. “Start attending your parent teacher meetings and start asking questions when you hear a proposal offered that doesn’t sound quite right or worse, when you don’t hear anything at all.”



Read the full story at The B.C. Catholic website.

NAC Martyrs defeat Red Mat

U.S. seminarians win first match of Clericus Cup soccer series

Football (soccer) must be the universal sport; even seminaries form teams to compete with other seminaries.

Seminarians from the Pontifical North American College pray after playing Redemptoris Mater in a Clericus Cup soccer match in Rome March 3.

Seminarians from the Pontifical North American College scored a 1-0 win against three-time tourney champions Redemptoris Mater in the first round play of the Clericus Cup March 3.

A powerful sideline throw-in near the net by Justin Blanc of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, W.Va., deflected off the opposing goalie's fingertips and landed in the net.

For full story see The B.C. Catholic website.

Cardinal is a 'real American'

Cardinal dismayed that White House rebuffs religious freedom concerns

Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York. CNS photo/Gregory A. Shemitz

Is it too late for Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York to enter the Republican Primary? He seems to defend American freedom more than U.S. politicians. The B.C. Catholic has a Catholic News Service story where the tireless cardinal fights for Catholic freedoms against Obama's health mandate:

In a strongly worded letter to his fellow bishops, Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York charged that White House officials failed to consider the U.S. bishops' concerns that the federal mandate governing employer coverage of contraception and sterilization under the health care law violated religious freedom principles.

An invitation from the White House to "work out the wrinkles" regarding the mandate either by rescinding it or at least widening the exemptions on religious grounds failed to reach an agreement and the effort "seems to be stalled," he said in the letter released late March 2.

Read the full story at The B.C. Catholic website.

Groups want to end prostitution not decriminalize it

Christian groups advocate the abolition of prostitution

Evangelical Fellowship of Canada's president Bruce Clemenger, with EFC policy analyst Julia Beazley (left) and Defend Dignity founder Glendyne Gerrard. CCN photo.

The B.C. Catholic has an article from Deborah Gyapong of Canadian Catholic News Service that details the efforts of the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada against prostitution:

As a battle Canada’s prostitution laws wends its way through the courts, some Christian groups are campaigning to abolish prostitution.

Last year, an Ontario judge struck down Canada’s prostitution laws as unconstitutional, agreeing with the prostitutes who brought the case that the present laws endanger their security of person, forcing them to work on the streets or unable to seek help from police. The decision has been appealed.

Read the full story at The B.C. Catholic website.

400 years in Canada

Archbishop J. Michael Miller, CSB, recalls Jesuits' local impact

Archbishop J. Michael Miller, CSB (centre), celebrates Mass in Holy Name of Jesus Church. Concelebrating are Jesuit Fathers (left to right) Elton Fernandes, John W. McCarthy, Robert Allore, and Robert K.L. Wong; and Msgr. Mark Hagemoen.

The Society of Jesus is celebrating not only 400 years in Canada, but also a history stretching back to 1921 in the Archdiocese of Vancouver.

"We are blessed to have four Jesuits assigned to this archdiocese," Archbishop J. Michael Miller, CSB, said in his homily during Mass in Holy Name of Jesus Church Feb. 26. Famous Jesuit astronomer Brother Guy Consolmagno, SJ, was there as a special guest.

For full story see The B.C. Catholic website.

Catholic rock show gets personal

Matt Maher opened the Archdicoese
of Vancouver's "One " Conference
playing to over 1000 people.
Photo courtesy Jason Dimaculangan
Special to The B.C. Catholic 

Christian music star rocks archdiocesan conference opening night
Usually Matt Maher is the head-liner, but recently he played opening act for the archdiocese "one" conference. The B.C. Catholic website covers the Christian music star's show, and after party:


Matt Maher took time out of his busy Eastern North American tour to open the archdiocese's One Conference, held Feb. 17-18 at the Vancouver Convention Centre. The Christian music star played to an excited capacity crowd, but it was his testimony and insight that stole the show.


After Maher revved up the crowd, he slowed them down and got personal.


Read the full story at The B.C. Catholic website.

EFC wants a compassionate 2012 federal budget

Image via Wikipedia

Make families, charities and compassion a 2012 budget priority---EFC

The B.C. Catholic website has an article from Deborah Gyapong of Canadian Catholic News Service, which details the requests made by the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada towards the 2012 federal budget:

The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada (EFC) is urging the federal government to make families, compassion and charities priorities in its upcoming 2012 budget.

Though the national association for Evangelical Christian denominations, institutions, organizations and individuals does not usually engage in pre-budget consultations, it stressed that “a budget is fundamentally a moral document.”

Read the full story on The B.C. Catholic website.

U.S. bishops seek a rescinding of suffocating HHS mandates

More 'confusion than clarity' about HHS mandate, Cardinal Dolan says

Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. (CNS photo/Nancy Phelan Wiechec)

The B.C. Catholic website has the latest on the battle between U.S. bishops and the controversial  Health and Human Services' contraceptive mandate. The HHS revised their policy to allow Catholic institutions to opt out of paying for contraceptives through health plans, however Catholic News Service reports that U.S. bishops will not go quietly into the night over this issue:

Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said there is more "confusion than clarity" in the revised federal contraceptive mandate.

In a March 1 blog entry on the New York archdiocesan website, the cardinal said the U.S. bishops will "keep up advocacy and education on the issue" and "continue to seek a rescinding of the suffocating mandates that require us to violate our moral convictions."

Read the full story on The B.C. Catholic website.

'One' big Catholic family in Vancouver

One faith, body, & mission combine for 'one big success'

Archbishop J. Michael Miller, CSB celebrated Mass along with many other priests to conclude the two-day conference. Photo by Jason Dimaculangan / Special to The B.C. Catholic

The B.C. Catholic website has coverage of the Archdiocese of Vancouver "One" Conference:

It was billed as "one faith, one body, one mission," and by the end of it, "One Conference" was one big success. The annual event, held Feb 17-18 at the Vancouver Convention Centre, encompassed seminars, talks, and workshops with the goal of educating the people of the Archdiocese of Vancouver and getting them networking.

"We wanted to honour the work and legacy of Congress, but also wanted to make it something new," said One Conference organizer Pat Gillespie. "Seasoned conference-goers told me that One Conference was on the same level as any in North America."

Read the full story at The B.C. Catholic website.

Charities not shy about Catholic identity

Catholic identity of Caritas network never in doubt says general secretary

Development and Peace executive director Michael Casey and Caritas Internationalis General Secretary Michel Roy. Photo courtesy of Canadian Catholic News

On The B.C. Catholic website is Deborah Gyapong's article about what Caritas' effect is having on the world:

The Catholic identity of Caritas Internationalis has “never been put into doubt” said its general secretary Michel Roy.

Not only that, the influence of the international federation of Catholic charities has continued to grow on the world stage, said Roy who has been in his present position for a little less than a year.

Read the full story at The B.C. Catholic website.

Scripture not only sacred but tough

Image via Wikipedia

God's Word: new exhibit shows Bible's evolution, beauty, perseverance

Jesus wasn't kidding when he said that nothing will prevail against the Church. Just look at the toughness of Sacred Scripture. Carol Glatz of Catholic News Service profiles Verbum Domini, a interfaith exhibit that show's scripture's evolution through strife, decay, and even rodent infestation:

Desecration, censorship, the ravages of time and even nesting mice have been unable to destroy the word of God, handed down for millennia by people of faith.

The endurance of sacred Scripture is the centrepiece of a new interfaith exhibit called Verbum Domini, which brings to the Vatican rare biblical texts and artifacts spanning a period from the third century B.C. to the 17th century.

"We seek to tell the amazing story of the preservation and translation of the most loved, most debated and the best-selling book every year and of all time," said Steve Green, an entrepreneur and the primary benefactor of The Green Collection, a private collection of more than 40,000 biblical antiquities.

Read the full story at The B.C. Catholic website.

In this week’s B.C. Catholic

Here’s what’s inside the March 5, 2012 scientifically themed edition of The B.C. Catholic Newspaper:

• Brother Guy Consomagno, SJ, lectures about the "Vatican plot" to reclassify Pluto, educate on the relationship of science and religion, and attends a special Mass celebrating the 400 year anniversary of Jesuits in Canada
• You can't have innovative science without life, and the Sisters of Life explain the ways to keep life away from abortion
• Unfortunetley mortal life ends at some point, but The B.C. Catholic helps prepare for the final hour with a special "Eternal Life: Planning and Prepartion" supplement
• Father Vincent Hawkswell reminds that God has 10 commandments, not ten suggestions
• The Pope speaks against profits that arise from infertility
• And Canadian Catholics will soon have a national magazine called Convivium. The B.C. Catholic previews the magazine, which drives religion back into the public sphere.

 To subscribe to The B.C. Catholic newspaper (hard copy) for 1 year, the cost is $40 in Canada, $55 in the USA, and $70 overseas. Prices include GST.

Many parishes in the Archdiocese of Vancouver offer The B.C. Catholic to their parishioners. Check with your parish office and ask whether complementary subscriptions are provided.  

'Frost Things' melts into 'Convivium'

Renew conviviality in Canadian culture: an interview with Peter Stockland

Peter Stockland (left), the publisher of Convivium magazine, explains to C.S. Morrissey how the publication, edited by Father Raymond J. De Souza, got its name. Photo by Clayton Richard Long/Special to The B.C. Catholic.

C.S.Morrissey recently sat down with the legendary Peter Stockland for a Q and A about the Catholic magazine Convivium:

CSM: In Latin, "convivium" means "banquet." The Greek equivalent would be "symposium," as in the title of the philosopher Plato's famous masterpiece.

PS: On our Convivium website, Father Raymond J. de Souza has written about "convivium." He points out, as I'm sure you already know, that it literally means "living together."

"It implies a certain good cheer and hospitable spirit, as found at a festive banquet, a convivium," he writes.  

Read the full story at The B.C. Catholic website. 

The shroud is here in Vancouver

Image via Wikipedia

Exhibit enlivens shroud



An exhibit of the Shroud of Turin is taking place at St. Mary's Parish until March 7. The exhibits organizers recently told The B.C. Catholic about the shrouds mysteries:

The Lord always finds a way to enter our lives, either spiritually through the heart, or physically through artifacts. The much-debated Shroud of Turin can be one of these ways.

"The Holy Face of the Shroud has miraculously converted souls, including mine," said Mildred Moy, organizer of the Shroud of Turin exhibit at St. Mary's Parish. It will take place March 1-7.

Read the full story at The B.C. Catholic website. 

Parish supports children with HIV

Edmonton parish reaches out to Guatemalan children with HIV

Roxanne Dias says spending 14 days holding babies afflicted with HIV/AIDS changed her life. Photo courtesy of The Western Catholic Reporter

In the latest article on The B.C. Catholic website, Ramon Gonzalez of the Western Catholic Reporter shares the journey of a young group of Edmonton parishioners assisting children with HIV in Guatemala:


Roxanne Dias says her life changed after she spent 14 days in a Guatemalan orphanage interacting with small children with HIV/AIDS.

“It changed what I want to do with my life,” says the 17-year-old student. “At first I just wanted to get rich and live the life. Now I just feel I have to go back. All these children want is love.”

Read the full story at The B.C. Catholic website. 

Rouge et noir

Ohio community mourns after 'senseless tragedy' at high school

People hold candles during a Feb. 28 vigil in St. Mary's Catholic Church in remembrance of the victims of a school shooting that morning in Chardon, Ohio.

People hold candles during a Feb. 28 vigil in St. Mary's Catholic Church in remembrance of the victims of a school shooting that morning in Chardon, Ohio.

Ohio community mourns after 'senseless tragedy' at high school


Here is a Catholic News Service report of the school shooting in Ohio. The community may call it a "senseless tragedy," but what would an impartial outsider think of a community that by its actions (so many people having and carrying guns) inevitably downplays the seriousness of deadly weapons?

Wearing Chardon High School colours of red and black and carrying candles and red flowers, more than 3,000 people from Chardon and neighbouring communities gathered inside and outside St. Mary Catholic Church for an evening vigil Feb. 28 to pray with and comfort one another after the tragic shooting at the high school.

Five students were shot Feb. 27 when a teenager opened fire around 7:40 a.m. in the cafeteria at Chardon High School in the Cleveland suburbs. The shooting victims were rushed to the hospital, where Daniel Parmertor, 16, a St. Mary parishioner, was declared dead. Demetrius Hewlin, 16, died later that day. His mother Phyllis is a member of St. Mary Parish. The other victims were Russell King Jr., 17, who died, Nick Walczak, 17, still in hospital March 1, and Joy Rickers, 18, released from hospital Feb. 28.

For full story see The B.C. Catholic website.

VSB 'censures' out of context: accused

Trustees still under fire for perceived 'homophobic' behaviour

In the latest article on The B.C. Catholic website covers the heated meeting Vancouver School Board conducted over two of its two trustees being censured:

Bedlam broke out at a recent Vancouver School Board meeting when school trustees Ken Denike and Sophia Woo, members of the Non Partisan Association (NPA), faced more questions about speaking against same-sex attraction.

The two trustees were censured in January for perceived gay fear-mongering. They were recorded at a picnic last August warning a Christian group that Vision Vancouver was considering forcing schools to teach same-sex-attraction issues.

The issue did not make it onto the VSB's agenda, but the video "went viral" through YouTube, and led to the two trustees being labelled as "homophobic." According to Denike, the content of the video was taken out of context.

Read the full story at The B.C. Catholic website.

Brother 'playing in God's universe'

Vatican astronomer links religion and science in annual talk



The B.C. Catholic website has an article by Joanne Koslowski of the Praire Messenger on Vatican astronomer Brother Guy Gonsolmagno, SJ's lecture explaining the relationship of science and religion:

Vatican astronomer Brother Guy Consolmagno, SJ, delivered the 33rd annual Nash Memorial Lecture to a capacity crowd at Campion College Feb. 2.

A graduate of MIT and the University of Arizona, Consolmagno entered the Jesuits in 1989 and was appointed to the Vatican observatory in 1993, where he currently serves as the curator of the Vatican meteorite collection and director of Public Relations for the Vatican Observatory.

Read the full story at The B.C. Catholic website. Also check out the March 5th issue of The B.C. Catholic for coverage of Brother Consolmagno's trip through Vancouver.

Easter collection for Midle East Catholics

Vatican asks Catholics to help Christians in Holy Land

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

Cardinal Leonardo Sandri (Centre)

Currently on The B.C. Catholic website Cindy Wooden of Catholic News Service reports on the efforts of Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, prefect of the Congregation for Eastern Churches, in asking bishops worldwide to participate in a Easter collection for Middle Eastern Catholics:

Tension, hostility and even violence are the "daily bread" of many of the Christian communities living in the biblical lands of the Middle East, said Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, prefect of the Congregation for Eastern Churches.

In a letter to bishops around the world, Cardinal Sandri asked for widespread participation in the annual collection on behalf of Christians in the Holy Land. The Vatican released the cardinal's letter March 1.

The collection, coordinated by the Congregation for Eastern Churches, is taken up during Good Friday services in many dioceses.

Read the full article at The B.C. Catholic website.