Hopes high Pope’s African visit will clear path to peace

Braving a volatile political and security situation, Pope Francis embarks on a long-anticipated journey of unity and reconciliation to two African countries wracked by bitter divisions, warring factions and humanitarian crises seldom on the radar of international power brokers.
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Posted: Jan. 27, 2023 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=13156
Categories: Catholic Register • In this article: DR Congo, peace, Pope Francis, South Sudan Transmis : 27 janv. 2023 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=13156
Catégorie : Catholic Register • Dans cet article : DR Congo, peace, Pope Francis, South Sudan

Ecology comes first, “no ifs ands or buts” say religious congregations

Twenty religious congregations have joined together to lobby Ottawa politicians on climate change and social justice.

Since September, the Office of Religious Congregations for Integral Ecology has been quietly meeting with MPs and Senators of all parties, making the case for thoughtful, planned changes to the structure of Canada’s economy.
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Posted: Dec. 3, 2022 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=12885
Categories: Catholic Register • In this article: climate change, ecology, environment Transmis : 3 déc. 2022 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=12885
Catégorie : Catholic Register • Dans cet article : climate change, ecology, environment

COP27 deal ‘simply isn’t enough,’ says D&P delegate

Money for the damage done isn’t the same thing as preventing even more damage. That simple distinction left Yusra Shafi, Development and Peace-Caritas Canada delegate to the COP27 climate change conference, disappointed as she flew home from Egypt.
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Posted: Nov. 23, 2022 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=12890
Categories: Catholic Register • In this article: climate change, COP27, Development & Peace Transmis : 23 nov. 2022 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=12890
Catégorie : Catholic Register • Dans cet article : climate change, COP27, Development & Peace

Guide brings trafficking awareness to pews

The Archdiocese of Vancouver is teaming up with the Dioceses of Victoria and Saskatoon to unveil the Working Towards Freedom study guide, a resource designed for clergy, parish groups and individual congregants to learn more about human trafficking.
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Posted: Nov. 20, 2022 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=12900
Categories: Catholic Register • In this article: Catholic, human trafficking, social justice Transmis : 20 nov. 2022 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=12900
Catégorie : Catholic Register • Dans cet article : Catholic, human trafficking, social justice

Surprise support for anti-MAiD campaign

One of Canada’s leading supporters of Medical Assistance in Dying is in favour of an anti-MAiD campaign launched by the Christian Medical and Dental Association of Canada and backed by Ontario’s bishops.
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Posted: Nov. 11, 2022 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=12887
Categories: Catholic Register • In this article: euthanasia, physician assisted suicide Transmis : 11 nov. 2022 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=12887
Catégorie : Catholic Register • Dans cet article : euthanasia, physician assisted suicide

Hope high that court will overturn refugee ruling

It will likely be months before refugee advocates, including the Canadian Council of Churches, know whether they have prevailed at the Supreme Court. But for now, council general secretary Rev. Peter Noteboom is satisfied that the argument to strike down the Safe Third Country Agreement between the United States and Canada has been heard.
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Posted: Oct. 13, 2022 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=12597
Categories: Catholic Register • In this article: Canada, Canadian Council of Churches, refugees Transmis : 13 oct. 2022 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=12597
Catégorie : Catholic Register • Dans cet article : Canada, Canadian Council of Churches, refugees

Safe Third Country Agreement before Supreme Court

As Canada’s Safe Third Country Agreement with the United States goes back before the Supreme Court of Canada Oct. 6, Ottawa has revealed a surge of 23,358 asylum seekers at irregular border crossings in the first eight months of 2022.

That’s 13-per-cent more than all of 2017, when the flood of refugees at Quebec’s Roxham Road crossing from New York captured headlines.
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Posted: Oct. 9, 2022 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=12622
Categories: Catholic Register • In this article: Canada, Canadian Council of Churches, migration, refugees, safe third-country agreement, Supreme Court Transmis : 9 oct. 2022 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=12622
Catégorie : Catholic Register • Dans cet article : Canada, Canadian Council of Churches, migration, refugees, safe third-country agreement, Supreme Court

Vatican statement on Doctrine of Discovery imminent

A date for a new papal statement on the Doctrine of Discovery, promised by Pope Francis on his way home from Canada to Rome, has not been announced. But whenever it happens it will address core concerns of Indigenous people in Canada and in many other parts of the world.

The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops is working with Vatican officials in Rome on the wording for a new statement rejecting an entire tradition of legal reasoning, said CCCB spokesperson Jonathan Lesarge.
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Posted: Sept. 16, 2022 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=12518
Categories: Catholic Register • In this article: CCCB, Doctrine of Discovery, Indigenous peoples, terra nullius, Vatican Transmis : 16 sept. 2022 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=12518
Catégorie : Catholic Register • Dans cet article : CCCB, Doctrine of Discovery, Indigenous peoples, terra nullius, Vatican

Indigenous spirituality a fit in Catholic Mass

As Canadian parishes take up Pope Francis’ challenge to incorporate reconciliation into the life of the Church, particularly as we get closer to the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on Sept. 30, there are liturgical options available for Sunday morning Masses in all kinds of parishes.

“Sept. 30 we could certainly justify a land acknowledgement as a bare minimum,” St. Joseph’s College liturgy professor Fr. Warren Schmidt told The Catholic Register.
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Posted: Sept. 2, 2022 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=12520
Categories: Catholic Register • In this article: Indigenous spirituality, liturgy Transmis : 2 sept. 2022 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=12520
Catégorie : Catholic Register • Dans cet article : Indigenous spirituality, liturgy

Pope Francis says he’s been enriched’ by Canada’s Indigenous

On the final day of Pope Francis’ pilgrimage of penance, one of healing and reconciliation, he says it is he who has been “enriched” by the experience.

“Now that I am nearing the end of this intense pilgrimage, I want to tell you that although I came with these desires (for healing and reconciliation), I am now returning home greatly enriched,” the Pope told a gathering of some two dozen residential school survivors at the residence of Cardinal Gerald Lacroix in Quebec City this morning. Reporters were present for the beginning of the meeting but were asked to leave following the formal speeches to allow the Pope to speak in private with the survivors.

“I bear in my heart the incomparable treasure of all those individuals and peoples who have left a mark on me; the faces, smiles and messages that remain with me; the unforgettable stories and natural beauties; the sounds, colours and emotions that touched me deeply.”
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Posted: July 29, 2022 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=12313
Categories: Catholic Register • In this article: Indigenous peoples, papal visit, Pope Francis Transmis : 29 juil. 2022 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=12313
Catégorie : Catholic Register • Dans cet article : Indigenous peoples, papal visit, Pope Francis

Pope Francis poses three challenges to Canada at Quebec vespers service

If Canadian Catholics were looking for a roadmap to reconciliation, Pope Francis laid it out for them at a vespers prayer service in Quebec City’s exquisite Notre Dame Basilica Cathedral on a rainy Thursday evening.

As is typical of Pope Francis’ preaching, he laid it out in three parts — three challenges to the Church in Canada. Canada’s Catholics must find a way to make Jesus known, become credible witnesses to the Gospel and seek out genuine fraternity with others. None of those three priorities for a reconciling Church has anything to do with a negative, judgmental, condemnatory, defensive, narrow, navel-gazing version of Christian life, he said.
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Posted: July 28, 2022 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=12317
Categories: Catholic Register • In this article: Indigenous peoples, papal visit, Pope Francis, Reconciliation Transmis : 28 juil. 2022 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=12317
Catégorie : Catholic Register • Dans cet article : Indigenous peoples, papal visit, Pope Francis, Reconciliation

Papal visit a chance to engage in ‘genuine relationship’ for better future

When busloads of residential school survivors, elders, knowledge keepers and youth descend on Edmonton and Quebec City to be present as Pope Francis walks on his “penitential pilgrimage,” Cynthia Bunn will be among them. But she didn’t want to be.

The third-generation residential school survivor from Sagkeen First Nation had to be persuaded by St. Boniface Archbishop Albert LeGatt. A member of the parish council at St. Alexander Church, Bunn initially agreed only to co-ordinate Sagkeen’s contribution to the 56 survivors, knowledge keepers and their care-givers from seven First Nations going from St. Boniface to Edmonton. But the archbishop dropped in on Bunn to plead with her.

“But you’re the co-ordinator. I need you there,” Bunn recalled LeGatt saying. “So I reluctantly decided to go.”
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Posted: July 22, 2022 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=12300
Categories: Catholic Register • In this article: Canada, Indigenous peoples, papal visit, Pope Francis, Reconciliation Transmis : 22 juil. 2022 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=12300
Catégorie : Catholic Register • Dans cet article : Canada, Indigenous peoples, papal visit, Pope Francis, Reconciliation

Reconciliation fund approves first project

Nine months after Canada’s Catholic bishops committed to it, the Indigenous Reconciliation Fund is up and running.

With $4.6 million in the bank so far, the $30-million Fund’s all-Indigenous national board of directors approved its first project on July 15.

The first project funded will be the Cote Culture Camp in Saskatchewan, northeast of Regina. The language- and land-based camp in Kamsack is operating from July 18 to 22, putting “children and youth in practical touch with their language, ceremonies, history and heritage through land-based instruction and continuing language classes,” said Archdiocese of Regina spokesperson Eric Gurash in an email.

The Archdiocese of Regina has committed $15,000 of its $2 million in pledged IRF funds to support the Cote Culture Camp. So far, the archdiocese has collected $1.53 million towards its $2 million IRF goal.
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Posted: July 20, 2022 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=12280
Categories: Catholic Register • In this article: Catholic, Indigenous Reconciliation Fund Transmis : 20 juil. 2022 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=12280
Catégorie : Catholic Register • Dans cet article : Catholic, Indigenous Reconciliation Fund

Salt + Light doc captures spirit of Indigenous visit to Rome

Teeing up the historic Papal Visit to Canada from July 24-29, Salt and Light Media Foundation unveiled a 59-minute documentary entitled Walking Together on July 17, chronicling the landmark meetings hosted at the Vatican between Pope Francis and representatives of Canada’s Indigenous Peoples in March and April.

Fr. Alan Fogarty, SJ, CEO and executive producer of Salt + Light Media, said his team’s passion to record this momentous summit kindled instantly after the news came out that ambassadors from the Assembly of First Nations, Métis National Council and Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami would travel to Rome.

“In the initial discussions when the news was coming out, we looked at ourselves and said, ‘where should we be? What should we be doing? What can we document in a way that will be helpful?’ This [documentary] is the best use of our resources as something that will help the Indigenous, the Church, the people of Canada and the Canadian government,” said Fogarty.
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Posted: July 20, 2022 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=12261
Categories: Catholic Register, Resources • In this article: documentary, Indigenous peoples, Reconciliation, Salt+Light Media Transmis : 20 juil. 2022 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=12261
Catégorie : Catholic Register, Resources • Dans cet article : documentary, Indigenous peoples, Reconciliation, Salt+Light Media

Prostitution report slammed

Parliament’s Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights is being blasted by anti-prostitution groups in Canada after releasing a report that concludes Canada’s current anti-prostitution law does more harm than good.

Although the justice committee report released June 22 stops short of calling for the 2014 law’s immediate repeal, it embraces the “sex-positive” and “harm-reduction” language of sex-industry activists who want to fully decriminalize prostitution. For example, the report describes prostituted persons as “sex workers” and terms prostitution an “industry.”

The committee’s report, titled Preventing Harm in the Canadian Sex Industry: A Review of the Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act, capped its statutory review of the current anti-prostitution law enacted under the previous Conservative government.

The law frames prostitution as a form of violence against women and youth and criminalizes both those who purchase commercialized sexual services and those who profit from it. The law gives prostituted persons immunity from prosecution and encourages them to exit prostitution.
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Posted: July 7, 2022 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=12023
Categories: Catholic Register • In this article: Canada, human trafficking Transmis : 7 juil. 2022 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=12023
Catégorie : Catholic Register • Dans cet article : Canada, human trafficking

Papal apology draws American eyes

A papal apology on Indigenous land in Canada is not irrelevant south of the border.

When Pope Francis visits Canada July 24-29, Oneida First Nation activist Daisee Francour and her colleagues at the U.S.-based international Indigenous non-governmental organization Cultural Survival will be paying close attention.

“An apology for one nation, in a way it’s a win for all of our nations,” said Francour. “When I say nation, I mean that as an Indigenous community — not necessarily the nation state or colonial state.

“There’s a huge opportunity, because the Catholic Church is just such an influential institution globally. There’s a huge opportunity to leverage, influence and push nation states like the U.S. government to join this collective process for justice, towards truth and towards healing.”
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Posted: June 26, 2022 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=11927
Categories: Catholic Register • In this article: apologies, Pope Francis, Reconciliation, USA Transmis : 26 juin 2022 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=11927
Catégorie : Catholic Register • Dans cet article : apologies, Pope Francis, Reconciliation, USA

Ecological concerns raised on state of Lac Ste. Anne

Growing up on Lac Ste. Anne in the 1940s and ’50s, Tony Belcourt remembers a rich and wondrous body of water, teeming with life.

“I go back to the ’40s. We had an abundance of fish, whitefish from the lake. The water was up,” said Belcourt, the former broadcaster and one-time president and CEO of the Metis Nation of Ontario.

When Pope Francis visits the lake this summer, he will be looking at a lake very different from the Lac Ste. Anne of Belcourt’s childhood memories. A 2017 report on the state of Lac Ste. Anne and its sister Isle Lake by the North Saskatchewan Watershed Alliance raises concerns about blue-green algae blooms, dropping lake levels, agricultural run-off and an environment stressed by power boats and recreation on the lake.

The report names at-risk species for the watershed, including peregrine falcons, western grebe and northern leopard frog, which are classed as “threatened,” and barred owls, black-throated green warbler and trumpeter swans as of “special concern.”
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Posted: June 10, 2022 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=11743
Categories: Catholic Register • In this article: ecology, Indigenous peoples, pilgrimage, Pope Francis Transmis : 10 juin 2022 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=11743
Catégorie : Catholic Register • Dans cet article : ecology, Indigenous peoples, pilgrimage, Pope Francis

Pope Francis postpones African trip, no word on Canadian journey

The Vatican’s press office announced today that because of continuing problems with his knee, the Pope has postponed his planned African trip scheduled for July 2-7.

Pope Francis is scheduled to visit Canada July 24-29. Matteo Bruni, director of the Vatican Press Office, did not mention whether that trip is still set. Either way, plans are still being made for papal visit to Canada.

“At this time, we continue to move forward with our planning,” said Neil MacCarthy, Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops communications lead on the papal trip.

Among the plans is ensuring plenty of rest for the Pope.

“Great care is being taken to provide significant periods of rest for the Holy Father,” he said. “And also to ensure his participation at events is for a limited period of time.”

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Posted: June 10, 2022 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=11741
Categories: Catholic Register • In this article: Canada, Pope Francis Transmis : 10 juin 2022 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=11741
Catégorie : Catholic Register • Dans cet article : Canada, Pope Francis

Safe third country appeal heading to Supreme Court

The Canadian Council of Churches, Amnesty International and the Canadian Council for Refugees are headed to the Supreme Court of Canada on behalf of refugee families who want a legal way to apply for asylum at Canada’s land borders. After twice winning in Federal Court only to see those decisions reversed in the Federal Court of Appeal, this is the first time the Supreme Court has agreed to hear arguments about the constitutional validity of Canada’s Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA) with the United States. Under the agreement, persons seeking refugee status must make their claim in the first country in which they arrive. It has been in place since 2004. A definitive ruling is necessary to clarify a system that forces would-be refugees to cross into Canada illegally at unofficial border crossings like Roxham Road south of Montreal at the Quebec-New York border, said Detroit Mercy University law professor Alex Vernon.

“Most refugees’ first experience of Canada is either to be summarily denied protection and excluded if they go to a (legal) port of entry without an exception to the STCA or to be forced to be ‘law breakers’ and arrested and processed upon entry at Roxham Road,” said Vernon, who runs Detroit Mercy’s immigration law clinic and regularly takes students to Roxham Road for real life experience of practising law on the border. “This is not in keeping with Canada’s international obligations, with constitutional rights of people on Canadian soil, nor with the dignity due to human beings — particularly human beings in distress.” The latest court loss for the refugee advocates at the CCC, AI and CCR came in April. The appeal court’s decision was based “not on substantive grounds, but on the basis of how the arguments were framed,” said a press release from the Canadian Council for Refugees.
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Posted: Dec. 17, 2021 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=10927
Categories: Catholic Register • In this article: Canada, Canadian Council of Churches, refugees Transmis : 17 déc. 2021 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=10927
Catégorie : Catholic Register • Dans cet article : Canada, Canadian Council of Churches, refugees

Dialogue continues on path of co-operation

Catholics and Anglicans in Canada have been working on their relationship ever since Gen. James Wolfe surprised Gen. Louis-Joseph, Marquis de Montcalm on the Plains of Abraham in the fall of 1759.

By 1763 King Louis XV had no choice but to cede France’s North American possessions entirely to England’s King George III. The practicalities of a Protestant king and his Protestant army trying to impose their religion on a majority Catholic population were such that the English made allowances for the Catholic Church while they granted land and paid clergy salaries for the Anglicans.

More than 250 years later, the dialogue between Catholics and Anglicans in Canada carries on, unhindered by royalty and without much reference to the Seven Years’ War. The latest round ended Nov. 18 in Toronto after three days with a presentation to theology students at Trinity College of the Toronto School of Theology at the University of Toronto.
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Posted: Dec. 1, 2019 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=10735
Categories: Catholic Register • In this article: Anglican Church of Canada, CCCB, dialogue Transmis : 1 déc. 2019 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=10735
Catégorie : Catholic Register • Dans cet article : Anglican Church of Canada, CCCB, dialogue