Everyday For Life Canada: January 2013

Canada today needs a St. Vincent of Saragossa

The Magnificat is a monthly publication with daily Mass readings and other prayers. It also features masterpieces of Christian art. In the 2013 January issue, there's a work by Augustin Theodule of St. Vincent of Saragossa. The painting is mysteriously wonderful, but what is more telling is the saint's life story and witness to the faith. What this saint did with his life speaks so well of what needs to be done in our post-modern time, both here in Canada and in most of the West. St. Vincent's witness is particularly relevant given the fact that the universal Church is celebrating the Year of the Faith. Here's the biography as found in the Magnificat. It's authored by Fr. Michael Morris, O.P., Professor, Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology, Berkeley, CA.

Jan

Forget "Respecting Difference": OECTA fully behind MyGSA

The Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association, OECTA, has posted some links on its website to help LGTB students. One link sends visitors to Egale Canada's MyGSA. Once there, one finds plenty of information to help students set up gay/alliances in their schools.

Jan

Why is raising $200 million a priority for the Archdiocese of Toronto?

By now, many of the faithful have received a mailing from the Archdiocese of Toronto describing a new project to raise up to $200 million in order to "transform" its "ability to take care of the spiritual, pastoral and charitable needs of all the members." The capital plan is "to more effectively carry out the mission to follow Jesus." These are undeniably worthwhile goals.

Jan

Bishop Egan speaks out in support of Humanae Vitae

Canada and much of the West continue to experience the moral fallout of not following Humanae Vitae. We see this in the legalization of same-sex marriage, abortion, the hyper- sexualized school curriculum and the present day push to legalize euthanasia and assisted-suicide. A contraceptive and materialistic mentality has lead to a move to change the Christian definition of marriage, the family and human sexuality.

Jan

Faithful Christians should not practice Yoga

With so many churches, schools and hospitals offering Yoga classes, it's important to know what Yoga is and whether it's compatible with Christian practices. Even many of our Catholic parishes have Yoga classes. We realize that many people just take Yoga and consider it merely an exercise and relaxation priogram. But Yoga is much more than that.

According to Wikipedia Yoga "is a commonly known generic term for physical, mental and spiritual disciplines which originated in ancient India.

Jan

March for Life 2013: defending the right to live

This coming week on January 25, in Washington, DC. and in San Francisco the annual March for Life will take place in the United States. In Canada, it will be held on May 9, 2013, on Parliament Hill in Ottawa. Other provinces like British Columbia, Prince Edward Island have their own event to defend the right to life from conception to natural death.

We can support the March for Life held anywhere in the world by praying for an end to the culture of death.

Jan

EPC: a Canadian organization worth supporting

In Quebec, a group has released a 400 page report with numerous recommendations and one of them being that the provincial government introduce the "living with dignity" bill. The translation is that the province pass legislation to legalize euthanasia and assisted-suicide. If you don't know or have heard about the organization called, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, EPC, we suggest that you learn about them and also consider supporting their work.

Jan

Priest responds to Ottawa school political field trip

Surely by now you have heard of the teacher with the Ottawa Catholic District School Board who organized a school trip with students from two Catholic high schools, St. Peter and St. Matthew, just before the U.S. presidential election. The actual purpose of the trip was to help re-elect Barack Obama. The trip was initially approved by the board, but later cancelled when the true intent of the excursion became known to the public.

Jan

Where have Canada's Catholic leading voices gone?

What has happened to Canada's Catholic leaders? Where have they all gone? There's so few voices to be heard defending and promoting the Catholic faith. Isn't this the Year of Faith? The majority of them are mostly silent. This is happening in our schools, our churches and our public places. Consider the following recent disconcerting examples.

In Quebec, things have gotten so bad that a court ruling told Loyola High School that it's essentially illegal to teach religion and thus be Catholic.

Jan

A marriage is between a man and a woman

Do you know what are some of the central principles by which a Christian marriage is defined according to the teaching of the Catechism of the Catholic Church?

Marriage and the family have been under attack for decades and the assault continues to this day. Western countries are following the "progressive", but nevertheless morally misguided move taken by Canada in 2005 when it passed same-sex marriage legislation. So it's worth once again to look at what the Church teaches.