Everyday For Life Canada: April 2017

Hamilton father battling for parental rights appeals court decision

We have written several posts about Dr. Steve Tourloukis' court case. We have also declared that we are helping, as chair of the Parental Rights in Education Defense Fund, to raise money to pay the legal cost that the Hamilton father is incurring in taking the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board (HWDSB) to the Superior Court of Ontario in 2012. Tourloukis is merely defending his parental rights. However, on November 23, 2016 Justice Robert Reid ruled against Tourloukis. Had he won the case, it would have been a huge victory for all parents in the province. An Appeal has now been filed. The case is scheduled to heard at Osgoode Hall in Toronto on June 26, 2017.

The appeal is based on a numver of arguments that explain how the judge erred in his duty to judiciously interpret the law.

Apr

ShareLife needs to come clean with D and P

The Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace (CCODP) states on its website that it's "the official international development organization of the Catholic Church in Canada and the Canadian Member of Caritas Internationalis.

Apr

Cuba arrests mother for homeschooling? Can Canada be far behind?

A couple in Cuba decided to homeschool their children because they cared about their education. The Cuban government had a very different idea. They decided to arrest the mother. Article 26.3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights makes it very clear that "Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children." What the Cuban government did is a violation of parental rights and family values.

Apr

How Alberta's education ministry violates parental rights

We need to thank Calgary lawyer John Carpay who is the president of the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF) and teacher Theresa Ng for exposing much of the corruption in Alberta's public schools. In a recent post on the JCCF website, Carpay argues that Alberta's Minister of Education is more interested in attacking Catholic education than protecting children from an explicit and dangerous sex curriculum that makes pornography and how-to websites readily available to students.

Apr

Want to know what bold evangelization looks like?

In 1996, the American Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz issued a bold statement about the faith. It was published in the Southern Nebraska Register. He was the bishop of the diocese of Lincoln, Nebraska from 1992 to 2012. He's now retired. Here's the entire statement followed by the paper's editorial on the issue:

All Catholics in and of the Diocese of Lincoln are forbidden to be members of the organizations and groups listed below.

Apr

Building Better Schools: it's just public relations by the EFTO

The Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO) have launched an advertising campaign they say, "committed to building better schools." They have set up a website with that name, Building Better Schools. ETFO represents 78,000 elementary public across the province. The union automatically collects some 85 million dollars from annual membership fees. Together with the Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation (OSSTF) they could be considered a small cap company.

Apr

Divine Mercy Sunday

Today is Divine Mercy Sunday. We post what Pope Benedict XVI said, as he prayed the Regina Caeli and celebrated Divine Mercy Sunday at St. Peter's Square, on April 12, 2012. They are very instructive words in living the mystery of Divine Mercy.

Apr

Is it a surprise that 104 men were charged with buying sex with children?

We all heard the very sad and ugly news today: 104 men in York Region (just north of Toronto) have been charged for trying to purchase sex "from prostituted children." The arrest are the result of a police three year sex trafficking investigation.

What are these men accused of doing? They answered on-line sexual service ads to buy sex with children from 13 to 16 years old. The police say that there were no real victims because most men stopped once there were told about what they were doing.

Apr

Ten bad Canadian laws that should be revoked

Last week, 19 year-old Malala Yousafzai spoke in the Canadian Parliament and was given an honorary citizenship. She grew up in Pakistan where the Taliban stop girls from getting an education. In 2012, she was nearly killed by a Taliban gunman who shot her. She still has scars from the violence. Her message was clear: no religion should be used to kill others and to restrict human freedom. Yousafzai is an inspiration to the world.

Apr

What the Resurrection means today?

In the homily, given at St. Peter's Basilica for Easter Vigil Mass in 2009, Pope Benedict XVI spoke about letting the light, truth and goodness of Christ shape our lives.