Catholic New Times back issues from January 2004:
Christmas.(Brief Article)
Jan 04, 2004; ... Christ is born again, not in some stable distant in time and place, but Christ is reborn in us. Each moment we respond to his old ...
From the editor's desk.
Jan 04, 2004; ... Peace has once out--at least in the pages of this Christmas issue. And how fitting. The powerful Advent readings of Isaiah culminating in the silent night, holy night reading this year centred on the "Son given to us ... the Prince of Peace." (Is.9: 6,7) and the Lukan gospel "with the ...
Many signs of hope.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
Jan 04, 2004; ... The "Signs of Hope" editorial I read today (CNT, Nov. 30, 2003) echoed thoughts I had this morning while reading today's Scriptures and praying. I had a sense that the Kingdom of God is being born in the world today, even if the process does seem to move slowly, painfully and ...
We finally gave up on the church.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
Jan 04, 2004; ... Thanks, CNT, for your renewal request, but at this time we wish to let our subscription lapse. We finally gave up on the Church, and walked across the road to St Andrew's United here in North Bay. It has been a very freeing step for us. We ...
Will Paul Martin commit to social justice?(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
Jan 04, 2004; ... <At>Letter to the Editor</AT> Will Paul Martin, the fiscal deficit slayer, now tackle Canada's social deficit? Will the PM-elect now declare his core-values, budget priorities and policy proposals that promote and protect the public good, including the poor and powerless? ...
Against homosexuality.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
Jan 04, 2004; ... I have recently been made aware of your publication through a friend. I find it interesting and informative. As a practising Roman Catholic, I find it is a breath of fresh air at having important church issues openly debated. I read a number of Father James Roberts' articles ....
The 'bishop' of Cabbagetown.(Witness)
Jan 04, 2004; ... He calls it a "kick in the heart with a boot of love" when he found Jesus on a cold slab inside the Don Jail. He was just a short-timer, doing another 30-day stretch for fighting and drinking. Or was it for kicking in a church window? It didn't matter much; he was only an hapless, abrasive ...
Baby Jesus grows up.(Editorial)
Jan 04, 2004 ... John Owen the fanatical chaplain of Oliver Cromwell reed to rid the world of "the Roman varnish on the English religion" and so he proscribed "all such paintings, crossings, crucifixes, bowings, cringings, altars, tapers, wafers, organs, rails, images, capes, vestments." Owen of course ...
Christmas: the hope is real.(Front Burner)
Jan 04, 2004; ... At the beginning of Advent I received a message from a friend whose husband committed suicide seven years ago. "I haven't really engaged in our traditional family customs in celebrating Christmas since then," she said. "There's been a kind of tacit understanding among the family to that ...
Grandma and the transient.(Christmas)(pastor visit a number of Catholic rectories acting as a transient in need of support.)
Jan 04, 2004; ... At the faculty of education as a young priest in the 80s, I got a dream assignment. Prior to my work in schools, I had often experienced transients arriving at my parish off the province-wide 401 highway. They would show up at inopportune and busy times, and we would give them a ...
The Christmas truce.(Christmas)(German, British, and French soldiers celebration of christmas during World War I)
Jan 04, 2004; ... On Christmas Day, 1914, in the first year of World War I, German, British, and French soldiers disobeyed their superiors and fraternized with "the enemy" along two-thirds of the Western Front. German troops held Christmas trees up out of their trenches with signs, "Merry Christmas." "You ...
A Dene Christmas.(Canada)(a priest's personal narrative)
Jan 04, 2004; ... <Pre>I arrived in Denedeh in June, 1953 and my bishop sent me to Radelj Koe (Fort Good Hope) home to about 275 Dene and 25 Whites.The village was built in a V shape between Jackfish Creek on the east and Dehcho (Mackenzie River) on the west. The ...
Ottawa changes framework for Residential School compensation claims.(Canada)
Jan 04, 2004; ... The federal Government has announced a new policy framework for negotiating compensation and reconciliation agreements with former students of Indian Residential Schools. Nearly 12,000 individual litigants are claiming compensation for harm suffered at the schools, which were mandated and ...
Canadians are still believers, survey finds.(Canada Notes)(survey of canadian attitude toward faith and spirituality)
Jan 04, 2004 ... A Vision TV study shows interest in aspects of spiritual life growing despite declining church attendance. Canada remains a nation of spiritual seekers, according to the results of a survey commissioned by multi-faith broadcaster VisionTV and published in TIME Canada on the issue of ...
Albertans concerned about health of democracy in the province.(Canada Notes)(Brief Article)
Jan 04, 2004 ... EDMONTON -- A report released today by the Parkland Institute finds that Albertans are concerned about the health of democracy in the province. Despite the fact that a majority of Albertans feel that the provincial economy is healthy, only 40 per cent of those surveyed felt that democracy ...
Globe and Mail spikes critical review.(Canada Notes)(Brief Article)
Jan 04, 2004 ... TORONTO -- Prolific Canadian playwright Jason Sherman, a Governor General Award winner and frequent reviewer of books in the Globe had his review of The New Anti-Semitism by Phyllis Chesler Wiley spiked by Globe book editor Martin Levin. According to Sherman who has never had a ...
Brave new B.C.? Twelve-year-olds back in labour force.(Canada Notes)(British Columbia)(Brief Article)
Jan 04, 2004 ... VANCOUVER -- Premier Gordon Campbell and the B.C. Liberals are about to bring child labour back to British Columbia after it had been banned by the province since the Depression years of the 1930s. In December, the Liberals will put in place regulations filling in the details of ...
Hope in a time of despair: a Lesotho story.(World)
Jan 04, 2004; ... Lesotho, an African kingdom surrounded by South Africa, gained its independence from Britain in 1966. During the time of apartheid, the country served as a listening post for foreign diplomats in the region and a base for the African National Congress members and other refugees. ...
'1000 women for Nobel Peace Prize' 2005, launched.(World Notes)(Brief Article)
Jan 04, 2004 ... LUCERNE, Switzerland -- Despite the overwhelming number of women involved in peace-building worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize, only a handful, 11 to be exact, have been accorded the prestigious award since it was first given in 1901. The last was Iranian human activist Shirin Ebadi, this ...
Jessica Lynch captures Saddam; ex-dictator demands backpay from Baker.(World Notes)
Jan 04, 2004 ... Former Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein was taken into custody at 8:30 PM on December 13. Various television executives, White House spin doctors and propaganda experts at the Pentagon wrestled with the question of whether to claim that PFC Jessica Lynch seized the ex-potentate or that ...
Israelis and Palestinians attempt peace despite U.S. support for Sharon.(World Notes)(Brief Article)
Jan 04, 2004 ... GENEVA, Switzerland -- The peace plan signed in Geneva December 1 by leading Israeli and Palestinian political figures represents an important step forward. Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter who was present at the ceremony noted that "It's unlikely we shall ever see a more promising ...
Sex, women and the church: the need for prophetic change: part two.(Centre spread)
Jan 04, 2004; ... In part one of this article, New Testament scholar Luke Timothy Johnson posited that "God may be calling the church through the cataclysmic changes of recent decades, to a more fundamental consideration of what fidelity means." Johnson stated that there were six elements of ...
Phil Berrigan remembered.(Church Notes)(Brief Article)
Jan 04, 2004 ... NEW YORK -- In a letter to friends, Jesuit author and peace activist Dan Berrigan remembered his brother Philip's life on the latter's Birthday. Phil Berrigan died December 6, 2003. "On what would have been my brother Philip's 80th birthday, October 4, friends held a public ...
Reading the signs of today.(Church Notes)
Jan 04, 2004 ... OTTAWA (CCN) -- The basic challenge for Catholics today is to read the signs of the times "so that our world vision may become that of Christ," says scholar and author Fr. William Ryan, SJ. "When we broaden our discernment to reading the signs of the times we have a rich ...
U.S. bishops on why homosexual 'marriage' is a contradiction.(Church Notes)(Brief Article)
Jan 04, 2004 ... WASHINGTON, D.C., DEC. 12, 2003 -- Denying marriage to homosexual couples does not demonstrate unjust discrimination or lack of respect, because marriages and same-sex unions are essentially different realities, says the U.S. bishops' conference. "To uphold God's intent for ...
Risking for peace.(Church)(franciscan preists's protest against US military operations)
Jan 04, 2004; ... It's not always easy to practise what you preach. But Fr. Jerry Zawada has found a way. The 66-year-old Franciscan priest from Indiana says he challenges people to take risks in their activism. "Many people with a lot of obligations and commitments say they couldn't risk going ...
The soldiers at my front door.(Faith & Spirituality)(a catholic preist's protest against US military operations)
Jan 04, 2004; ... I live in a tiny, remote, impoverished, three-block -long town in the desert of northeastern New Mexico. Everyone in town--and the whole state --knows that I am against the occupation of Iraq, that I have called for the closing Los Alamos, and that as a priest, I have been preaching, like ...
Three faiths meet in same city.(Faith & Spirituality)
Jan 04, 2004; ... Beth Israel Synagogue, the Masjid AI-Salaam Mosque and St. Alphonsus Catholic Parish called each other "cousins", recently and pledged close ties of friendship in the Ontario city of Peterborough. Over 200 people gathered at a central park in late October as Imam Hamed ...
Women Catholic bishops in Europe respond.(Faith & Spirituality)
Jan 04, 2004; ... This letter, addressed to the Leadership Team of Dr. Patricia Fresen's Dominican order about her ordination in Austria to the Roman Catholic priesthood, was sent by the two European women bishops involved in the ordination. Dear Congregational Leadership Team, We ...
Michael Moore strikes again.(Dude, Where's My Country? (Book))(Book Review)
Jan 04, 2004; ... Dude, Where's My Country? by Michael Moore; New York: Warner Books, 2003. In the spirit of Psalm 107, "God pours contempt upon rulers," Michael Moore is one of the most passionate critics of American leaders, whether corporate or political (two categories not easy to ...
Film as religion.(Film as Religion: Myth, Morals and Rituals (Book).)(Book Review)
Jan 04, 2004; ... Film as Religion: Myth, Morals and Rituals. John C. Lyden; New York University Press, 2003. Film as Religion has as its basic thesis that popular film performs a religious function in contemporary culture. Film provides us with ways to view our world and invokes values to ...
A sane sex view.(Contemporary Catholic Sexuality: What is Taught and What is Practiced)(Book Review)
Jan 04, 2004; ... Contemporary Catholic Sexuality, What is Taught and What is Practiced, by John E. Perito, The Crossroad Publishing Company, New York, 2003, 190pp. This very interesting book by a practising Catholic psychiatrist treats a central concern of contemporary Catholics. ...
Black madonnas in Christian history.
Jan 04, 2004; ... When we saw the painting of the black madonna and child that graces our cover this week, which was painted in Jamaica in the early sixties by artist Jean Macdonald Henry, we were moved by the direct and confident gaze of the head-tied, working-class young woman. It led to some thinking ...
Shattered glass: flip side to All The President's Men.(Movie Review)
Jan 04, 2004; ... Shattered Glass (2003) Directed by Billy Ray, starring Hayden Christensen. Peter Sarsgaard and Chloe Sevigny. This film tells the true story of fraudulent Washington, D.C. journalist Stephen Glass (Christensen), who rose to meteoric heights as a young writer in his 20s as a ...
Open the door--it's cold outside.(Back Burner)
Jan 04, 2004; ... It's that time of year again. Biting winds nip noses and ears ,and people huddle into their coats, rushing from place to place to ward off the cold. It's the time when "they" come into public consciousness again, grabbing a headline here and there. It's the time when those who ...
Homosexuality and natural law: beyond a medieval construct.(Back Burner)(Column)
Jan 04, 2004; ... In my last column, I faulted the Vatican's recent document on homo sexual persons and their unions, for erecting a prejudiced stereotypical image lacking in reality. Here, I want to expose the flawed understanding of the natural law that allows officialdom to condemn homosexual ...
Creating a just Canada.
Jan 25, 2004 ... In our country, the single-minded pursuit of self-interest is presented as a value ... in many such ways our country is still profoundly marked by the founders of liberal capitalism. We carry forward many of the consequences of their lives, for their ideas have become our institutions ....
From the editor's desk.
Jan 25, 2004; ... As the year of the Lord, 2004, steals in on us and as the days ever so slowly lengthen, so the inevitable new dawn in the Catholic church is arriving. Or so we would like to think around here. It is always difficult and somewhat presumptuous to say we discern definitively "the ...
Jesuit centre still alive.(Letter to the Editor)
Jan 25, 2004; ... Your article, "Corporate power poster comes back", published in November, 2003, recalls the history of the first poster which was produced by the Jesuit Centre for Social Faith and Justice in 1997. It also notes the stir it created, and the able way Fr. Bill Ryan SJ defended the poster in ...
Three cheers for Fr. Jim Roberts.(Letter to the Editor)
Jan 25, 2004; ... I just finished reading Fr. James Roberts' article on p. 20 from the January 4, 2004 issue of CNT. His article, Homosexuality and Natural Law: Beyond a Medieval Construct, is the most coherent, succinct and rational exposition on the subject I have yet read. Fr. Roberts' ...
A question of conscience.(Letter to the Editor)
Jan 25, 2004; ... Reading Patricia Fresen's "Why I Want To Be Ordained" (CNT, Nov 30 2003), about her excommunication, I was reminded of Thomas Aquinas" words: "Better to die excommunicated while following your conscience than to die canonized while acting against your ...
Frustrated? Withdraw financial support.(Letter to the Editor)
Jan 25, 2004; ... I continue to be upset and frustrated that there are so many people with opinions like Murio Lapointe "Against Homosexuality," (CNT, January 4). More and more I like the suggestion of Mary and John Oiseau "We Finally Gave up on the Church," (CNT, January 4). My own response was ...
A priest forever: Melchizedek follows me.(Witness)
Jan 25, 2004; ... "Thou art a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek." That's what the bishop said when I was ordained in May of 1962. A priest forever. In the book of Genesis, Melchizedek presented bread and wine to Abraham and his weary men, demonstrating friendship and religious ...
Towards the ordination of women.(Editorial)
Jan 25, 2004 ... Around the edges of the Roman Catholic community, gaining more attention each day, is a startling new phenomenon. Women are being ordained to the Catholic priesthood. Tired of waiting, disheartened by over 25 years of increasingly strong denunciations of the idea by Roman ...
They said it! Words of inspiration, insight and wisdumb.(Front Burner)
Jan 25, 2004 ... "Can we imagine that carrying out his mission today the Christ of charity and unity would have restricted his circle to men alone?" --Anna Quindlen, novelist, "Better Palestinian mothers should cry and not Jewish mothers." --Israel's Director of Military ...
Education ministry attempts to mislead parents and the public: B.C. Teachers.(Canada)(British Columbia ministry of education)
Jan 25, 2004 ... VANCOUVER -- Full-page advertisements in newspapers throughout British Columbia are a shameful waste of tax dollars, especially when school districts face $300 million in funding shortfalls, says Neil Worboys, president of the B.C. Teachers' Federation. Teachers are outraged at ...
Bush's bullies at the border.(Canada)(George W. Bush)
Jan 25, 2004 ... HALIFAX -- Writer Glen Walton often crosses the Canada/US border at St. Stephen, N.B and Calais, Maine. Writing in The Daily News, he described the "true believer" custom guard's treatment: "we were badgered, patronized and treated like disobedient children." Walton and his Italian ...
Paul Martin challenged by CBC.(Canada)(Canadian Broadcasting Corp.)
Jan 25, 2004 ... OTTAWA -- In an interview on December 19th, Mary-Lou Findlay, host of CBC Radio's As it Happens, asked new PM Paul Martin about his image problem with Canada Steamship Lines--specifically CSL's foreign-flagged ships. Called flag-of-convenience ships (FOCs) they allowed Mr. Martin (and now ...
Missile defence needs Parliamentary debate.(Canada)
Jan 25, 2004; ... It may be only a matter of days before Canada joins George W. Bush's controversial national missile defence system without any parliamentary or public debate. A Cabinet decision could lock Canada into a deal with the Pentagon and accelerate our military and economic integration with the ...
'Get into the van:' resisting at Fort Benning.(Canada)
Jan 25, 2004; ... In a society sometimes better described as an economy than a culture, leaders do not lead and teachers do not teach, and the young are left alone to make sense of their lives and their place in the world. Unfortunately, the church itself has largely opted out of its traditional role of ...
Was the Bush Administration complicit in 9/11?(World)(George W. Bush)
Jan 25, 2004; ... Until recently I dismissed the suggestions that the Bush administration might have been complicit in allowing 9/11 to happen as groundless "conspiracy theory." I regarded the federal investigative bureaucracies as suffering from a "lock the barn door after the horse has escaped" syndrome ....
Spy master blasts war on Iraq.(World Notes)
Jan 25, 2004 ... LONDON -- In an interview with the Globe and Mail's Allan Freeman, world-famous spy novelist John le Carre blasted the "neo-conservative junta which rules in Washington." The author, now 72, has just released another novel, Absolute Friends. In his novel le Carre says "The war ...
Global warming to kill off one million species.(World Notes)(Brief Article)
Jan 25, 2004 ... LONDON -- Nature Magazine has published a frightening look at our ecological future. In the issue of January 8, it stated that climate change over the next 50 years is expected to drive a quarter of land animals and plants into extinction--a result of the effect of higher temperatures on ...
Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo succeed in restoring identity of 75 children.(World Notes)(Brief Article)
Jan 25, 2004 ... BUENOS AIRES -- Horacio Pietragalla Corti always knew he was not the biological son of the couple that raised him. Like some of the children who disappeared during the last military dictatorship (1976-1983)--kidnapped and handed over to other families--he had an intuition that he was not ...
The next 40 years for Canada.(Centrespread)
Jan 25, 2004; ... Editor's note: Carol Goar, outstanding Toronto journalist and advocate for the common good gave the following speech recently to Citizens for Public Justice on the occasion of their 40th anniversary Canada has come a long way since 1963. We were a nation of 18 million then ....
Theologian writes to Pope Miriam IV.(Church Notes)(Brief Article)
Jan 25, 2004 ... BOSTON -- In a letter to an imaginary new pope, whom she names Miriam IV, theologian Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza recently expressed her vision of the future with a woman head of the church. "I name her 'Miriam IV,' after the first Miriam, sister of Moses; the second Miriam of ...
'A very difficult decision:' The Monitor closes down.(Church Notes)(Brief Article)
Jan 25, 2004 ... ST. JOHN'S, Nfld. -- In a letter to the archdioccse, Brendan O'Brien, the Archbishop of St John's, Nfld. terminated the Catholic newspaper. O'Brien listed a litany of woes--circulation is down, advertising revenue has decreased. "For The Monitor, this has translated into an ...
Pope encourages 'lucid' analysis of war versus terrorism.(Church Notes)
Jan 25, 2004 ... ROME -- Pope John Paul II in his annual World Day of Peace message (Jan. 1, 2004) spoke about terrorism: "If the fight against terrorism is to be won, it cannot be limited solely to repressive and punitive operations. It is essential that the use of force, even when necessary, ...
Reflection on suffering.(Church)
Jan 25, 2004; ... Conscience goes to press as the church marks the 25th anniversary of Karol Wojtyla as pope. Reactions right and left are somewhat predictable, and perhaps mine are no exception. A significant part of the last 25 years of my life is inextricably joined to that of the pope. After ...
At last, a theology of Mary for our times.(Book Review)
Jan 25, 2004; ... Truly Our Sister: a Theology of Mary in the Communion of Saints; Continuum, New York ,2003. By Elizabeth Johnson Encountering a book like this, one must simply give thanks for its inspired author, Elizabeth Johnson. A Fordham University professor of theology, and a ...
The hierarchical versus the people's church.(Church)(Bishop Pat Power)
Jan 25, 2004; ... When word came down that George Pell would be a cardinal, Bishop Pat Power of Canberra, Australia's national capital, said the honour was inevitable. But he told ABC Radio, his country's BBC, that he was disappointed. "In terms of what it means for the church, I think it further shows the ...
Open letter to the Roman Catholic Church regarding gays and lesbians.(Church)
Jan 25, 2004; ... As Catholic pastors, we have become increasingly disturbed by the tone and, in some cases, content of documents and statements from the Vatican, bishops' conferences and individual bishops on issues categorized under the heading of "homosexual" or "gay/lesbian." We respect the ...
Justice: beyond feeling good.(Church)(the ethics of christian giving)
Jan 25, 2004; ... Every Christmas season I am edified by the generous outpouring of many people who contribute their time, money and other creative resources to help make the holiday a happier one for our less fortunate neighbours. Charity is a great virtue. It blesses the giver more than the receiver. ...
Sr. Susan Kidd: promoting an alternative lifestyle.
Jan 25, 2004; ... She holds a Bachelor's degree in Physical Education and a Master of Divinity. She's a high school teacher and coaches basketball. But first and foremost, Susan Kidd is a Sister of the Congregation of Notre Dame and currently the Order's Director of Vocations in English Canada. ...
A vocation to leave.
Jan 25, 2004; ... With dismay I read Mary Jo Leddy's letter (CNT; November 2, 2003). It is an ethereal and insensitive response to the plight of religious women choosing to leave their communities, as described by Cate McBurney (CNZ, September 7, 2003.) McBurney's challenge to the Canadian ...