SARS
CANADIAN PRESS
SARS affects Holy Weeke Services in Toronto Catholic Churches
The Cardinal has mandated the following liturgical directives for the time being:
• Communion from the Cup for the faithful is to be suspended.
• The faithful are to receive the Body of Christ in the hand, not on the tongue.
• The salutation of peace is temporarily to be shared through a gesture such as bowing, in place of shaking hands.
• With particular reference to the liturgies of Holy Week, instead of kissing the Crucifix on Good Friday, the faithful should bow, genuflect, and/or cross themselves.
• The Sacrament of Reconciliation is to be celebrated outside of confessionals.
see http://www.goacom.com/news/news2003/apr/msg00052.html

Gerald Emmett Cardinal Carter

The former Roman Catholic archbishop of Toronto, died Sunday after a brief illness. He was 91.Born in Montreal, Carter became a Roman Catholic priest nearly 66 years ago.He spent 40 years as a bishop, a role highlighted by his work in the community. He fought for affordable housing for the elderly and disabled. Carter's plan to build a shelter for young homeless people in Toronto became a reality with the opening of Covenant House in 1982. A second Covenant House later opened in Vancouver.

Colleagues and parishioners praised his leadership and guidance. Aloysius Cardinal Ambrozic, Toronto's current Catholic archbishop, remembered the retired bishop's dedication to serving others. "He was a priest, a pastor, a bishop, a father of the Second Vatican Council," Ambrozic said. "He spoke the word of God and acted on it with wisdom, with perspicacity, with regard for the gifts of others, and with visionary decisiveness, meeting the vast variety of needs in the church." Carter retired as Toronto's archbishop in 1990, but remained active in the church. A funeral mass will be held Thursday at St. Michael's Cathedral in Toronto.

Attendance drops in church
Western Catholic Reporter April 7, 2003
By Art Babych
http://www.wcr.ab.ca/news/2003/0407/attendance040703.shtml
There are pockets of high religious attendance in almost every province even though the number of Canadians who attended religious services at least once a month dropped by five per cent in less than a decade. "Pockets of belief: Religious attendance patterns in Canada," a new report by Statistics Canada, also shows that Quebec's monthly religious attendance declined the most during the 1990s.
Unlike the rest of the country, Toronto and Vancouver had small increases in religious attendance rates while British Columbia, at two per cent, was the only province to show an increase, said the report in the Spring 2003 issue of the Statistics Canada periodical, Canadian Social Trends, released March 18.
"Many factors influence the level of religious attendance, including demographics, immigration patterns and the cultural history of a region," said the report by Warren Clark, a senior analyst with Canadian Social Trends.
"Religious attendance is strongly related to age," he wrote.
"Seniors have the highest attendance rates, while those aged 25 to 34 have the lowest. Therefore, one might expect the highest attendance rates would occur in areas with higher percentages of seniors."
The age factor holds true from some areas of the country but the report notes there are also areas with high percentages of seniors but not high religious attendance. In 1946, about 67 per cent of the adult population of Canada attended religious services on a weekly basis, but by 2001 it had slipped to 20 per cent, the report stated. It also noted that weekly attendance rates in the United States fell to 25 per cent in 2000 from 32 per cent in 1986. The report was based on Statistics Canada's General Social Survey, conducted almost every year since 1985.

We must be the change we wish to see in the world
Western Catholic Reporter April 7, 2003
Unfurl your butterfly wings
We must be the change we wish to see in the world
"Though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it (the world) grows perhaps the greater."
- Haldir the Elf
By Suzanne Elston
For more text click here

Famous mourners attend Carter's funeral
TORONTO.CBC.CA News April 10, 2003
Toronto - Politicians and business leaders gathered in Toronto Thursday for the funeral of Gerald Emmett Cardinal Carter.Carter, the former Roman Catholic archbishop for Toronto, died Sunday at the age of 91.
Prime Minister Jean Chretien and Ontario Premier Ernie Eves were among the mourners at the service at St. Michael's Cathedral.Honorary pallbearers included former Ontario premier Bill Davis and former prime minister John Turner, as well as members of the Eaton and Bassett families.Carter is credited with expanding Catholic education and social services.
He also helped create housing for street youth, opening Toronto's Covenant House in 1982.
Born in Montreal, he began his life of service in the Roman Catholic Church nearly 66 years ago when he became a priest.
Carter spent 40 years as a bishop. During that time, he was a champion of affordable housing for the elderly and disabled.
But critics say he was more concerned about his relationship with the rich and powerful than he was ministering to the poor.Carter once famously dismissed poor people as "rag pickers."

Becoming A Priest
BY GILLIAN GIRODAT April 6, 2003

TORONTO When Bernard Vellozo left for the United States his home in Pakistan, he was chasing a dream."It was that American dream, work hard and achieve whatever you want to, that attracted me to the west," Vellozo said. And since coming to North America in 1993, Vellozo has worked hard and, this May, will mark an achievement when he is ordained a priest.Having moved to the United States to study and explore his options, he never forgot the influence of his Catholic family and their dedication to their faith.

With aunts and uncles in religious life, the idea of priesthood as a vocation did not escape him."I wanted to continue my education, but what did God have in store for me?" Vellozo said. "What becomes of this aspect of myself, that I am a Catholic man?" In 1995, as Vellozo finished his business administration he began to seriously consider that question and God's plan for his life. "That's when I started going to Mass daily mid praying for guidance of the Holy Spirit to figure out what God wanted me to do, Vellozo said of an intense six months of prayer. Eventually, he approached a priest with the question and got the answer: "You will never know until you enter." Vellozo moved to Canada in 1998 to be closer to family members living here and entered St. Augustine's Seminary. The 33 year-old appreciates the proximity of his family for their support and faith that, he says, keep him grounded. And Vellozo’s call to the priesthood really is a bit about living a dream. "A lot of people consider a vocation to the priesthood but the culture we live in doesn’t necessarily support that. It’s been a joy to have been able to pursue this path that I feel God has called me to." see http://www.goacom.com/news/news2003/apr/msg00052.html