{mosimage}THORNHILL, Ont. — Students and staff from St. Elizabeth Catholic Secondary School will host a festival dedicated to productions by youth featuring spirit and religious faith.

{mosimage}TORONTO — The Toronto Catholic District School Board will once again offer Focus on Youth summer programs for children and youth this summer.

{mosimage}TORONTO - If you want to meet the standard for Grade 4 religion in Toronto’s Catholic schools you had better know the other name for Candlemas.

TORONTO - Amid vocal community opposition, a controversial $2.7-million community centre at Etobicoke’s Father John Redmond Catholic High School is set to begin construction this fall.

Toronto Catholic District School Board trustee Ann Andrachuk said the agreement between the City of Toronto and the board to complete the Ken Cox Community Centre is “moving forward.”

TORONTO - The first concurrent program to prepare religion teachers for Ontario Catholic high schools will be launched this fall.

The program is in response to the lack of qualified high school religion teachers currently working in Catholic schools.

TORONTO - A new world religions textbook being prepared for Ontario high schools will offer a distinctly Canadian and Roman Catholic perspective on different faiths, according to one of its authors.

The textbook, with the working title World Religions: A Canadian Catholic Perspective, will be the first of its kind specifically geared towards Grade 11 world religion students in Catholic schools.

{mosimage}TORONTO - It’s touted as the first “national conversation” on Catholic education in Canada.

conference is expected to draw 400 parents, students, teachers, school administrators, clergy and trustees to Ottawa Sept. 26-27 for the inaugural conference.

Dear Readers,

{mosimage}Among Pope BenedictöÏÓãÊÓƵapp many thought-provoking speeches during his spring visit to the United States was a particularly important one . Though it received some coverage, the PopeöÏÓãÊÓƵapp insights into the role of Catholic schools were too often lost among the attention given to the most visual and spectacular aspects of his visit.

{mosimage}TORONTO - In separate research, two economists with ties to the have found Catholic schools are outperforming public schools in Ontario on standardized tests.

The economists believe competition between the two publicly funded systems may, in part, explain higher success rates for Grade 3 and 6 pupils in Catholic schools when compared with their public school counterparts.