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{mosimage}TORONTO - Bishop Vincent Nguyen has slipped on the ring, donned his mitre, taken hold of his staff and become a shepherd in the church he loves with all his heart.

Tears flowed in the pews occupied by Nguyen's family — eight siblings, six of whom flew in from their Vietnamese homeland — and friends at St. Michael's Cathedral Jan. 13 as Nguyen was ordained Canada's first non-white bishop.

On January 12 in London and January 13 in Toronto, Bishops William McGrattan and Vincent Nguyen were ordained to serve as auxiliary bishops for the archdiocese of Toronto. Each event was attended by more than 1,000 people and The Catholic Register was on hand to provide full coverage.

The following links are to the articles which appeared in our special section on their ordinations on January 17, 2010.

{mosimage}TORONTO - To Dorothy Pilarski, helping catechize mothers is almost an emergency today. This is one reason why the Toronto-based mother and pioneer of a mothers’ group organized a conference titled “Dynamic Women of Faith” this month.

“Mothers are getting busier and busier, more spiritually exhausted and spiritually depleted,” Pilarski said.

The March 6 event took aim at topics Pilarski said Catholic mothers need to give peace and meaning to their lives.

{mosimage}MONTREAL - Just two days after the announcement of Brother André������Ƶapp canonization, had no lack of pilgrims filing past his tomb.

One young woman, who would not reveal her name, stopped and prayed at the various stations depicting St. Joseph������Ƶapp life, leading up to Brother André������Ƶapp crypt.

“I come often because I’m a believer and it������Ƶapp renewing,” she said.

{mosimage}One of the myths of our age declares that there is a war between the traditions of science and religion. Those who promote this myth assert that the conflict between science and religion is a necessary consequence of the fundamental incompatibility of these two systems.

The stakes of this conflict are heightened by claims that only science has the power to lead the world into a future that is rational, just and sustainable. While acknowledging the concern shown by people of faith for the marginalized of the world, the warriors of science accuse the religious of being dangerously ideological and distracted by vague concepts of the afterlife where the righteous will gain release from trials of this world.

{mosimage}Stretched thinner and thinner across Canada������Ƶapp North, the church is losing touch with First Nations communities as First Nations communities lose touch with hope. Another wave of teen suicides in the James Bay region has left church leaders wondering how they can offer hope to young aboriginals when they have so little contact with them.

“It used to be that the churches had a real big involvement in the communities,” said Bishop Vincent Cadieux, bishop of the Moosonee and Hearst dioceses. “That������Ƶapp less and less now.”

{mosimage}TORONTO - When Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare 2 entered her teenage son������Ƶapp vocabulary this year, Mary hit the panic button. First, she didn’t like that “all his friends” were playing this game with a mature rating, and second, she worried about the impact a controversial terrorist mission within the game might have on his developing mind. The arguments began.

“I didn’t know what to do,” said Mary, who������Ƶapp name has been changed for this story. “My son is a great kid, he does really well in school and he just wants to play the game to unwind.”

{mosimage}TORONTO - A good education and a good job are no barrier to believing in a personal God, according to a University of Toronto sociologist.

But the American-born professor also warns that a close association between conservative, reactionary politics and religion is driving better educated Americans away from church, what Scott Schieman calls “the Sarah Palin effect.”

OTTAWA - A French Catholic school board in Northern Ontario has been ordered to compensate three members of a controversial religious group after an Ontario Human Rights Tribunal found the board guilty of discrimination.

On Dec. 15, the tribunal ordered the to pay unspecified compensation to Daniel, Michel and Sylvie Chabot, siblings who belong to the Raelian Movement and who operate the Academy of Pleasurology and Emotional Intelligence (APEI).

TORONTO - The head of the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association is calling for a popular aboriginal play to tour Southern Ontario schools to teach students about tackling racism.

James Ryan joined Sam Hammond, president of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario, and Isadore Day, Regional Grand Chief for Lake Huron Region and representative of the Union of Ontario Indians, in proposing an aboriginal education initiative that combats cultural stereotypes about First Nations students.