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New funding rules and the process of setting new directions for the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace (D&P) are running into stiff opposition in Quebec and New Brunswick.

Members of D&P in Francophone Canada used their regional assembly meeting to demand restoration of funding to Centro PRODH, the Mexican human rights organization that has drawn heat for apparently endorsing a campaign for legal access to first trimester abortions throughout Mexico.

D&P had ended its funding relationship with Centro PRODH based on doubts expressed by Mexico������Ƶapp conference of Catholic bishops. In April Archbishop Terrence Prendergast and D&P cancelled an Ottawa speaking engagement with Centro PRODH executive director Fr. Luis Arriaga. Arriaga was photographed accepting an award from an organization that promotes legal access to abortion.

TORONTO - The Ontario Community Support Association wants to make home and community care a funding priority in Ontario to allow seniors and those affected by illness to live in their own homes as long as possible.

The OCSA, the voice of the province������Ƶapp non-profit home and community care sector, launched its Aging With Dignity campaign in May.

“What we need to do is help people live healthily in their own homes rather than waiting until they’re sick and going into long-term care,” said Susan Thorning, CEO of the OCSA.

“(We have) a health-care system that focuses on sickness, on getting sick people well, on doctors and hospitals. We need to do a little bit of a shift and focus on prevention and wellness.”

Keeping people healthy and at home through part-time preventative care, Thorning said, is not only good for the individual but is also more cost-effective than long-term care.

OTTAWA - It������Ƶapp rare for an outspoken, socially conservative Catholic to host a prime time news and opinion program on a mainstream media network, and Sun Media������Ƶapp Brian Lilley is not wasting his moment.

When his 9 p.m. (ET) program Byline launched April 18 on the new Sun News channel, Sun Media������Ƶapp senior parliamentary reporter waded right into one of the most politically incorrect subjects inside the Ottawa Queensway — abortion.

“I like a good debate, so I jump right in and say, ‘let������Ƶapp talk about this,’ ” said Lilley in an interview in the conference room of Sun Media������Ƶapp brand new newsroom and studio in Ottawa.

“It������Ƶapp assumed that a lot of these issues are settled. The abortion issue is settled and we don’t need to ever discuss it. That is the prevailing view. And then it������Ƶapp discussed in the dying days of every election campaign as an issue to scare people,” he said, noting none of the major political parties are pro-life.

On June 20, KAIROS will be reminding the Canadian government of its pledge to support indigenous rights in Canada.

The ecumenical group of 11 Christian churches and organizations has planned a Day of Action on Parliament Hill that day, part of its Roll with the Declaration campaign, to make sure the government doesn’t forget it endorsed the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) in November 2010.

Roll with the Declaration is a campaign run by KAIROS which will bring Canadians from coast to coast to Ottawa to support indigenous rights.

“Endorsement is but one small step — a necessary step, of course — for the Canadian government,” said Julie Graham, the KAIROS education and campaign program co-ordinator. “We don’t want it to be something written down on paper and forgotten about.”

OTTAWA - The retirement of two Supreme Court justices this summer gives Prime Minister Stephen Harper a chance to shape the court, but few expect he will appoint activist judges who will try to swing the court in a conservative direction.

Those on the front lines of court battles for religious freedom and moral issues prefer it that way. Catholic Civil Rights League president Phil Horgan, a Toronto-based lawyer, said he hopes Harper will choose justices who will interpret the existing laws and resist any temptation to make them.  

“When you are acting as an umpire on competing claims, you try to make the best decision without overstepping the bounds of the judicial role,” he said. “It������Ƶapp one thing to be the referee; it������Ƶapp another thing to rewrite the rules of the game.”       

Horgan wants judges that recognize the role of Parliament. For those who like an activist bench, he asks, “Are they prepared for the day when that activism doesn’t go in their favour?” He hopes the judges that will replace Justices Louise Charron and Ian Binnie are “cognizant of a healthy pluralism” in Canadian society.

OTTAWA - The funeral service for a Grade 12 student killed in a shop accident at Ottawa's Mother Teresa Catholic High School will be held June 3.

The service for 18-year-old Eric Leighton is scheduled for Ottawa's St. Patrick's Church.

Leighton died when an explosion ripped through an auto shop at Mother Teresa High School May 26. Five others were injured. Police reported the students had been cutting through metal making barbecues when residue in a 55-gallon drum exploded.

Leighton was found "without vital signs" at the scene but paramedics "initiated advance resuscitative measures" and by the time he reached hospital, he had regained a pulse. Leighton, however, died in hospital later in the day, according to police.

OTTAWA - Bishop Raymond Lahey������Ƶapp sentencing hearing will take place June 24, when the judge gets to hear testimony from a forensic psychiatrist.

Lahey, 70, pleaded guilty to importing child pornography May 4 and opted to go directly to jail rather than stay out on bail until a date could be arranged for Dr. James Bradford to testify about his psychological evaluation. A charge of distribution of child pornography was dropped.

The bishop faces a minimum one-year jail term, but he could receive a sentence as high as 10 years.

OTTAWA - An explosion ripped through an auto shop at Ottawa's Mother Teresa Catholic High School May 26, killing Grade 12 student Eric Leighton, 18, and injuring five others.

Police reported the students had been cutting through metal making barbecues when residue in a 55-gallon drum exploded.

Leighton was found "without vital signs" at the scene but paramedics "initiated advance resuscitative measures" and by the time he reached hospital, he had regained a pulse.  Leighton, however, died in hospital later in the day, according to police.

Paramedics assessed four other students and a 33-year old teacher at the scene.  They were sent to hospital for monitoring of possible concussive injuries.

PORT ROYAL, N.S. - Canada's Jesuits returned to the scene of their earliest footsteps in Canada to help mark 400 years of service in Canada May 22.

������Ƶapp three dozen Canadian Jesuits and some 100 guests gathered to mark the landing, 400 years to the day, of Jesuit Fathers Pierre Biard and Ennemond Massé at Port Royal in what is now Nova Scotia. Halifax Archbishop Anthony Mancini presided at a jubilee Mass that was part of the day-long celebrations at Port Royal National Historical Site.

The reconstructed Habitation on the shores of the Annapolis Basin, near the Bay of Fundy, provided a back drop for a brief dramatic re-enactment of Biard and Massé������Ƶapp landing at the site. The original Habitation had been built by French fur traders in 1604 but had been abandoned to Mi’kmaq control when the Jesuits arrived. It became the base for two years of missionary activity before the Jesuits returned to France.

TORONTO - Michael Coren, Catholic author and journalist, has been chosen this year������Ƶapp recipient of the Catholic Civil Rights League������Ƶapp Archbishop Adam Exner Award for Catholic Excellence in Public Life.

The annual award recognizes outstanding lay achievement in advocacy, education, life issues and philanthropy.

“Michael������Ƶapp really done a lot to promote Catholic understanding,” said Joanne McGarry, executive director of the CCRL. She said that Coren was chosen because of his “consistent and clear defence of Catholic teaching in the media.”

“I’m more than happy to be out on the front lines defending the Church, my Church, but the blows, the abuse and the attacks certainly cut deep at times,” said Coren. “So this honour, this affirmation, is wonderful. For someone who always has something to say, I’m almost speechless.”