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TORONTO - Young Ontario pro-lifers are gearing up for Canada������Ƶapp first “Defund abortion rally” on Oct. 22 at Queen������Ƶapp Park.

Instead of controversial photos of unborn babies, ads for the Campaign Life Coalition Youth-led rally are highlighting a new approach: an appeal to taxpayers.

“Ontario taxpayers pay over $30 million annually to cover the cost of abortions in their province,” begins a YouTube ad created by Campaign Life Coalition Youth.

TORONTO - Critics often wonder how a Harvard-educated man like U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia can believe in God. Scalia answers that being a devout Catholic does not mean you forgo your intellect or reason.

“A faith that has no reason is not sound,” Scalia said to a packed room of more than 200 lawyers and judges as keynote speaker following the 87th annual Red Mass on Sept. 22 at the King Edward Hotel in Toronto.

“That is why I am not a Branch Davidian,” he joked, with chuckles from the audience. (The Branch Davidians are the infamous sect notorious for the 1993 siege in Waco, Texas, where more than 80 people died during a standoff with the FBI.)

TORONTO - Lawyer Daniel Santoro will give a preview of jailed pro-life activist Linda Gibbons’ upcoming Supreme Court hearing at the 26th annual meeting of the Catholic Civil Rights League.

Santoro is the featured speaker at the CCRL������Ƶapp Oct. 13 meeting that begins with a 5:30 p.m. Mass at Toronto������Ƶapp St. Michael������Ƶapp Cathedral, followed by the meeting at St. Michael������Ƶapp Choir School.

Santoro said he would present an overall summary of Gibbons’ case before the Supreme Court on Dec. 14 which will challenge a 1994 temporary Ontario court injunction protecting several downtown Toronto abortion clinics. The issue is “whether the Criminal Code can be used to enforce civil injunctions,” he said.

TORONTO - It was a triumph of the cross at Neil McNeil Catholic High School.

A seven-by-five-foot cross that was built and designed by two of the east-end school������Ƶapp students and teachers has been chosen to travel to each of the Toronto Catholic District School Board������Ƶapp 201 schools over the next two years.

The cross is part of the board������Ƶapp celebration of “The Year of Witness,” the third year of the board������Ƶapp pastoral plan focusing on “Word, Witness and Worship.”

TORONTO - The Canadian Augustinian Centre for Social Justice is part of a multi-faith partnership that will sponsor an upcoming forum on housing and homelessness.

Taking place Sept. 20 at the Multifaith Centre at the University of Toronto, the centre is partnering with the North American Muslim Foundation and the MultiFaith Alliance to End Homelessness to activate and model peaceful and collaborative multi-faith approaches to social justice in Toronto, said Augustinian Centre director Brian Dwyer.

“We want to open up dialogue among diverse religious groups about shared experiences with homelessness and poverty,” said Dwyer.

TORONTO - At 14 Neola Husbands decided she couldn’t continue living at home with her father and his new wife. At 18 she������Ƶapp starting her second year at McGill University in Montreal, her first year in the bachelor of commerce program, while she shores up a business plan that she hopes will launch a career in fashion.

The bridge between a violent home and a bright future for Husbands has been group homes run by the Catholic Children������Ƶapp Aid Society of Toronto.

On Aug. 22 Husbands was one of 100 former CCAS youth in care to receive a scholarship from the Hope for Children foundation. She planned to use the $2,000 she received for tuition — absorbing a small part of the burden of debt she would otherwise face as a university student with no parental support.

Foster kids graduate out of the children������Ƶapp aid system at 18. At the age when most high school graduates are getting some help from their parents in realizing their post-secondary dreams, kids like Husbands have to make it on their own.

We've sifted through The Catholic Register photo archives to recount the extraordinary life of a man who, as archbishop of Toronto for 16 years, oversaw the transformation of Canada's largest diocese into a multicultural, multi-racial home to today's 1.8 million Catholics.

Cardinal Aloyisus Ambrozic, 81, died Aug. 26 at Providence Healthcare following a lengthy battle with Progressive Supranuclear Palsy.

His funeral Mass on August 31 saw an overflow crowd of bishops, priests, family, dignitaries and friends fill St. Michael������Ƶapp Cathedral. ������Ƶapp more, unable to get into the cathedral, stood outside and followed the Mass on loudspeakers.

The photo gallery will play at a slow pace automatically. You can pause the slideshow at any time. To scroll more quickly through the images, brush your cursor on the thumbnail images at the bottom of the page.

The last time Bishop John Sherlock saw his old friend Cardinal Aloysius Ambrozic there were tears in Sherlock������Ƶapp eyes.

“The devastation of that Parkinson������Ƶapp (like disease) had set in,” recalled London������Ƶapp bishop emeritus. “I remember being overwhelmed with sadness. I remember I came out of his room and I broke into tears.”

Cardinal Ambrozic was a scholar who spoke English, French, Italian and German, read Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek, all in addition to his native Slovenian. It was painful for Sherlock to think of the cardinal imprisoned by a disease, unable to communicate.

“His life must have been pretty miserable. He was a voracious reader and I presume even that was stripped away. He was a great communicator and that was taken away,” said Sherlock.

Sherlock prayed for Cardinal Ambrozic by name every day over the last two years. He directed his prayers to Blessed John Paul II, who had also suffered through Parkinson������Ƶapp.

TORONTO - Cardinal Aloyisus Ambrozic was a faithful disciple whose love of Jesus and dedication to the Lord marked a life of selfless dedication, Toronto Archbishop Thomas Collins told a packed funeral Mass.

An overflow crowd of bishops, priests, family, dignitaries and friends filled St. Michael������Ƶapp Cathedral on Aug. 31 for the Mass of Christian Burial for Toronto������Ƶapp ninth archbishop. Approximately 200 people, unable to get into the cathedral, stood outside and followed the Mass on loudspeakers.

Cardinal Ambrozic, 81, died Aug. 26 at Providence Healthcare following a lengthy battle with Progressive Supranuclear Palsy.

Among the attendees were Cardinal Jean-Claude Turcotte, archbishop of Montreal, and Msgr. Luca Lorusso, representing the Vatican in Canada, as well as hundreds of priests from the archdiocese of Toronto and more than 20 bishops.

Politicians in attendance included federal Finance Minister James Flaherty, Ontario Lt.-Gov. David Onley, Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion and Ontario Environment Minister John Wilkinson.

TORONTO - More than 1,000 people gathered to pay tribute to the life and service of Toronto������Ƶapp late Cardinal Aloysius Ambrozic at his Aug. 31 funeral Mass at St. Michael������Ƶapp Cathedral.

Parishioners like Margaret Rose came to offer prayers for the late cardinal. Rose, 73, was first in a long line of about 200 people hoping for public seating. She arrived close to three hours before the funeral was set to begin.

“I came out of respect. He was our (cardinal) for 16 years,” she said while holding a rosary and recalling how the cardinal loved to shake people������Ƶapp hands after Sunday Mass. “I’ll spend five hours here if I have to.”

Due to renovations at the Cathedral, seating was limited to about 800 people. ������Ƶapp half the people in line got a seat, with about 200 more praying outside the church.

Several dignitaries attended the funeral, including federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty.