������Ƶapp

TORONTO - While the harrowing story of Anne Frank and her family������Ƶapp struggle for survival against the Nazis during the Second World War is a well-known one, it������Ƶapp safe to assume that few people know the story of Victor Kugler.

But it������Ƶapp because of Kugler that we know the story of Anne Frank, the German-born, Netherlands-raised young Jewish girl who died at the hands of the Nazis, author Rick Kardonne told an audience of about 50 people Nov. 9 at a talk about his book, Victor Kugler: The Man Who Hid Anne Frank.

TORONTO - It was a brazen and brutal attack on Iraqi Christians practising their faith, but Syriac Catholic Bishop Yousif Habash, instead of seeking vengeance, preached a message of peace to more than 800 people attending a Remembrance Day service at St. Michael's Cathedral.

The prayer vigil in remembrance of the 58 Christians murdered and 75 injured during an Oct. 31 attack on Our Lady of Salvation Church in Baghdad during Sunday Mass was organized by the archdiocese of Toronto and its Office of Ecumenism and Interfaith Affairs.

“They can take our lives away but they cannot take away our faith,” said Habash, the New Jersey-based bishop of Syriac Catholics in Canada and the United States.

TORONTO - This month marks the start of a year-long celebration in honour of the jubilee year for St. Stanislaus Kostka Church, the oldest Polish parish in Toronto.

“This year is a big milestone for the Polish community,” said Mary Samulewski, chair of the jubilee committee at St. Stanislaus Kostka Church, located in the core of the city near Spadina Avenue and Queen Street West. “The parish is the oldest Polish ethnic parish in the GTA and the fourth oldest in Canada.”

TORONTO - ������Ƶapp 2,000 Middle Eastern Christians hit the streets in Toronto Nov. 6 for a peaceful demonstration against attacks on Christians in Iraq.

The march was spurred by the Oct. 31 attacks at Our Lady of Salvation Church in Baghdad, where 58 people were killed by Muslim militants. This was followed by threats of more attacks on Christians by the Islamic State of Iraq, an Al-Qaeda front group. The group claimed Christians now face "the doors of destruction" in a statement published on militant web sites.

TORONTO - With a Nov. 3 Mass at St. Paul������Ƶapp Basilica, launched a program to heal the wounds of abusive marriages with equal doses of friendship and hope. The raw material will be supplied by women who have themselves survived abusive husbands.

Women Helping Women will start off modestly with seven survivors learning how to become mentors to women still trying to find their feet in the aftermath of their ordeals. The volunteer mentors won’t take the place of trained counsellors, psychologists or therapists. Their training through the month of December will teach them how to sip coffee and listen, how to be available to women who have been isolated and frightened for too long.

TORONTO - From his beginnings as a teen prisoner in the Dachau concentration camp to becoming pastor and leader of 1,800 Jewish families at Toronto������Ƶapp Adath Israel Synagogue, Rabbi Erwin Schild has led one of the most remarkable lives in Toronto.

On Nov. 24, keynote speaker Archbishop Terrence Prendergast of Ottawa and the many friends of will honour Schild and his wife Laura with a charity dinner.

TORONTO - Nobody is in favour of torture, unjust imprisonment, secret trials, pre-emptive war or judicial murder. However, despite our best intentions, we live in a world of death penalties, wars and occupations.

For Stephen Scharper and Simon Appolloni, a University of Toronto religious studies professor and the PhD student he supervises, knowing we are not innocent requires a Christian response, one of discernment, reflection and prayer. That������Ƶapp why they’ve launched an English Canadian chapter of Action by Christians for the Abolition of Torture (ACAT).

Below is the compete text of the address given Oct. 28 by Toronto Archbishop Thomas Collins at the annual Cardinal's Dinner in Toronto.

On behalf of Cardinal Ambrozic, I am happy to welcome you to the 31st annual Cardinal������Ƶapp Dinner. Let us all keep Cardinal Ambrozic in our thoughts and prayers, asking God������Ƶapp blessing upon him in his years of retirement.

This dinner is an occasion for all of us from within the , and from the wider community, to come together in fellowship, and to help raise money to support many worthy charitable organizations. Over the years, more than $5.5 million dollars has been raised to help those in need. I thank Mr Daniel Sullivan for chairing this year������Ƶapp Cardinal������Ƶapp Dinner.

��

Jesuit Father Carl Matthews disbelieves his own birth certificate. In February he will be 80.

“So I’m way past my due date, I think,” Matthews told The Catholic Register. “I can’t get over looking at a birth certificate that I am the age that I am.”

Parishioners at St. John the Evangelist in Waubaushene, on Georgian Bay in the northern reaches of the archdiocese of Toronto, said a fond farewell to their energetic pastor of the past 16 years on Oct. 23. Matthews will take up duties as chaplain for the Sisters of St. Joseph of Toronto. He will be replaced in Waubaushene by Jesuit Father Stephen LeBlanc.

The former chair of the , former editor and publisher of The Catholic Register, former teacher and former campaigner for full funding of Catholic high schools never expected to spend much time as a parish pastor.

TORONTO - New and returning members of Toronto������Ƶapp embattled Catholic school board are both calling for reconciliation and a fresh start following Oct. 25 elections that resulted in a significant turnover of the 12-member board.

With a record number of candidates and above-average voter turn-out leading to several close races, Toronto Catholic District School Board voters elected six new candidates and six incumbents.

New trustee Jo-Ann Davis, who defeated long-time trustee and former chair Catherine LeBlanc-Miller, said voters sent a clear message with a high voter turn-out and election of new trustees.

“I think it������Ƶapp pretty clear that people want to move forward,” she told The Register. “They’re looking for something new. They’re looking for more continued accountability and transparency.”