������Ƶapp

TORONTO - With Haiti yet to emerge from the rubble, Christians didn't have to think hard to come up with a reason to pray hard and pray together at the annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity ecumenical prayer service Jan. 24.

"We're called to reach out to assist those who suffer and to pray together (for the people of Haiti)," declared Archbishop Thomas Collins in his sermon at Timothy Eaton Memorial Church, part of the ecumenical grouping of mid-town Toronto churches called the "Churches on the Hill." Along with two Anglican and five Protestant churches, the Yonge and St. Clair neighbourhood churches include Holy Rosary and Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Churches.

��

{mosimage}The archdiocese of Toronto headquarters welcomed the city's two new Catholic bishops at a morning Mass in the Pastoral Centre chapel Jan. 15.

"I hope you experience a shepherd's love in the ministry I bring," Bishop Bill McGrattan told about 60 employees of the archdiocese.

{mosimage}TORONTO - Typhoons, floods, volcanoes — the Philippines has endured all kinds of natural disasters. But that doesn’t faze the Filipino community, said Fred Gamboa.

“We have one characteristic,” said Gamboa. “ We’re very resilient. We just bounce back.”

{mosimage}TORONTO - For the first time in 30 years, Bishop-elect Vincent Nguyen will be together with his eight brothers and sisters in one place, but it won't happen until his ordination on Jan. 13.

A last-minute snag delayed the youngest Nguyen brother, Hau. Hau tried to board the first international flight of his life carrying a hand-carved bishop's staff or crosier. It was not deemed appropriate carry-on luggage and by the time everything was sorted out the plane was gone. Arrangements had to be made for him to fly to Canada Jan. 12, when his big brother will be in London for Bishop-elect Bill McGrattan's ordination.

TORONTO - Don't have a ticket for the big ordinations Jan. 12 and 13? Can't drive all the way to London or fight the traffic to St. Michael's Cathedral in downtown Toronto? No worries. You can be there to see Toronto's two new bishops ordained just sitting in front of your computer screen.

Salt + Light TV, the digital television service that broadcasts World Youth Day-inspired Catholic programming in English and French, will be streaming the ordinations live on its web site.

{mosimage}OSHAWA, Ont. - It could be at least two months before parishioners of St. Philip the Apostle parish in Oshawa celebrate Mass in their church after a fire broke out on Christmas Day.

Fr. Callistus St. Louis, pastor of St. Philip������Ƶapp, awoke to the church������Ƶapp fire alarm and the smell of smoke at 5 a.m., Dec. 25. The rectory is attached to the church and the smoke was spreading into his residence. St. Louis called the fire department and escaped with mild smoke inhalation.

TORONTO - Pope Benedict XVI appointed Toronto������Ƶapp Archbishop Thomas Collins a member of the on Jan. 5. He joins Fr. Tom Rosica of Salt+Light TV on the council.

“I look forward to the opportunity to learn more about how the church can communicate and evangelize both locally and globally,” Collins told The Catholic Register in an e-mail.

{mosimage} MISSISSAUGA, Ont. - A framed photo of fallen soldier Marc Diab sits in every room of the Diab family������Ƶapp new home.

Almost a year after the 22-year-old trooper was killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan, the family is still mourning his loss but says they’re coping thanks to community support and by keeping his memory alive through the charitable foundation they started the day after his funeral.

{mosimage}In Kingston, Ont., church bells rang in solidarity with others around the world Dec. 13 to encourage a just deal against climate change at the United Nations climate summit in Copenhagen.

The Sisters of Providence had encouraged 14 churches, temples and mosques in the Kingston area to join in with the global call for 350 bell tolls, meant to represent the 350 parts per million which scientists have said is the safe upper limit for carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. If worshippers did not have bells to clang, they were encouraged to offer alternative awareness activities.

{mosimage}TORONTO - You can shake hands at Mass again in Toronto.

As the threat of the H1N1 flu virus retreats, Archbishop Thomas Collins has removed temporary restrictions that asked people to bow or otherwise make the sign of peace without shaking hands. He������Ƶapp also cleared the way for people to begin receiving communion directly on the tongue again.