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{mosimage}TORONTO - He������Ƶapp been called the “surviving martyr.” And next spring, 17th-century Italian Jesuit missionary Fr. Francesco Giuseppe Bressani������Ƶapp sacrifices and contributions will be recognized with a statue at Martyrs’ Shrine near the territory where Bressani narrowly escaped death for his Catholic beliefs.

Fr. Daniele Bertoldi, president of the Italian Pastoral Commission of the archdiocese of Toronto, said Bressani������Ƶapp importance “has not yet been acknowledged.” 

{mosimage}TORONTO - An inactive priest who claims to have “married” his male partner at their Toronto home Nov. 14 will not be excommunicated but could lose his clerical state if he “continues to give scandal,” said Kingston Archbishop Brendan O’Brien, quoting canon law.

Karl Clemens, a priest almost in his 70s who was dismissed from the archdiocese of Kingston 10 years ago and suspended from ministry, announced in a 2006 interview with Vision TV that he was gay. He said he “retired early” from the priesthood to minister to the gay community in Toronto.

{mosimage}TORONTO - , a ministry for Catholic women, is bursting at the seams in Toronto.

After hosting a record 370 people at its October Magnificat breakfast at a banquet hall in Etobicoke, organizers spoke about the possibility of branching off the ministry into one or two more chapters across Toronto.

{mosimage}TORONTO - Msgr. Thomas Barrett Armstrong, a priest who knew the inner workings of beauty and shared the gift of music with hundreds of students, his city and his church, passed away peacefully at the Cardinal Ambrozic Houses of Providence Nov. 14, just days before his 80th birthday.

Ripples from the former director of music at   lifetime of teaching and conducting are preserved everywhere in the musical life of Toronto and Canada, said Lydia Adams, conductor of the Elmer Iseler Singers. 

TORONTO - Canada's first non-white bishop along with a man who has spent 20 years forming young priests are ready to share in the leadership of Canada's biggest, richest and most diverse diocese.

Fr. Vincent Nguyen (Nguyen Manh Hieu), who came to Canada as a teenaged refugee in 1984 and is a great-grandson of one of 117 Vietnamese Martyrs canonized in 1988, will make the transition from chancellor of spiritual affairs and moderator of the curia to auxiliary bishop with a Toronto ordination likely some time in January

{mosimage}TORONTO - A persecuted priest in the then Soviet-occupied Lithuania, Archbishop Sigitas Tamkevicius says it was his daily, secret celebration of the Eucharist in his prison cell, as well as his love for God and compassion for others, that helped him survive and grow stronger in his faith.

Tamkevicius was keynote speaker at a Nov. 2 multi-faith reflection on being persecuted for your faith at the University of Toronto������Ƶapp Multi-Faith Centre. He spoke of his struggles as one of the leading figures in the underground Lithuanian Catholic Church and how he was able to forgive his persecutors through prayer and God������Ƶapp love.

Tamkevicius said he harbours no anger or hatred towards his tormentors, because “most guilty” was the inhumane system of Soviet communism.

TORONTO - Archbishop Thomas Collins, in his first public comment on the scandal following the arrest of Nova Scotia Bishop Raymond Lahey on child pornography charges, challenged church leaders to be diligent in selecting suitable priests and bishops and to uphold their “solemn obligation” to act immediately when an offence occurs.

Speaking to 1,700 people at the 30th annual Cardinal������Ƶapp Dinner Oct. 29, he called pornography “a scourge upon our society” and said he is enraged by the proliferation of this multi-billion-dollar industry. And society������Ƶapp outrage is more intense when a priest or bishop uses pornography, and “rightly so,” he said, because they are entrusted by God so “any abuse of that trust is a betrayal of our vows to God.”

“To me, as a bishop, the pain of any priestly scandal is a sharp personal reminder that I need to do all that I can to be sure that those who are ordained, for all their inescapable human frailty, are living their vocation with integrity.”

{mosimage}TORONTO - It������Ƶapp a place where priests can shop and feel at home and even get a nice cup of espresso while they discuss their purchases.

, which recently celebrated the grand opening of an 11,000 square-foot outlet that includes a 5,000 square-foot showroom, is well-known as a friendly place for clergy and the public to find what they need.

{mosimage}TORONTO - With Filipinos still digging their homes out of the mud, and many more with no homes to return to after Typhoon Ketsana swept through the region just north of Manila Sept. 26, Canadians continue to add to the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace������Ƶapp relief fund.

Following an initial $50,000 contribution, Development and Peace has raised a further $108,000 to help Caritas in the Philippines. That total does not include $70,000 sent in so far by Toronto parishes to ShareLife.

{mosimage}TORONTO - What can a penny buy today? More than you think.

Twenty-five ago, when Mary Hughes was a youthful 75-year-old, she heard her grandchildren teasing their father about having a sore back because he couldn’t pass a penny on the sidewalk without bending to pick it up. It got her thinking about all the stray pennies people pass by without notice or exile to their piggy banks. What if all those pennies could be collected and put towards a good cause, she wondered.