By Robert Kinghorn I never knew the lady’s real name. When I met her she said, “Just call me Chilli, that’s my street name.” Readers of this column will know her as “The woman who lives in a doorway downtown.” It has been 10 months since we first met. At that time, she gave...
Category: Ontario
J.E.H. MacDonald’s Crucifixion from St. Anne’s Anglican Church in Toronto. The work was destroyed when the church went up in flames June 9.
Invaluable Group of Seven works lost in church blaze
The only church to feature artwork by members of the famed Group of Seven Canadian artists burned to the ground, taking with it the stunning murals on its walls and dome. St. Anne’s Anglican Church in downtown Toronto’s Little Portugal neighbourhood was destroyed by a Sunday morning fire June 9. Fire officials are investigating how...
Pope Francis greets Canadian Father Michael Brehl, superior general of the Redemptorists, as the pope leads an audience with students and staff of the Alphonsian Academy at the Vatican Feb. 9, 2019. CNS photo/Vatican Media
Redemptorist Brehl named new Bishop of Pembroke
Fr. Michael Brehl, leader of the Canadian Redemptorists, has been named new bishop for the Diocese of Pembroke. The Toronto-born, 69-year-old Brehl will assume the seat at the head of the Ontario diocese vacated by Bishop Guy Desrochers when he was named Archbishop of Moncton in July 2023. Bishop-elect Brehl brings a wealth of leadership...
The federal government has turned down Toronto’s request to decriminalize possession of hard drugs.Register file photo/Michael Swan
Toronto denied hard drug decriminalization
As British Columbia throws in the towel on its experiment of decriminalizing hard drugs, admitting defeat in liberalizing its drug laws, the country’s largest city has had its desire to ignore B.C.s evidence and move down the same path quashed by the federal government. On May 17, the federal government rejected a request from Toronto’s...
Theo Johnson is shown playing for the Holy Names High School Knights. (Rob Mcintyre file photo)
Catholic high school football star eyes God over NFL draft as path to success
Days before the April 25-27 NFL draft, Theo Johnson was reconnecting with his Windsor, Ont., roots instead of focusing on being pegged by Bleacher Report as the 107th-ranked prospect. “I’m back in the places that built me up to who I am,” said Johnson. “Seeing my old high school reminded me a lot of the...
The International Pro-Life Flag will not fly over Toronto Catholic schools this May after Toronto Catholic District School Board trustees voted against a trustee’s motion. (Facebook photo)
Audience erupts in anger as trustees oppose flying pro-life flag at Toronto Catholic schools
The International Pro-Life Flag will not fly over Toronto Catholic schools this May. Toronto Catholic District School Board trustees voted against an April 23 motion proposed by trustee Michael Del Grande that the pro-life flag fly outside all schools and the Catholic Education Centre during the month of May, just as the board voted to...
Tammy Peterson with her husband Jordan and her friend Queenie Yu, by her side. Tammy Peterson was confirmed in front of a packed Holy Rosary Church in Toronto at the Easter Vigil Mass on March 30. She joined 11 catechumens who were confirmed and three who were baptized. (Sheila Nonato photos)
Tammy Peterson confirmed in front of fellow parishioners at Toronto Catholic Church
By Sheila Nonato TORONTO- Canadian podcaster and cancer survivor Tammy Maureen Peterson stood with eight other catechumens and their sponsors Saturday night in front of a packed crowd of hundreds of fellow parishioners at Holy Rosary Catholic Church in midtown Toronto where three were baptized and 12 were confirmed as Roman Catholics. Peterson received the...
Tammy Peterson, left, with friend Queenie Yu, who prayed with her daily as she battled cancer. (Photo by Laura Salem, In His Image Photo & Film Inc.)
Tammy Peterson’s homecoming: Popular podcaster welcomed into the Catholic Church in Toronto
By SHEILA NONATO TORONTO—In her journey towards the Catholic Church, cancer survivor, speaker and popular podcaster Tammy Peterson has endured her own cross of debilitating illness and loss. Four years ago, she was granted the miracle of healing from terminal cancer and received the grace of inner conversion. At this year’s Easter Vigil on March...
These are the blueprints for St. Francis Xavier Church, which is set to be built to replace the church torched in 2021. (Photo courtesy Diocese of Hearst-Moosonee)
Attawapiskat eager for rebuilding of church destroyed by fire
By Luke Mandato St. Francis Xavier Church in Attawapiskat, one of the churches destroyed in a rash of fires across the nation in 2021, is set to rise from the ashes. A new church is to be built in the northern Ontario community on the site of the previous church destroyed by a fire ruled...
Catholic high school student Josh Alexander will remain barred from his Catholic high school in Ontario. Trustees rejected the appeal of his suspension over his views on gender. (X photo)
Catholic school board upholds suspension of student over two-gender comments
A panel of three Renfrew County Catholic District School Board (RCCDSB) trustees rejected the appeal of Josh Alexander, the high school student suspended for alleged bullying by stating in a class discussion that God created only two genders, male and female. The 17-year-old will remain barred from continuing his studies at St. Joseph’s High School...