FR. ROBERT BARRON

From the 1950s through the late 1970s, Karol Wojtyla (Pope John Paul II) was a professor of moral philosophy at the Catholic University of Lublin in Poland, specializing in sexual ethics and what we call today "marriage and family life."

He produced two important books touching on these matters, The Acting Person, a rigorously philosophical exploration of Christian anthropology, and Love and Responsibility, a much more accessible analysis of love, sex and marriage. These texts provided the foundation for the richly textured teaching of Pope John Paul that now goes by the name "theology of the body."

MARK PICKUP

Canada and the United States treat abortion as a right. This is a recent development and an aberration from the course of human history.

The Hippocratic Oath for doctors dating back thousands of years forbade abortion and euthanasia. Since the first century, the Catholic Church has unwaveringly maintained the moral evil of procured abortion. Ancient and persistent common law traditions dating back into the Middle Ages treated abortion as a grave crime. In 1802, England formally made abortion a criminal offence.

SR. LOUISE ZDUNICH, NDC

Please tell us the story of stained glass windows.

Longtime volunteer and successful lawyer Rosanna Saccomani will soon receive the 2011 Kevin Carr Christian Leadership Award.

Saccomani will receive the eighth annual award at a luncheon at the Royal Glenora Club in Edmonton Oct. 13. The award was named for Carr, Newman Theological College's first lay president. It recognizes people whose outstanding Christian leadership reflects the values of the college and the qualities that Carr cherished in his work as president.

EDMONTON — As the famine in the Horn of Africa deepens, Catholic parishioners are rising to the challenge of feeding the hungry half a world away.

St. Michael-Resurrection Parish has been challenging Catholics nationwide to raise $10 million for famine relief. At least four other parishes from across Canada have responded.

OTTAWA — The Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace (CCODP) is urging Canadian Catholics to help the 10 million people in the Horn of Africa whose lives are endangered by drought and famine.

CCODP spokesperson Kelly Di Domenico described the worsening situation in the region as "drastic."

Morinville's school system is an anomaly in Alberta. The town has four schools, all of which are Catholic.

The Greater St. Albert Catholic Regional School Division is the only school division that serves the community of about 8,000.

SASKATOON — The revised translation of the Mass that takes effect in November will have several clearer allusions to Scripture, says the chair of the diocesan liturgy commission.

Karen Schreiner told recent workshops here that the new translation is closer to the Latin original and represents a perfect opportunity to deepen understanding about the liturgy in general.

DENVER — The Church must stand up for the right to adhere to the dictates of one's conscience, an American cardinal told the Knights of Columbus supreme convention.

Cardinal Raymond Burke, prefect of the Apostolic Signature, the Vatican's supreme tribunal, said teaching the truth of conscience must be one of the Church's priorities in today's society.

Felicia Bravard and her friends Brendan, Stacy and a girl too shy to give her name to a stranger are passing a summer day in classic teenage style. I found them moseying the gravel roads of Tulita, N.W.T., sharing a joint at 10 in the morning.

They offered me a toke, an offer not often made to middle-aged Church journalists. I declined.