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Last Updated: Friday - 09/24/2010

Week of December 13, 1999

Canadian and Foreign News Highlights

Eucharist led many to live saintly lives:

Holy men and women throughout the ages have received Christ in the Eucharist and have allowed him to permeate their lives, said speakers at a Vatican conference. "The attachment to and love for Jesus Christ present in the Eucharist" is common to many of the men and women proclaimed saints by the Catholic Church, said Archbishop Jose Saraiva Martins. For many of the Church's saints, he said, "the Eucharist was the fulcrum, the centre of their lives as Christians, and the commandment to love God and love one's neighbour were interdependent and harmoniously fused."

Wealthy nations urged to welcome refugees:

As desperate circumstances force an increasing number of people worldwide to flee their homelands, wealthy countries must welcome them in a spirit of solidarity, Pope John Paul said. In many countries, "the lack of understanding seen regarding foreigners manifests the urgency for a transformation of structures and for a change in mentality," the pope said. His remarks were released at the Vatican Dec. 6 in a message for the World Day for Migrants and Refugees.

Global poverty ignored - report:

"The fact that more than a billion people are living or dying in poverty is not a tragic twist of fate, but a deliberate turning of heads," says a coalition of Canada's leading development organizations. In launching a new report at a roundtable discussion on the future of Canadian aid Dec. 7, the Canadian Council for International Cooperation (CCIC) said the gap between those who will prosper in the 21st century and those who will not be able to meet their most basic needs for survival is growing wider. "The poorest of the poor continue to be ignored and the youngest and most vulnerable continue to suffer," said the report, entitled The Reality of Aid 2000. "More than four million children born in the year 2000 will die before they turn five."

Native group demands accountable leadership:

Justice is slow but it is on the move and Canada's native people must take a role in the fight to keep it moving. That was the heart of the message delivered by Alberta Judge John Reilly at a meeting of the First Nations Coalition for Accountability in Saskatoon on Nov. 27. "There has to be a way of giving the power back to the people," said Reilly, who gained national attention in 1997 when he ordered an inquiry into conditions at the Stoney Reserve near Morley, west of Calgary. "My concern at Morley was there was 3,000 people, $50 million of income and school gym that was condemned for lack of maintenance. I asked why is that money not being spent on the kids?" he recalled.

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