AWARENESS
As part of our fraternity's effort to share our gift of faith, we have embarked on awareness campaigns in three areas: abortion awareness, same sex "marriage," and the Shroud of Turin.
Abortion
Our fraternity's effort to bring about greater awareness on the evil of abortion involves our participation in "40 Days For Life" and Life Chain. Forty days for life is a 24/7 silent prayer vigil held outside a selected abortion mill, during the Lenten season. It is a community-based campaign that draws attention to the evil of abortion through the use of a three-point program: Prayer and Fasting, Constant Vigil and Community Outreach. Life Chain involves an hour of silent prayer and public witness. It is by this witness, united together with all Christians, that we publicly acknowledge abortion to be a threat to the value and inviolability of human life.
The Church's teaching on abortion is crystal clear: it is the killing of a developing human being and a lack of respect for human life. Christ's own words on the Sermon on The Mount of, "You shall not kill,..." (2262), together with the Catechism of The Catholic Church, the fifth Commandment and the Servant of God Pope John Paul II's encyclical "Evangelium vitae," all provide specific references that we hope all will take advantage of to strengthen your own understanding and to bring awareness to others.
To read more, please visit our Abortion page.
Same Sex "Marriage"
The Canadian Same Sex "Marriage" Bill C-38 was passed in 2005 resulting in the traditional definition of marriage being altered to include the union of same sex couples. Debate had already begun prior to the bill's introduction and passing early as 2003 with then Cardinal Ratzinger's document, "Considerations Regarding Proposals to Give Legal Recognition to Unions Between Homosexual Persons." In this document, then Cardinal Ratzinger states, "There are absolutely no grounds for considering homosexual unions to be in any way similar or even remotely analogous to God's plan for marriage and family..." Our fraternity is troubled by Bill C-38's attempt to reinvent the institution of marriage and together with our fellow Catholics and Christians alike, we have entered into the debate and added this controversy to our awareness efforts.
In the spirit of then Cardinal Ratzinger's 2002 doctrinal note on some questions regarding "The Participation of Catholics in Political Life," we encourage all who are concerned about safeguarding and promoting monogamous marriage between a man and a woman in light of modern divorce laws and more recently the passing of Bill C-38 to enter into this debate. As Christians and citizens of Canada, we have the right and duty to seek the truth with sincerity and to promote and defend, by legitimate means, moral truths concerning society, justice, freedom and the respect for human life.
To read more, please visit our Same Sex "Marriage" page.
Shroud of Turin
Our fraternity assisted Monsignor Ricci’s Holy Shroud of Turin exhibit held in March'2006 at Saint Peter's Roman Catholic Church. Although the original Shroud was not made available for the exhibit, in place were several full length photographic and text panels that told the remarkable story of Christianity's most famous relic.
The Shroud of Turin is a four and half piece of thin linen that has involved scholars, theologians, art historians, scientists, medical examiners, botanists and individuals in a continuing debate on its authenticity. In question is this the only image of Christ, miraculously created for His faithful at the moment of His resurrection. To address this, the Servant of God Pope John Paul II commissioned scientists to investigate without taking on any pre-established positions and studying it with interior freedom and attentive respect for both scientific methodology and the sensibilities of believers.
To read more, please visit our Shroud of Turin page.