It's mid-summer, a strange time to be discussing hockey. Inside Bill Reason Sr.'s Kingston, Ont. home, the temperature and humidex are locked in competition for the discomfort-zone championship. Reason is well known in local pro-life circles. "I'll be there," is the usual response to alerts on such activities as Life Chain and March for Life. Today, he's reminiscing with The Interim about [...]
A long-time Toronto-area pro-life activist is being remembered as both a staunch supporter of the pro-life cause and a bright, articulate and strong woman. Catherine Fox passed away after a lengthy illness on July 20 at the age of 71. She is survived by her husband of 49 years, Roy, as well as eight children and 21 grandchildren. Fox, a retired teacher, [...]
Fr. Les Costello died Dec. 10, days after sustaining an injury before a game in Kincardine, Ont., with the Flying Fathers, the famous hockey-playing team comprised of priests that he co-founded in 1962. Fr. Costello, who played for the NHL's Toronto Maple Leafs in the late 1940s, quit hockey to become a Catholic priest. Born in 1928 in South Porcupine, Ont. near [...]
A Toronto-area woman is putting into effect a different kind of pro-life work - assisting poor children in Pakistan through the foundation of a home and school. Josephine Lal-Din started Fatima House in Sialkot, north Pakistan in 1983. Initially serving 45 children, the facility has grown to the point where it now assists 562 children, and plans are in place to establish [...]
Clayton Lee, proprietor of St. Bernard Books, always has a smile on his face when he sees me approach one of his displays at various pro-life conferences and strategy meetings. (If you can't make it to these events, check out his website at stbernardbooks.com.) Clayton smiles because he knows I'm a sucker for good books and he invariably makes a sale. In [...]
Her good advice made her credible; her bad advice made her destructive Esther Landers, much better known as Ann Landers, died in Chicago. But make no mistake about it: her spirit lives on. Make no mistake about this, either: the spirit of Ann Landers is in large measure what is so wrong with our society. If that seems to you like a [...]
August 26 will mark 92 years since the birth of Mother Teresa. Her saintly life was wholly devoted to love of God and love of neighbour. Even in life, she was acclaimed a saint. But what made the world take notice of this diminutive lover of the poor? Perhaps it was the founding of her religious order, the Sisters of Charity, which [...]
One of the keynote speakers at this fall's Creating a Culture of Life international pro-life conference in Toronto will be one of the world's longest serving and distinguished pro-life leaders, Dr. Jack Willke. He is perhaps best known for authoring with his wife Barbara the vital resource book Handbook on Abortion, which has been renamed Love Them Both in its latest edition. [...]
My Darling Baby: It is with great excitement that I sit and write my first letter to you. It is amazing to me that you have been with us for such a short period of time and though you are only the size of a pea, you have already filled our lives with much excitement, joy and love. About four weeks ago [...]
"Feisty" and "dedicated" are the words being used to describe Lillian Maguire, a long-time pro-life supporter and activist from Richmond Hill, Ont., who died on Feb. 23 at the age of 81. Maguire was one of the first demonstrators when Henry Morgentaler opened his flagship abortuary on Harbord Street in Toronto in the early 1980s. In recent years, despite declining health and [...]
One of the first editors of The Interim is being remembered as a man who could have a tough exterior at times, but underneath it all, had a kind heart and did much to help others, especially the unborn. Carl Scharfe died at the age of 57 on Jan. 25, after a four-month battle with cancer. He had been employed with Campaign [...]
Toronto pro-lifers are mourning the loss of one of their most stalwart and longstanding compatriots. Helen Burnie passed away on Dec. 3 at the age of 80. She was a prominent fixture on the Toronto pro-life scene ever since Henry Morgentaler opened his first freestanding abortuary on Harbord Street in 1984. "There weren't many like Helen," said fellow Toronto pro-life activist Dan [...]
Tributes are being expressed throughout the pro-life community for Father Tony Kelly, a Basilian priest and dedicated supporter of the pro-life cause. Fr. Kelly died peacefully of heart failure on Sept. 29 at Providence Centre in Toronto, following back surgery that left him without the use of his arms and legs. He had fallen into a coma during the last week of [...]
The Interim had the opportunity to interview keynote speaker Wesley J. Smith following his address during the recent Ontario pro-life conference in Richmond Hill, Ont. An edited version of that interview follows. Smith practised law from 1976-1985, during which time he was a partner in his own law firm and served on several bar committees. He left the full-time practice of law [...]
CLC staffer was to be in WTC days later While the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11 took place hundreds of kilometers from the Toronto offices of Campaign Life Coalition, several staff and volunteers were intimately affected by the tragic events of that day. Samantha Singson, who works in the offices when she is not at school, had just returned from New York [...]