I managed to get a few so-so photos during the special Remembrance Day Mass
Bishop Scott McCaig C.C.
Having a coffee at the Tours Cafe after mass
Wednesday, November 11, 2026
Monday, November 9, 2026
Summary of the 2026 40 Days for Life Campaign - Ottawa, ON Canada
Couples for Christ
Dear 40 Days Reps and Friends,
We gratefully Thank God for enabling the organizing and completion of our 21st 40 Days for Life Campaign in Ottawa!
Thank you so much to our Lead Coordinator, Debbie Duval, for her 40 Days leadership in overseeing this campaign and obtaining the city’s necessary notifications about our events. Thank you to our 40 Days Committee members for their respective contributions, with special thanks to Wanda for her 40 Days Ottawa email communiques leading up and throughout the campaign, follow-up with church and ministry Reps regarding the outcome of their vigil days, and for updating our website calendar with this info. A very big Thank You to Jim for his visits to pastors prior to and into the campaign period, to Deacon Chuck for his suggestions and his opening campaign talk, and Lea and her helpers for organizing our closing reception. Also, to John for our website, Bernard for our Facebook page, and Chris for assisting with our campaign rallies. Thank you to a few very preserving prayer warriors out at the vigil site on a very frequent basis throughout the campaign, and for those who provided hourly participation numbers.
With heartfelt gratitude I thank all 40 Days Reps who took on this vital role in the campaign. Your efforts mobilize these campaigns and contribute to supportive coverage of prayer hours at the vigil site, as well as special prayer-in-church vigils undertaken in numerous parishes this year. A special Thank You to Couples for Christ, Catholic Christian Outreach, St. Clement’s Young Adult Group, Chesterton Academy, École Ste-Marie Mère de Dieu, and St. Monica’s Prayer Group for organizing downtown site vigils. Thank you especially to the priests, deacons and religious sisters that supported this campaign with your presence at the site. Thanks also to the Knights Councils that supported their parish’s 40 Days prayer vigil day in covering downtown public prayer hours, and to the pastors that informed their congregations in advance of their intentions to participate in their parish day. These complementary actions are a major enhancement and help to filling hours.
Overall, outreach to churches and ministry groups in the late summer resulted in 30 parishes, 2 ministry groups, 2 independent catholic schools, 1 Young Adult’s Group, and 1 Prayer Group committing to the downtown vigil. Our website’s parish vigil schedule identified 21 of the 40 days as committed prayer days at the vigil site, as well as in-church prayer days, comprising special Masses, Eucharistic Adoration, devotional prayers, and a Novena Masses for the intentions of the campaign resulting in the equivalent of 24 days. Which is similar to last year’s coverage.
God repeatedly nudges our hearts to persevere with these campaigns. Our 40 Days Organizing Committee needs helpers to complete the various tasks for these campaigns. I ask that you seek in prayer what help you can offer during the months of September and October, the peak period of these annual campaigns in Ottawa. The time commitment is minimal prior to the campaign comprising two short meetings prior to the campaign and then a wrap-up one following the campaign’s completion. Similarly, if your parish 40 Days Rep could use a helping hand in overseeing sign-ups for their church vigil day, start small and offer your help.
40 Days for Life is a worldwide movement in 71 nations, and by the grace of God has achieved an impressive track record of life-saving results since launching in 2007. It came to Ottawa through the facilitation of CLC in 2008. Across Canada this fall there were 18 vigil site locations participating of which 10 of the sites are in Ontario. It is expected that with this campaign close to 27,000 will be recorded of known lives saved since 2007. The final international results for this fall’s campaign will be rolled up in the coming weeks. As always, To God be all the glory!
As pro-life prayer warriors, we keep our eyes fixed on heaven’s requests for this cause, and our hearts secure in the hope that the day is coming when the genocide of the unborn and all resulting forms of attacks against human life will come to an end. May God bless you in abundance for all your efforts in support of these campaigns, for the least of our brethren!
Helena Szakowski
Church and Ministry Co-ordinator
Ottawa’s 2026 40 Days for Life Campaign
Friday, November 6, 2026
“Let’s have the baby”: Toronto dad changes mind after driving past Life Chain
Wow, this is an awesome story that I found on LifeSite News
“Let’s have the baby”: Toronto dad changes mind after driving past Life Chain
A Canadian Catholic priest has shared the good news that a baby was saved from abortion after the baby’s father encountered a Life Chain demonstration.
Fr. Brenton Cordeiro, pastor of St. Timothy’s in Toronto, said in a recent Facebook video that the parents were expecting a child and had planned to have an abortion.
After hearing the baby’s heartbeat on ultrasound, the mother decided she could not go through with it. The father, however, continued to pressure her to proceed.
“For days and maybe even over a week, they were fighting,” the priest related. “They were at odds with regard to this child and his future.”
This year’s Life Chain took place on Sunday, October 4. The annual event sees thousands of pro-life advocates from across Canada gather in over 350 locations for an hour of prayer and peaceful public witness for the preborn whose lives have been erased by abortion.
Participants stand at designated intersections, pray quietly, and hold signs with messages such as “Abortion Kills Children,” “Abortion Hurts Women,” and “Jesus Forgives and Heals.”
Organized nationally by Campaign Life Coalition and locally by parishes and pro-life groups, the witness is meant to confront the reality of abortion—nearly five million preborn children lost in Canada since legalization in 1969—while inviting passersby to reconsider.
Parishioners from St. Timothy’s held their own Life Chain that day at the nearby intersection of Don Mills and Sheppard.
While they were there, the father of the preborn baby drove past, saw the signs, and watched some 160 participants praying to end abortion. Something the father saw must have moved his heart. He realized what he needed to do.
“So he goes home and tells his wife, ‘Let’s have the baby,’” Fr. Cordeiro related.
The priest, who is a member of the Companions of the Cross, called the story a “beautiful testimony” that shows “the power of prayer, the power of peaceful resistance to this awful evil of abortion.”
Photos:
St. Timothy’s 2026 Life Chain participants.
Fr. Brenton Cordeiro
Run With Life: How to get more people to participate in Life Chain
Run With Life: How to get more people to participate in Life Chain: 
How to get more people to participate in Life Chain
Life Chain took place in October. One thing I noticed this year unlike any previous year, was that there were a lot more supportive honks. That is good news.
The second thing I noticed was the massive turnout at C. According to Campaign Life Coalition's recent newsletter there were 650 parishioners who showed up to defend life at this parish. Even more telling was that the Parish priest Fr. Mario threatened to deliver 10 homilies in a row on abortion if he didn't see an increase in participation.
Fr. Mario and his congregation deserve a big shoutout for this amazing pro-life witness.
Maybe next year more parish priests will do the same.
Knights of Columbus kicks off annual winter coat donation program
“Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.”—1 John 3:18 (NIV)
As a mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, I am grateful to the Knights of Columbus for their efforts to promote the dignity and sanctity of all human life through their prayers and good works
Every year, the Knights of Columbus donates thousands of brand-new winter coats to children in need. Recently, the Knights kicked off the Ontario program with a distribution event in Hamilton – please see the details below. The Knights are aiming to hit 300,000 coats across Canada this year
For more information, you can contact Mary Moniz
Torchia Communications
Friday, October 30, 2026
40 Days for Life Closing Rally Ottawa, ON Canada, November 1, 2026
Our efforts have been noticed, by God in heaven, and the people on the street.
We shouldn’t get discouraged, because we know the victory is not ours, it is the Lord’s. In eternity we will see the babies that we protected and the lives that we affected. Then we will know the good that our small efforts have produced.
Come and celebrate the conclusion of our 40-days of prayer and fasting. We gather at the vigil site, southwest corner of Queen and Bank streets at 5 pm on Sunday November 1. From there we will form a procession to St. Patrick’s Basilica in the basement Scavi. There we will be welcomed and encouraged by Archbishop Marcel Damphousse and conclude with refreshments.
If you would like to help out with food donations, it would be appreciated. We’ll accept them in the Scavi, anytime after 4:30 pm, Sunday.
Don’t forget that the time falls back one hour Saturday night.
Hope to see you: Sunday November 1 at 5 pm, at the vigil site and in the Scavi.
“I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all, making my prayer with joy, thankful for your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. And I am sure that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” Philippians 1:3-6
Yours for Life,
Wanda
Tuesday, October 27, 2026
Run With Life: A Catholic's response to flying pride flags at our Catholic schools
Run With Life: A Catholic's response to flying pride flags at our...: From a conversation that a citizen had with a trustee running for Catholic school trustee. The trustee asked Barbara for her thoughts after she contacted him on the pride flag flying at our Catholic Schools. Here is her response:
As for my thoughts, I believe that the only flag that should be flown is theSchool Canadian flag (the Ontario and Ottawa flags would be fine as well). None of those raise any contentious, social or political issues that people have such strong opinions about (for and against) and I think everyone will agree that it is good to be proud of our country, our province and our city. That way, all students and staff would feel included. The problem with the Pride flag is that it celebrates behaviours that are against the Catholic faith, also against the Islamic faith as I understand it. Especially concerning to me and many people (not just religious people but also some atheists and women's rights activists) is the promotion of transgenderism, which has been shown to be so harmful for so many young people.
As a practicing Catholic, I adhere to the Christian teaching that we are all created in God's image. Therefore, we all have inherent dignity, no matter whether we identify as gay, straight, trans, black, white, or whatever. No one should be discriminated against, and to me, we treat everyone respectfully when we don't single out one particular aspect (e.g. gender/sexuality) and make it the basis of a flag. A Pride flag inherently excludes anyone who adheres to Catholic/Christian teachings on sexuality and I think Islamic teaching as well. We have been called bigots, anti-gay, anti-woman, etc. I'm an adult, and I find it difficult to face this discrimination... I can only imagine how a Catholic /Christian (or Muslim) child must feel when they see that their school is celebrating behaviours that go against their strongly held religious convictions. Children should not be made to feel ashamed of their religious beliefs, and that is what ends up happening when "Pride" is celebrated.As we are discussing Catholic schools here, if any other flag were to be flown, it would make sense to fly one that sends the message that we are all children of God (no matter our sex, gender, race, ethnicity, etc.) That is where our identity comes from. That is where our dignity lies. As far as I know, all major religions have some form of the "golden rule" about doing unto others as we would like to have others do unto us. Or as we heard in today's Gospel reading, to love God with all our heart, soul and mind, and to love our neighbour as ourselves. Were we to adhere to this simple teaching, our families, communities, and the world, would no doubt be better off.Thank you for listening.
Wishing you the very best,
Barbara M
Sunday, October 25, 2026
40 Days for Life Ottawa - Couples for Christ - October 25, 2026,
Couples for Christ
I took this photo on my way to the 12:15 mass at Saint Patrick Basilica
And the one below on my way back to the OTrain after mass
Wednesday, October 21, 2026
Tuesday, October 20, 2026
Run With Life: Finance committee parrots pro-abortion advocates' ...
Run With Life: Finance committee parrots pro-abortion advocates' ...: RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE STANDING...
Dear members of the Finance Committee,
I have a question for all of you regarding Recommendation 65 of your RECOMMENDATIONS OF THESTANDING COMMITTEE ON FINANCE FOR THE 2026 BUDGET:
"... Budget 2026 should also introduce amendments to the Income Tax Act to require greater transparency from anti-abortion pregnancy centres in order to mitigate harm to clients and prevent the misuse of charitable status."
I understand from the extensive research I have done on Pregnancy Care Centres, including numerous Access to Information requests I submitted, that the government of Canada bases these allegations of "harm to clients" and "the misuse of charitable status" on the say-so of the Abortion Rights coalition of Canada. (Note that none of these ATIPs I received revealed any evidence of these allegations outside of ARCC's allegations).
In other words, it appears that the government of Canada is biased and is basing important decisions that affect these charities on a group whose mission is, to repeatedly attack and libel these charities. ARCC has attacked these centres since at least since 2009 where Joyce Arthur (executive director of both groups) received $27,400 in government funding to kick off her initial blitzkrieg on these centres (using Arthur's previous organization the Pro-choice-Action Network). I, and others, have repeatedly rebutted these false claims (see links below).
Have any of you actually investigated and researched these centres yourself to corroborate that these centres harm clients and misuse their charitable status?
Because if you have not, and are taking ARCC's word for these allegations, with all due respect, you are agreeing to something very serious and not based on the truth.
I have a second question for you. I noticed that absent from your recommendations are recommendations from three Christian charities on the same subject. Why are their recommendations not included when you do include the scurrilous recommendations from ARCC? This looks like anti-Christian discrimination.
As ARPA stated in their submission to the committee:
"Previous calls to revoke the charitable tax status of pregnancy care centres ignore the benefits that these centres provide to women. At root, calls to revoke their charitable status are ideologically motivated attempts to marginalize a pro-life view with which they disagree." (emphasis added)
Here are the two extensively researched reports refuting the two "studies" Abortion Rights Coalition wrote attacking Pregnancy Care Centres:
(From Pregnancy Care Canada. Note that this rebuttal is based on the Pro-Choice Action Network's report which is the previous name for the Abortion Rights Coalition and headed by the same person) :
Crisis Pregnancy Centres In British Columbia A Respectful Rebuttal to a Disrespectful Report
My rebuttal to a subsequent ARCC report on these centres.
ABORTION RIGHTS COALITION OF CANADA DECEITFUL ON CRISIS PREGNANCY CENTRES
Here are the three recommendations from the three Christian charities that you chose not to include in your recommendations, in favour of ARCC's ideologically motivated attempt to marginalize a pro-life view with which they disagree.
ARPA
https://arpacanada.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/2026- Federal-Budget-Consultation. Christian Legal FellowshipCanadian Centre for Christian Charities
A recent example of Joyce Arthur's ongoing witch hunt against these clinics where she recycles her untruths about these centres. Just have a look at the title of her article:
Unregulated pregnancy centres cause lasting harms—we need transparency UPCs cause harm through deception, disinformation, and other traumatizing strategies meant to turn people away from abortion
I look forward to hearing back from the committee soon with answers to my questions.
Sincerely,
Patricia Maloney
Ottawa
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