Here are the stories you would have missed

In 2022, only a single Canadian newspaper reported on the fact there was a 260 per cent increase in anti-Catholic hate crimes from the previous year. 

The same lone paper revealed B.C. hospital patients were being pressured by medical personnel to kill themselves with euthanasia.

And the same newspaper broke the news that a Canadian military panel was trying to ban some chaplains (Catholic) because of their religious beliefs.

Other exclusive stories from The B.C. Catholic last year included:

• The republishing of a B.C. writer’s out-of-print book about residential school survivors.
• A profile of a mother whose love for her son with disabilities led to the Vanspec special needs catechetical program.
• How Catholic schools were pivoting in response to post-COVID mental health issues.
• Profiles of two local priests who died, one of them regularly featured on EWTN, the other a medical doctor who attended St. Jose Maria Escriva on his deathbed.
• How pregnancy centres were being threatened with loss of tax status, and an inside look at the life-saving work they do.
• The Archdiocese of Vancouver and a pride organization resolving a human rights dispute and beginning mutual dialogue.
• The Archdiocese apologizing for its role in coerced adoptions.

The B.C. Catholic also offered glimpses into the lives of everyday Catholics, including the first use of an Indigenous language in a Mass at Holy Rosary Cathedral, the journeys of catechumens and candidates entering the Church at Easter, B.C. faithful who visited the Pope in Alberta, and Ukrainian Catholic refugees settling in B.C.

The B.C. Catholic wrote about distinctly Catholic responses to issues dominating the country:

• Catholic schools helping parents answer their children’s gender and sexuality questions.
• A just war assessment of the violence in Ukraine.
• An examination of Canadian health care, from medical staff burnout to the opioid crisis decimating our cities and rising domestic violence in our homes.

This newspaper offered commentary and analysis of controversial issues Catholics were talking about, such as the pain of parishioners divided over government restrictions on worship, to the Pope’s apology to residential school survivors.

Several of our stories got picked up by other Catholic media, but for the most part the only place local Catholics can find reliable, local coverage of Catholic stories is in The B.C. Catholic.

Online and in our print and digital editions we concentrate on telling stories that will touch the hearts of Catholics. The sad truth however is that most Catholics in the Archdiocese of Vancouver are unaware of these stories. They don’t receive The B.C. Catholic in either print or digital form, they don’t subscribe to our daily newsletter, they’re not visiting us online, and they’re not following us on social media.

Most B.C. Catholic subscribers receive the newspaper at little or no cost to them, compliments of their parish, which are often feeling pressure to reduce the number of subscriptions due to cost.

Next weekend, Feb. 5, is your opportunity to help your parish by sharing those costs. The B.C. Catholic/Catholic Press Collection is the only second collection in the archdiocese that goes entirely to the parish. Every penny that’s donated helps your pastor subsidize the cost of sending the paper to parishioners.

Next week, please be as generous as you can. It’s never been so important for Catholics to have faithful and trustworthy media.

To make an online donation to the Catholic Press second through your parish, visit support.rcav.org/parishes/second-collection.