Newsletter 2018 May-Jun

OUR CONDOLENCES TO OUR SISTERS IN THE LEAGUE WHO HAVE HAD A DEATH IN THEIR FAMILY.

Eternal Rest, grant unto them and let perpetual light shine upon them.

May all the faithful departed rest in peace.

We continue our prayers for the members who are ill at this time

RESOLUTIONS

Sometimes Resolutions from precious years become relevent to the current situation in our society.

ON.06.05, Plastic Bags: The High Cost of Convenience is one resolution that has become very timely in the last few months.

When we recycle plastic bags, our concern over plastics in the environment lessens, but recent events have made the recycling of grocery bags a bit of a problem.

Plastic shopping bags are made of a very low grade of plastic, there are not many products that can be manufactured from recycled plastic bags. These are the type of low grade plastics that has influenced

China‟s recent decision to stop buying recycled materials from Canada, (as well as other nations).

Recently, the CBC had a story about the build-up of these plastics in storage in some Ontario small towns. Toronto may soon have this same problem. Perhaps it is time for Toronto to once again legislate against the giving out, or selling for 5 cents, the plastic bags we find so convenient. It is working in Long Beach, California, certainly Toronto could make this work, after all, we at St.Joseph‟s CWL all KNOW Toronto is Canada‟s best city.

So write your MPP, and city officials, and bring your reusable bags on your shopping trips.

In our community we are noticing more women beggars and assumed homelessness. The recent news has reported the issue with this “scam” is that these women are being used to prey on the kind and soft hearted. Unfortunately, the women are pimped out to play this role, and the money is taken by individuals who in turn provide these women with a small salary for their roles in playing pathetic beggars. Even their costumes are being provided to do this job.

So, what are we as non-judgemental Christians to do? Prayer is always the best place to start. There are also lots of refugee help centres, including committees at St. Joseph‟s. And of course, we have Share Life. We are encouraging others to offer these women bottles of water, granola bars, fruit, or maybe a gift card for a coffee at McDonald‟s or Tim Hortons.

We are not assuming or presuming all beggars aren‟t legitimately needy, and just wanting a handout. We must also keep in mind that many of the homeless are also mentally ill and incapable of functioning at a reasonable expectation of our society.

So, I end with hoping you are a little more aware of our surroundings and also a little more aware of how we need to count our own blessings. Please pray for all those involved in these situations.

1. Brain Health:

When Canadian band The Tragically Hip frontman, Gord Downie was diagnosed with a brain tumour known as glioblastoma in 2016, many of us sought the advice of Dr. Google. While the internet can be a good starting point for research, the Brain Tumour Foundation of Canada wants Canadians to use good, accurate, and reliable information when considering their brain health. The foundation estimates that 27 people are diagnosed with a brain tumour every day. Brain tumours do not discriminate. They can occur in people of all ages, cultural, social and economic backgrounds.

Signs and symptoms are not easy to pin down – a headache might be mistaken for the flu, or weakness and paralysis for a stroke. Some occur suddenly, such as a seizure, whereas others may develop over time. Each person experiences a unique set of symptoms which range from behavioural and cognitive changes to double or blurred vision, dizziness, hearing impairment, nausea and vomiting. No one symptom can be considered more important than others.

One of the biggest myths is that brain tumours are rare, but there are 120 known types of brain tumours. They are the leading cause of solid cancer deaths in people under the age of 20 and the third leading cause of solid cancer death in young adults aged 20-39. A good starting place for more information is the Brain Tumour‟s Foundation of Canada‟s website, which has fact sheets and answers to frequently asked questions. Find more information at www.BrainTumour.ca.

Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD):

ADHD is a neurodevelopment disorder that hinders the brain‟s ability to organize and focus on tasks. It results in chronic inattention and impulsivity that can negatively affect every area of life, from school to personal relationships to physical health. The good news is that it is eminently treatable. The bad news is that many avoid diagnosis due to fear or stigma, whether external or internal.

The majority of adults who have ADHD are undiagnosed. They don‟t see how it affects their marriage, their finances, their impulse decision-making, and their inability to finish the thousand and one projects they‟ve started.

One-third of people with ADHD never finish high school. As adults, they tend to have a checkered work history, money problems, broken relationships and inconsistent parenting skills. They are at high risk for depression, anxiety, substance abuse, eating disorders, dangerous driving and impulsive behaviour that can land them in jail. Research shows that one in four prison inmates meet the criteria for ADHD. While some people with ADHD are wildly successful, a recent study has shown that there could be a connection between ADHD and homelessness.

Visit www.caddac.ca for information and resources, tips for working with doctors and a child‟s school, information for educators, parenting strategies, support groups, and more.

3. Earth Day (April 22nd): A World Without Plastic Pollution

Since we started engineering polymers to make plastic on a mass scale in the 1950s, this by-product of the petrochemical industry, which uses about 6% of all the oil we extract a year, has spread to myriad manufacturing processes. Plastic is now ubiquitous, insidious and impossible to avoid. It makes up our clothes, containers, bottles, electronics, food trays, cups and paints. Our cars depend on it, so do our computers, roofs and drain pipes. It‟s the global packaging material of choice. We sleep on it, wear it, watch it, and are in direct bodily contact with it in one form or other all day and night.

When exposed to sunlight, oxygen or the action of waves, it doesn‟t biodegrade but simply fragments into smaller and smaller bits, until microscopic or nano-sized particles enter the food chain, the air, the soil and the water we drink.

In one study, 95% of all adults tested in the US had known carcinogenic chemical bisphenol A in their urine. In another, 83% of samples of tap water tested in seven countries were found to contain plastic microfibres. YouTube recently has been flooded with various stories and heart breaking images of a 2 ton whale euthanized after appearing visibly sick and later found to have plastic waste and no food in its digestive track.

See attached resolutions 1990.07 Environmental Concerns and ON.06.05 for possible actions by your council.

Go to https://www.earthday.org/ for more information on Earth Day 2018.