Monstrance holding the Blessed Sacrament.
Monstrance holding the Blessed Sacrament. CNS photo/Michael Alexander

School for the sacraments

By  Sarah Swist, Youth Speak News
  • November 15, 2013

TORONTO - The Newman Centre at the University of Toronto’s downtown campus is hosting a Teaching Series on the Sacraments to help students deepen their understanding of sacramental life.

Open to both students and non-students ages 18-35, the teaching series lasts for one term and runs on Thursdays until Dec. 5. Starting at 1 p.m., each one-hour session touches upon one of the seven sacraments: Baptism, Reconciliation, the Eucharist, Confirmation, Matrimony, Holy Orders and Anointing of the Sick. The idea is to help students appreciate the sacraments and help increase their faith by understanding the grace that God provides through each sacrament.

“We want students to find a home on campus, one in which they can learn about and be supported in their faith,” said Erin Kinsella, associate director of Campus Ministry at Newman Centre Catholic Mission. “In addition, we provide students with an atmosphere focused mainly on being able to grow in one’s faith, and being able to learn more about it while interacting with youth from all over campus.”

Fr. Cris Graas, chaplain of Ernescliff College on the U of T’s downtown campus, is the series’ moderator. Generally, for the first 45 minutes, Graas will lecture on the sacraments, but there is an opportunity for discussion in the final 10-15 minutes. Students can learn about their Catholic faith while being privy to a meaningful and insightful discussion on the subject.

Each session touches upon several different points of each sacrament, and poses several questions. These reflect on why the sacrament is important to our faith, what is the process to receive the sacrament, who can receive a sacrament, who can administer it and what are the effects of this sacrament.
Graas and Kinsella hope that participants will be able to walk away with a greater understanding of and love for the sacraments, a desire to participate in the grace they effect and a deeper love of Jesus.

Each session of the teaching series will be posted online free for those who can’t attend, want to catch up or review.

For more information about a Teaching Series on the Sacraments, visit www.faithconnections.ca/event. For online postings of the series, visit www. chaplaincy.newmantoronto. com/media/audio-podcasts for podcasts of previous sessions.

(Swist, 16, is a student at Loretto Abbey Catholic Secondary School in Toronto.)

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