Speaking Out

Less than six years ago, I was a Catholic high school student sitting in classes and hanging out with friends. Now I find myself sitting on the other side of the desk. As a teacher at St. Edmund Campion Secondary School, I not only have the job of learning new skills but extending those learning skills outward to my students. 
  

I cannot count how many times someone has said, "Hey, I heard you are going to be a priest." It happens when I'm sitting at church, walking through malls, in line at the school cafeteria, even at work. And while I have been repeatedly cornered with this accusation, it still doesn't bother me. The truth is I have often thought about becoming a priest; in fact, I still think about it.

Going to a Catholic school, I occasionally get teased from some of my non-Catholic friends. "How many 'Our Fathers' have you said today?" they mock. While I try to laugh it off and say that it doesn't matter what they think, it still bothers me deep down. I wish I had the courage to stick up for not only my beliefs, but for God, who makes all things possible.

As a young Catholic going through adolescence, I did not question the motives for accepting or rejecting the Catholic faith. As I entered into the struggles of junior high and high school, I had many doubts concerning my own self-image, but my faith remained strong.

Why do we struggle with patience? Why is waiting so hard? It's because our pace of life has quickened. It's difficult to have patience in a society where cell phones, the Internet and bank machines eliminate much waiting in our lives.

All my life, people have asked me what do I want to be when I grow up? With my graduation from university looming at the end of this school year, it seems that people expect me to know that fairly soon.

The balcony of the Catholic Church in Sainte-Anne, a small, semi-French-speaking town in Manitoba, is where I sat with a handful of Catholic teens on Sundays growing up. While our parents usually sat downstairs, we were removed from the congregation, not held to pay too much attention during Mass. Often, Sunday mornings spent on that balcony was the only church connection young people had.

Being a Catholic in Quebec is definitely not easy, but being a young Catholic in Quebec is even harder — or at least that’s how it seems. As a young practising Catholic, I can honestly say that I’ve struggled to maintain my faith.

Last year I decided to leave my Catholic high school for a public school to take advanced placement courses. I figured academically a public school could open more doors for me than my little Catholic school. The only reason I attended St. Thomas Aquinas high school in North Vancouver was for the religion.