Youth Speak News

Editor’s note: This is the third place entry from the Friars’ essay contest for high school students on how to achieve Christian unity. You can view the other entries here.

Since Jesus’ death and Resurrection, the Christian Church has gone through a number of changes and has branched off to many other sects and divisions. This is the result of many disagreements and historical conflicts between different Christians. However, did Jesus want His followers to be divided over arguments about who is right and wrong? No.

My Catholic life really began at age 13, shortly before high school, during an inspiring talk at a youth camp. I learned a new word: Vocation, a noun: the specific calling unique to every individual.

Seven months after my high school graduation, I was exploring the library when I saw an old friend from elementary school. Over the last few years, he volunteered in a few camps, started handing out hosts during Communion and survived high school, along with the journeys of self-discovery that come with it.

RIO DE JANEIRO - Officials of World Youth Day 2013 unveiled the winning logo for the event at a ceremony attended by more than 100 Brazilian bishops, government officials and local organizers.

Gustavo Huguenin, 25, creator of the winning logo, is a Brazilian from the interior of Rio de Janeiro state. The contest was opened to anyone, and the logo was chosen by a Vatican council from more than 200 entries from around the world.

Editor’s note: This is the second place entry from the Friars’ essay contest for high school students on how to achieve Christian unity. Read more entries here.

“I’m starting with the man in the mirror.” Whether we’ve heard this being sung by Michael Jackson or faced it on a poster in the library, most of us are familiar with the message: in order to change the world, one must first change him or herself. Likewise, in order to attain Christian unity, each individual member of the Church must change him or herself. Christian unity can only be achieved when the members of all denominations reach out to one another as followers in Jesus and come together under the umbrella of Jesus’ love.

VANCOUVER - As Valentine’s Day gets closer, a common message in society seems to say that if we’re not in a relationship, we can’t be worth very much.

But two university students in Vancouver are trying to change the way women view themselves and their relationships. Every Thursday evening, Carissa Benavides and Elizabeth Krump lead 14 women in a discussion of the book How to Find your Soulmate Without Losing your Soul.

Started in January, the group is made up of women from Simon Fraser University and the University of British Columbia.

A few weeks ago, I was shanghaied by one of my friends into attending a Bible study with Ottawa Christian Fellowship.

I must admit I was not particularly optimistic about this venture, given the brutal Ottawa winter in full swing at the time. Also, as a product of numerous retreats and Catholic conferences during high school, I was equally doubtful that I would learn anything new. So with a degree of scepticism, I followed my friend and her Bible study group into one of the major residences on the University of Ottawa campus.

As a liberal arts student, I find the issue of religion constantly brought to my attention, analysed, dissected and eventually applied to today’s issues completely severed from God. Mission Week at the Newman House Catholic Chaplaincy at Queen’s University, however, allowed me the opportunity to engage in a more upward-looking spiritual conversation with my peers.

With a table set up at a different location on campus each day, the Catholic Christian Outreach (CCO) missionaries, along with a group of student leaders, spent hours taking surveys and handing out lollipops to the students returning in mid-January.

Editor’s note: This is the winning entry from the Friars’ essay contest for high school students on how to achieve Christian unity.

Throughout many generations, the Church’s moral teachings have succeeded in surviving evolving societies and cultures. However, there is a rift between members of different Christian denominations regarding the knowledge, values and beliefs of the faith.

Lack of unity is detrimental to the impact of evangelization and division contradicts the truth of the Gospel, which calls all to unity. The Church is the body of Christ and to fulfill this honour, she must reveal the communion and love of God as one. To attain unity among Christians, the changes that must be made include internal conversion within Christians, done through effective prayer, an increase of understanding and passionate will to continue on the journey towards communion within the Christian faith.

VICTORIA, B.C. - As it celebrates its first anniversary since formation on Feb. 13, 2011, the Catholic Women’s League (CWL) chapter at the University of Victoria (UVic) is young in more ways than one. 

The second university-based CWL chapter in Canada, all the members of the UVic CWL are under the age of 30.

“We’re really excited to have women establishing CWLs on university campuses,” said Velma Harasen, the CWL’s national president. “Their youth voice brings a whole new perspective to the League.”

TORONTO - Natalie Wong is the first-place winner of the Friar’s Essay Contest sponsored by the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement and The Catholic Register for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.

High school students between the ages of 14 and 18 were asked to submit an essay no longer than 500 words answering the question: “What must be changed in order to attain Christian unity in the Church?”

Students were asked to reflect on the Scripture passage of 1 Corinthians 15:51-58, given the theme for this year’s Week of Prayer for Christian Unity Jan. 18-25: “We will all be changed.”