Youth Speak News

{mosimage}MISSISSAUGA, Ont. - When chaplain Jim McLeavy set out to plan St. Joan of Arc Catholic Secondary School’s first mission trip, he chose an unconventional location.

Eleven students and four staff members at the Mississauga school set out in May with McLeavy for a nine-day project in the Yukon Territory at Braeburn Lake Christian Camp, 87 km north of Whitehorse.

I have just returned from the 49th International Eucharistic Congress, having travelled with about 500 other pilgrims from the archdiocese of Toronto. It was a pilgrimage of a life time, and I can simply say that my cup is overflowing.

“You don’t even have your learner’s permit?” Here we go again. Lately I never fail to find one person daily who is shocked by the fact that I don’t have my driver’s licence.

{mosimage}BRAMPTON, Ont. - After seeing firsthand the barriers to education that many children face abroad, 19-year-old Daniel Francavilla decided to do something.

Two years have passed since he travelled to the Dominican Republic on a high school exposure trip, but he has since established a student-run non-profit organization, raised $20,000 and sent a few large shipments of supplies to help children attend school in three different countries.

{mosimage}WHITBY, Ont. - Two Grade 9 Catholic students from All Saints Secondary School in Whitby made their mark in a national poetry competition and will have their poems included in an anthology published by the National Library of Canada. Stephanie Irani, 14, and Daynia Price, 15, will see their work published in Voyages by Night.

For 2,000 years, Christians have been called to the table of the Eucharist in memory of Christ’s death and resurrection. There is no doubt that the Eucharist is central to our faith.

{mosimage}There’s a new youth evangelization training program springing up out of Manitoba. The organizers, who are still accepting applications for the fall, said it includes components that liken it to other evangelization ministries like Catholic Christian Outreach and National Evangelization Team (NET) Ministries, but with distinct elements.

“It’s a bit different in that the team will see what goes into the part of a youth minister,” said organizer Jude Gosselin. “People who’ve been on the team will have seen all the aspects of it and will be hireable as youth ministers.”

The ability to read is generally taken for granted among today’s youth. For many it is seen as a labourious, lengthy, unexciting task that, when rivalled with television, computers and movies, fails magnificently in terms of gratification. To some it is an archaic pastime.

{mosimage}TORONTO - When his godmother gave him a gift of $300 for his Confirmation last year, Andrew Chown, 14, had a mission: find a worthy cause and pay it forward.

 

Preparing for my upcoming trip to Sydney, Australia, for World Youth Day (WYD) this July has taken me a long time to plan.

But deciding what to wear during my 15-day trip hasn’t been the issue.