{mosimage}TORONTO - Thirty-three candles with iconic images of Christ wrapped around them were spread throughout the University of Toronto’s Newman Centre chapel, commemorating the 33 students and professors who died April 16 at Virginia Tech.

TORONTO - Student actors took to the streets in Toronto, Ottawa, Peterborough and Edmonton in late October and early November to raise awareness about the need to regulate Canadian mining practices abroad.

{mosimage}TORONTO - Teenagers carry a heavier workload than people often give them credit for.

{mosimage}TORONTO - The Young Liberals of Ontario are urging the Liberal Party to regulate Canadian mining companies operating abroad.

{mosimage}SASKATOON - Nicole Germaine decided that in order to figure out if she is meant to be a nun she needed to sample religious life firsthand.  

{mosimage}TORONTO - Fourteen new youth correspondents will be the eyes and ears of Catholic young people in Canada for The Catholic Register.

{mosimage}TORONTO - World Youth Day will start sooner for newlyweds David and Gillian Kantor than for most people.

{mosimage}TORONTO - Michael Scaffidi placed first in the sixth annual Friars' Student Writing Award contest for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, which runs from Jan. 20 to 27.

{mosimage}Kayla Cornale has gone from being her younger cousin Lorena’s hero to hero in the eyes of the global community. The 17-year-old was featured on CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute aired live globally on Dec. 6 from the American Museum of Natural History in New York for creating a learning program using music to help autistic children communicate called Sounds into Syllables. 

Editor’s note: If you are scrambling for gift ideas during this third week of Advent let us assure you that there is an alternative to the cult of shopping mall madness. We challenge you to root through our free or inexpensive homemade last-minute gift ideas guide. Give with a social and ecological conscience in the spirit of Bishop St. Nicholas of Myra whose compassionate generosity, albeit twisted by our modern day consumer culture, points to a greater reality — the greatest gift of all: the coming of Jesus Christ.

Happy Advent
from the Youth Speak News Team