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Youth Speak News

The camaraderie of LifeTeen and its programs, including music ministry, is missed because of COVID restrictions.

Parishes deal with twist in same pandemic story

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The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has certainly not been kind to churches across Canada, with British Columbia, Manitoba and Ontario public health agencies restricting in-person services for a second time due to the unrelenting second wave.

Sisters Briana and Athena Zhong are looking to supply essential items and uplift the spirits of vulnerable populations during the COVID-19 pandemic through their organization Gifts that Smile.

Markham sisters supply smiles in the COVID era

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Tracking the troubling daily news brought on by COVID-19 in the pandemic’s early months inspired Athena and Briana Zhong to conceive an altruistic sister act.

Carlo Acutis was beatified at a Mass in Assisi, Italy, Oct. 10.

New virtual school named for Carlo Acutis

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The Huron-Perth Catholic District School Board in Ontario is naming its virtual school after Blessed Carlo Acutis (1991-2006), the teenaged Italian computer programmer beatified by Pope Francis Oct. 10 who is becoming increasingly known as “the first millennial saint.”

Fr. Stephen DeCarlo, 31, of Immaculate Conception Parish in Peterborough, Ont., reconnected with his inner kid by taking up skateboarding again during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Boyhood passion reignited in priest during lockdown

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Let’s hop in a time machine back to 1999. It was a year that, among others, saw Tony Hawk skateboarding his way to the top of the cultural scene.

A statue of St. John Henry Newman stands on the campus of Newman University in Wichita, Kan., just one of many colleges across North America that has incorporated his name and work into their institutions.

In praise of Newman and a liberal arts education

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Rev. Dr. Peter Gittens, a Toronto School of Theology lecturer, sees first hand the lack of appreciation for the liberal arts which has grown over the past two centuries. He noticed it years ago when teaching at a Catholic school where he saw a lack of focus on theology courses.

The annual murder mystery party organized by Faith Connections and Newman Young Adult Ministry in Toronto is not being cancelled due to COVID-19, but instead reimagined on Oct. 30 as virtual theatre.

Faith Connections offers ministry with virtual twist

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In a world free from a pandemic’s grasp, the young adult ministry Faith Connections would have a vibrant suite of in-person fellowship and faith formation events slated for the next three to six months.

Monica Palacios, left, Pia Ocenar and Theresa Henry were among the 46 young Catholics who spent five weeks at the Sanctum Retreat Centre learning how to become NET Canada missionaries. Health and safety protocols did not dim the orientation experience.

NET ministry resumes in COVID landscape

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Young adult missionaries with the National Evangelization Teams (NET) Canada are facing a new pandemic-induced reality this year.

Young people lead praise and worship at Westminster Abbey for Catholic Street Missionaries’ annual Fast and Pray event.

Street mission fast goes on despite pandemic

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Vancouver - If this had been a typical year, dozens of young adults from St. Mary’s Parish in Vancouver would have attended Mass on a Friday evening, stayed for adoration, slept overnight at the church, then driven to Mission, B.C., for a talk, prayers and reflection at Westminster Abbey before returning to the parish for Mass and a shared meal.

Mikayla Portelli of Brampton, Ont., donated over $16,000 of health and beauty products to girls in impoverished countries around the world via the Canadian Food for Children warehouse in Mississauga. Portelli, assisted by high school teacher Dennis Buonafede, was spurred into action by the life story of Fides, a young girl from Zambia.

Brampton teen empowers the princess inside girls

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When 17-year-old Mikayla Portelli visited the Canadian Food for Children (CFFC) warehouse in Mississauga, Ont., with schoolmates in February, two framed pictures of a young girl from Zambia drew her gaze.

Gone — for now — are the days when the Daughters of St. Paul would host Come and See weekends in person, like this one. In a time of COVID, the discernment retreats have gone online.

Religious order takes discernment online

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COVID-19 has put significant roadblocks in the path of many religious communities and apostolates striving to help young Catholics discover their vocation.

Pilgrims pray before the Fatima Shrine in Fatima, Portugal. The World Rosary Campaign is collecting prayers for world peace to promote the Fatima message on a global scale.

Rosary campaign offers hope for troubled times

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More than a century since the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to three shepherd children in Portugal in 1917, the message and secrets of the Fatima apparitions have spread throughout the globe conveying a need for devotion to God and to pray the rosary.

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