Speaking Out

The spring of 1633 was a time of controversy in the Catholic Church. The Inquisition had decided to bring a Florentine scientist named Galileo Galilei to trial for authoring a book that declared the heliocentric model of the universe as unequivocally correct, which contradicted the Church’s teachings at the time.

With the start of a new year, what has become increasingly evident to me is how fortunate I am to have strong, faith-filled female friends.

Over Christmas break I had the privilege of attending Catholic Christian Outreach’s annual Rise Up conference. Throughout the five-day conference I reflected on the conference theme “Made for Greatness” and how it relates to my life.

It was in my final year of religion class where I learned about Jesus’ sermon on the mount. The sermon, which begins in Matthew 5, is a good guide for self-reflection. What resonated with me the most from the sermon starts on Matthew 6:19 with Jesus’ lessons on treasure.

Since becoming The Catholic Register’s youth editor in February, I’ve been trying to recapture what it truly means to “give Catholic youth a voice.” To me, it means capturing the energy and the spirit of youth ministry.

I can fondly recall as a young boy the excitement that I, and many of my friends, felt as we approached Grade 4. The time had finally come when we were considered mature enough to be altar servers at our parish, St. Anthony of Padua.

We are all called to be saints as we are all called to claim our place in Heaven as children of God. Because this is no easy task, God has given us the saints that have come before us as a huge source of inspiration.

National Geographic recently named the Virgin Mary as the world’s most powerful woman. What an honour as Catholics to have our Mother seen to hold such a beautiful and mighty role on Earth, and to get this recognition from the secular world.

It’s that time again in the Catholic Church: the beginning of a new liturgical year and start of the season of Advent.

It was in my last year of high school when my school’s chaplain asked me to come to his office one day. We talked about what I’d been going through. It was clear to myself and to others that I hadn’t been myself.