Speaking Out

There are nearly one million e-books available for purchase on Amazon.com alone. One quick click on the “religion & spirituality” genre reveals that there are nearly 100,000 books and more than 30,000 on Christianity alone — more than any other subgenre in this category.

For today’s younger generation, e-readers and other electronic books are a new and crucial resource for accessing religious texts and testimonials of fellow Catholics.

Ottawa teen Jamie Hubley, 15, recently committed suicide after years of struggling with depression and homophobic bullying. In September, American teen Jamey Rodemeyer, 14, did the same. In a YouTube video Rodemeyer said that “people would just keep sending me hate, telling me that gay people go to hell.”

Homophobic bullying has no place in our schools or in our lives as young Catholics. Not only should we not be participating in it, but our hearts should be “moved with compassion” for those who are being persecuted and oppressed. As Catholic youth, we need to step up and take a stand against violence and oppression — and we can do this in full loyalty to the Church’s moral teachings.

Dragging myself out of bed one Sunday morning, all I could think about was the pile of school work I still had to finish by Monday.

I had signed up for the 27th annual Rosary Sunday pilgrimage held at Martyrs’ Shrine in Midland, Ont., because of the guilt I felt in neglecting to say the rosary as frequently as I ought to. But mostly, I wanted to experience the sense of fulfilment and serenity I had heard a lot of people experienced after going on pilgrimages.

Home to the remains of saints like Jean de Brébeuf, Martyrs’ Shrine reminds pilgrims of the sacrifices others have made for their faith in the past — a good way to set the mood for the solemnity that is pilgrimage.  

From a young age, we are taught that acceptance and love are important values of the Catholic faith. But although we are taught to treat those who are different from us in the same way we’d want to be treated, how often are we around such differences?

Raised by a Catholic family and attending Catholic schools in Mississauga, Ont., I was always encouraged to embrace differences — but no one around me was actually all that different. It wasn’t until I left this community to attend university that the world was presented to me, quite literally. Upon arriving at the University of Western Ontario, I was placed on the “global village” floor in residence. I soon realized that this was finally my chance to put the Catholic values I grew up with into action.

My residence is designed in a way where some floors have themes. For example, the “music floor” is full of music students and is always alive with melody. I, however, was surprised to learn that my placement was on the global village floor. The floor, set aside for international students as well as many Canadian students of different backgrounds and faiths, would become my home.

At first, I was confused. What was so global about me? I thought there might have been a mistake, but I began to observe and learn from the cultural and religious diversity on my floor. For instance, one girl found a Sikh temple near the university and routinely makes trips to practise her faith. Another wears Buddhist amulets for protection and safety in her time away from home. Religious symbols can be found throughout the residents on my floor, such as a small statue of Hanuman brought by another floor mate, which is a Hindu figure said to help everyone in our global village stay focused in their studies.

My roommate, who is also Hindu, spends 10 to 15 minutes every morning in rituals and prayers. I’ve also begun to use this time to reflect and pray myself, making our room a true fusion of beliefs.

On the outside we in the global village may look like a disjointed group of young people. But, if anything, our differences bring us closer together. We’ve even decorated our floor, hanging up a number of flags and maps. In fact, it is not uncommon to find people lingering in the halls, pointing to the various regions on the map they come from.

Having spent more than a month with the people on this floor, I no longer question why I was put here. I know that I bring a unique perspective to our village. I also know that as I learn about all their habits and rituals, they learn about mine as a Catholic youth. This is what is meant by multiculturalism and acceptance. This is what I was taught in school.

I am proud to say I have made the world my home and I pray that others get a chance to do so as well.

(Hurren, 18, is a media, information and technoculture student at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ont. Read more about him at youthspeaknews.org)

What would happen if I said yes to God and gave up one summer for His glory? That is the question I set out to answer when I said yes to Impact Canada.

Impact is a 15-week missions trip with Catholic Christian Outreach (CCO). Every summer, students gather in a different Canadian city to carry on the new evangelization. Alongside 56 university students from across the country and under the guidance of a dedicated CCO staff team, I spent my summer in our nation’s capital sharing God’s love.

Through living in community, working in a parish and being surrounded by people on fire for Him, I came to find new purpose in my life.

Many parishes are facing the challenge of trying to keep their attendance up. Cultural parishes, though, are facing an even larger battle. As the parish’s older demographic passes, they take the culture with them. The question then becomes how to renew interest in the church while also maintaining culture.

My parish, a Lithuanian parish in Toronto, is facing this problem. Cultural parishes are important because they provide a place to reinforce the culture and learn about our history in a religious setting while keeping the faith.

My church has done so much for me in terms of reinforcing my Lithuanian culture.

What do you see when you think of the unknown? A dark forest or an impenetrable fog?

Whether by hesitating to socialize outside our circle of friends or by becoming too accustomed to daily routines, it isn’t surprising that we like to avoid risks. However, many good things await in the unknown and God doesn’t want us to miss out on them. 

There’s nothing wrong with occasionally losing some control over life and embracing unfamiliar situations. After all, God is in control and has a plan — even if it isn’t always obvious to us. 

They call it Canada’s poorest postal code. When you walk a few blocks past Vancouver’s highrises and shopping districts, you’ll find a different city. People crowd the sidewalks at the corner of East Hastings and Main Street. It’s a district known for its poverty, homelessness, drug abuse and prostitution. It’s a part of town most try to avoid — all but one group. They’re an army dressed in red and their weapon is prayer.

They’re called Agape. It’s a Catholic Christian Outreach ministry whose mission is to reach out to the women of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside and offer them a message of hope and love through Jesus. Agape helps women who are addicts and prostitutes, many of whom are also homeless.

Agape means “God’s love,” to serve, expecting nothing in return. Volunteers in red jackets walk the streets every night of the year. They always proclaim the same message: God loves you and the only way to escape the bonds of addiction is through a relationship with Jesus. Agape teaches that for those who suffer, God can be a source of strength, comfort and unconditional love.

My days in Madrid for World Youth Day were filled with so much grace. For a whole week, thousands upon thousands of people gathered in one spot to celebrate the fact that Christ is risen.

But the secular media there did not focus its stories on the amazing concerts, fantastic catechesis, wonderful prayer events and the general atmosphere of joy that was emanating from pilgrims.

It focused on the protests.

At this World Youth Day, more than a thousand people gathered in one of Madrid’s city squares one night and shouted hateful words to the passing pilgrims. I experienced the aftermath — police had blocked off the entire square and my group’s hostel was a mere block away from the protests. I was actually quite riveted by the fact that this happened, and so was everyone in Madrid, pilgrim or not. That the protests struck such a chord with everyone shows one thing: in matters of the Catholic faith, you need to pick a side.

If it were up to me, Madrid would not have been my first choice for World Youth Day. Unlike most people, I am not a fan of the heat. In fact, I am slightly heat intolerant. When I found out I would be taking this pilgrimage, I knew it would be a challenge and that God would somehow use this trip to teach me how to take up and embrace my daily cross.

God took His first opportunity during the opening Mass when I began to get overheated, weak and overwhelmed by the crowd. Nearly fainting from heat exhaustion, all I could do was pray the words, “Jesus help me, Mary protect me.”

After my group fought its way through the crowd, we found refuge in an air-conditioned restaurant where others nursed me back to health with the help of some pilgrims from Ireland. Throughout my sufferings, God gave me the grace and strength to rejoice amidst the chaos and offer up my weakness for the conversion of the youth at World Youth Day. I was inspired by the way my friends and fellow Catholics came together to help me and I found myself thanking God for allowing me to be a victim — something I had never been able to do before.