The following is the third place finisher by Vincent Pham, a student at Toronto's Chaminade College, in the annual essay contest for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity sponsored by The Catholic Register and the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement-Graymoor.

The following is the second place finisher by Raquel Seara, a student at Toronto's Loretto College, in the annual essay contest for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity sponsored by The Catholic Register and the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement-Graymoor.

The mass shooting that claimed four lives in La Loche, Sask., and injured seven more on Jan. 22 was a horrific tragedy.

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.

Marshall McLuhan, a communications philosopher and former professor at the University of St. Michael’s College in Toronto, once stated that “we make our tools, and then our tools make us.”

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.

While there is evidence that youth are less civically engaged than the general population, Reid Locklin says it’s merely that they are differently engaged.

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.

Now that exams are coming to an end and Christmas break is beginning, there’s more free time to rest and make the most of the season.

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.

TORONTO On Nov. 28 at St. Michael’s College School, Dreamtheatre Productions will be performing its inaugural presentation of The Promise — a retelling of the timeless Advent story in a contemporary fashion.