{mosimage}MIDLAND, Ont. - As 400 young pilgrims packed the historic Martyrs’ Shrine church, outside the thunder rolled, the rain poured and lightning zigzagged across the sky. Wind from two open doors ruffled the altar cloths providing the only relief in the hot and humid air.

It was close to midnight, July 17, and high school and university-aged pilgrims attending the Ontario Regional World Youth Day event were supposed to be watching footage of the Pope’s arrival in Sydney, Australia, via a large outdoor screen by the Shrine grounds’ main stage. Instead, they were praying the rosary, sharing stories and singing praises to God.

{mosimage}TORONTO - The new lay director of the Office of Catholic Youth said he plans to take the archdiocese of Toronto to a new level when it comes to serving teens and young adults.

{mosimage}TORONTO - The Catholic Children’s Aid Society awarded its latest 84 scholarships totalling more than $180,000 to students who were enrolled in a postsecondary program Aug. 27.

Over the past four years, the society has more than doubled the number of scholarships that it has given out to students formerly in its care.

But for many students, like Allison Kretschmer, 24, the opportunity to merely attend school, let alone receive a scholarship for it, once seemed like an unattainable dream.

{mosimage}The University of Guelph was alive with talk on love during the 10th annual CFC Singles for Christ (SFC) and Youth for Christ (YFC) combined national conference Aug. 15-17.

{mosimage}TORONTO - Grade 12 religion students at Neil McNeil Catholic High School will get a taste of stewardship this year with a curriculum designed to get them outside the classroom.

Instead of sticking to the usual textbook curriculum, teacher Linton Soares has started following the “ShareLife ” curriculum, something he developed with the help of ShareLife and the Office of Stewardship of the Toronto archdiocese , to make learning more hands-on through guest presentations and field trips to different centres with service opportunities. ShareLife is the charitable fund-raising arm of the archdiocese.

{mosimage}Ottawa will host its first annual Archbishop’s Charity Dinner Oct. 28 with proceeds going to support youth ministry.

Jules Dagenais, director of Stewardship and Planned Giving of the Ottawa archdiocese , said the dinner supports something that Archbishop Terrence Prendergast, S.J., considers vital to church community growth.

{mosimage}Months before thousands of youth landed in Sydney, Australia, for World Youth Day in July, two Canadians were already peddling their way to the Pope.

Frank Callaghan, 20, and Brendan Quigley, 19, from Peterborough, Ont., boarded their bicycles May 17 to begin a 50-day pilgrimage of about 4,300 km from Perth to Sydney.

{mosimage}TORONTO - As a leader in Catholic youth ministry for nine years, Melissa Delaney knows the challenges of the trade firsthand.

Now a part-time youth minister at Holy Redeemer parish in Kanata, Ont., Delaney says one of the nagging issues for people working with youth has always been getting across the importance of the ministry.

{mosimage}TORONTO - Twenty years ago, one young man had a vision to evangelize other youth with the simple and clear Gospel message.

André Regnier, then a recent graduate of the University of Saskatchewan, answered what he believes was God’s call to start a university student movement, known today as Catholic Christian Outreach, with his wife Angèle. Although it began with a few students sharing the basics of the Gospel, as it celebrates this milestone year, the Regnier’s movement continues to touch the lives of nearly a thousand students across the country through weekly faith studies, Catholic prayer or social events and yearly mission projects in Canada and abroad.

TORONTO - The children of Attawapiskat, Ont., have no school and attend classes in portables where the doors sometimes freeze shut, students wear their winter jackets to class and mice run over their lunches. The dropouts in this small community near James Bay begin as early as Grade 4.

“But I want to also tell you about the determination in our community to build a better world,” grade-school student Shannen Koostachin told a crowd of about 450 students and teachers from Toronto Catholic schools Nov. 26.