Youth Speak News

The Toronto Catholic District School Board has reaffirmed a motion to make all schools “bottled water free zones” by September 2012.

“We’re the largest organization to ever tackle this in the country,” said trustee Maria Rizzo, who put the motion forward on behalf of all the board’s students.  “The TCDSB became a leader for social justice and the environment. Water is God’s gift to the planet and you shouldn’t sell it like a pair of sneakers. It’s as ludicrous as bottling air and selling it.”

Most 16-year-olds worry about getting good grades and maintaining friendships. Vera Schiff’s main concern was to stay alive.

Schiff shared her story to an audience of young adults at an April 23 Faith Connections’ Theology on Tap event where she discussed her spiritual resistance in a concentration camp. Between 1942 and 1945, she was held at the Theresienstadt camp in Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia, where she endured many hardships but found ways to maintain her humanity.

TORONTO - Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you that you have from God and you are not your own, Faith Connections program director Vanessa Nicholas-Schmidt told participants at the Keeping the Temple Healthy event April 14.

“Glorify God in body and spirit,” said Nicholas-Schmidt, quoting Corinthians. “All things are lawful for me, but not all things are beneficial. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be dominated by anything.”

Registered dietitian Ashley Nicholas led six participants on a grocery store tour at Loblaws focused on healthy eating as part of Faith Connections’ Eat, Pray, Share series exploring food and spirituality.

Joey Loi is passionate about poverty and education. These issues mattered so much that he started the non-profit organization Turn the Page, which aims to support education initiatives in developing nations.

“I do as much as I can to make a difference in the community because I know I’m a very privileged person,” said Loi, whose parents immigrated to Canada from Vietnam about 20 years ago. “And I see how easily my life could have been different if they didn’t make the sacrifices they did,” said the Grade 12 student at St. Brother André Catholic High School in Markham, Ont.

Although Earth Day is a secular event, Catholics can turn to the patron saint of ecology to see the importance of respecting and preserving the planet. 

St. Francis of Assisi was born to a middle-class family in Assisi, a small town in central Italy. But his life was forever changed when he heard the voice of Jesus coming from the crucifix in the abandoned Church of San Damiano.

Suicide rates in girls between the ages of 10 and 19 have increased 54 per cent over the past 30 years, says a recent study from the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

Researchers from the Public Health Agency of Canada reported that 50 females between ages 10 and 19 committed suicide in Canada in 1980, compared to 77 in 2008. Conversely, suicide rates among young males declined from 249 suicides to 156, a 37 per cent decrease.

“It’s hugely disturbing, but not surprising,” said Sr. Susan Glaab, a campus minister and spiritual director at King’s University College.

Canadians need to pay attention to increasingly high levels of youth and senior debt, said Nora Spinks, CEO of the Vanier Institute of the Family.

The Institute highlighted a looming crisis in its recently published report “The Current State of Canadian Family Finances.” The study looks at family incomes and expenses, family savings and debt and family wealth and net worth.

“We’ve got the young adults and young families with high levels of debt trying to make ends meet and then we have seniors who are declaring bankruptcy and that leaves those in the middle supporting their young adult children and their parents.”

TORONTO - It can be difficult for students to maintain a healthy balance between studies and personal spiritual growth. Kintore College, a women’s university residence to be run by Opus Dei in downtown Toronto, hopes it will help students find that balance.

“While Kintore will certainly provide a serious study atmosphere for its residents, we do believe that a healthy lifestyle includes all aspects of the human person: the social, cultural, spiritual, physical and emotional,” said Crystal Mason, the college’s director.

Officially opening Sept. 1, 2012, the college is located on the St. George campus at the University of Toronto. However, the residence is open to students from different universities and colleges such as Ryerson, explained Mason. Combined with a 13-storey high-rise condominium, the four-floor residence promises future residents not only a beautiful place to live but a warm atmosphere as well.

“The building was designed to maximize the use of sunlight and makes for a beautiful and warm home away from home,” said Miriam Hyginus, a second-year student at the University of Toronto. Although Hyginus will not be living at the college due to a prior commitment, she is very excited for the college’s opening.

“Personally, I find it inspiring to see students who are committed to advancing both academically and spiritually,” she said. “These are women who are serious about getting into both grad school and heaven.”

The property was purchased by Pro-Edu-Val (PEV) in 1997, a charity organization whose mission is “to foster the education of women of all ages and backgrounds in order to promote their unique influence in the shaping of society through their family life, professional work and community,” explained Virginia Nanouris, Kintore’s project manager and an employee of PEV.

The leadership of Kintore is given to members of Opus Dei, a Catholic organization helping people seek holiness in their everyday lives.

The college is open to people of all faiths and religions, but promises a vibrant spiritual life for students who choose to take part in it. For example, Hyginus noted that Holy Mass will be celebrated every day and there will be opportunities for confession, talks on different topics and classes about the faith.

“Far from taking emphasis away from having a relationship with God, Kintore promotes this with the variety of activities it offers. It’s a great place to challenge your mind, nourish your body and strengthen your soul.”

To give students more time to study and to participate in the various social and spiritual activities, Kintore will offer a healthy meal plan and full cleaning and laundry services, said Mason.

Mason also hopes that the residents and members of the management team will feel like a family.

For Hyginus, this welcoming atmosphere might help prevent anti-social behaviour that arises from too much studying and stress.

“University years are one of the most precious times in one’s life and a moment for forging friendships that will last a lifetime,” said Mason. “We want these years to be truly formative and energizing for students.”

Kintore College is currently accepting applications. “We are receiving and reviewing applications as we speak. We have not yet made any offers of admission but we plan to do so very soon.”

(Thien-An Nguyen, 19, is a second-year history and political science student at the University of Ottawa.)

When you tell people you’re going on a service trip to New York, many question the nature of the trip. The connotation of a service trip can lead one to think of trips to Vietnam or Uganda, working in Third World countries to help the most recognizable poor. 

The struggles faced by the people living in the Bronx are often overlooked. But this wasn’t the case when I travelled to New York with classmates from my high school.

With World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro getting closer, youth are feeling pressure to raise money to make the trip. That’s prompting cash-strapped young people to develop creative fundraising ideas to help meet their goals.

Christine Lumilian, a youth minister at St. Maria Goretti parish in Toronto, has seen positive results from her group’s fundraising efforts in previous years.

“We fundraised for Germany (2005) and we got six people to go for free,” Lumilian said.