Youth Speak News

Music as a relaxing end to a long day of school is my refuge in times of stress. From the pressures of triple-essay deadlines to calculus crunch time, at day’s end I seek out music and my bed to provide solace in much the same way as I run to God for solace when I pray.

Prayer and music used to always be separate in my life. Sometimes I would pray, other times I would listen to music.

Occasionally I might play YouTube hymns as a combination of prayer and music, but not often. Then there were some days I wanted to listen to other genres of music but still wished to feel God’s presence. Finding music to fit this taste was very time consuming.

VATICAN CITY - If the openness, questioning and hopes of young people are encouraged and guided, they become a stimulus for the adults around them to take seriously the challenges of building a better world marked by dialogue and acceptance, a Vatican official told Buddhists around the world.

"Young people are an asset for all societies," said Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, in a message marking the upcoming Buddhist celebration of Vesakh, a feast commemorating the key events in the life of the Buddha.

To say Cristina Di Corte was not feeling well would be an understatement. After experiencing bad abdominal pains and vomiting, her doctor thought she might have acid reflux, irritable bowel syndrome, celiac disease or even an eating disorder.

But after visiting a specialist, Di Corte received some very different news. “Your gut doesn’t work,” he told her.

“The muscles around my digestive system don’t function properly so if I eat, it stays in my stomach for a very long time. Eventually, it starts to rot and it ends up making me sick,” said Di Corte, 22, a graduate of St. Joseph Secondary School in Mississauga, Ont.

OTTAWA - Unplug from the Internet, take out those ear buds, take some time to be still, rediscover the love of God — and make prayer time and stillness a habit if you want to effectively share the Good News with young people.

That was the message delivered to 300 Catholic youth ministry leaders from across Canada recently at the Canadian Catholic Youth Ministry Network conference on the theme: “Be still and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10).

When I compare the number of hours I spend acquiring blisters and backaches travelling miles in a rowing shell to the time I spend at Mass or in prayer, I feel sheepish. To paraphrase St. Paul in 1 Corinthians 9:27, athletes chase after perishable wreaths. 

As a member of my university’s varsity rowing team, my days are structured around these wreaths: practice, second practice, regattas and recovery. 

VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI called on young people to not pursue power, money and prestige, but to find true joy in Christ and live a life of generous service to others.

In his message for World Youth Day 2012, he told the world's young Catholics to start making the world a better, more just and humane place right now, even while they continue to pursue their studies, talents and interests.

Do not be content in giving the minimum, he said.

Amanda Foster, 21, wants to go to World Youth Day Rio in 2013. But after hearing the cost estimates for the trip, she’s reconsidering.  

“I can’t believe the prices are so high,” said Foster, who was a part of the Archdiocese of Toronto’s Office of Catholic Youth (OCY) trip to Madrid last August, organized through Tour Design.  

I was recently speaking with a Jesuit priest about his work. The charism of a Jesuit priest is to go where there is the greatest need.

“What do you think is the greatest need in our city?” I asked him.

He told me that he thought that people didn’t seem to need anything. They have filled their lives with so many things. I thought this was ironic.

How is it that the greatest need in our society is that we have no need at all?

I began to think of myself: How true is this of my own life? I rarely let myself go hungry. I fill my schedule with commitments, I quickly run into new relationships and I consume more food than I need. I chase desires in many different directions all in efforts to satisfy my hunger. Everything is so readily available and easily accessible that I have never truly had to go hungry. My every whim is met instantly.

During Lent, I realize it is a time to do just the opposite of the ordinary. It is a time to leave our desires unchecked as it is a period to abstain from comfort. In Matthew, Jesus was “led by the spirit into the desert,” leaving all comfort behind.

For me, the chance to live out this belief came in the form of a unique initiative.

For five days this Lent, I left the comforts of my home behind. With a sleeping bag, pillow and the clothes on my back, I joined nine other students at the University of British Columbia as part of a national campaign called 5 Days for the Homeless. Together, we camped outside our campus bookstore in efforts to raise awareness and money for homeless youth in our city.

The past days have definitely pushed me outside of my comfort zone. It’s been cold and rainy and I’m beginning to dream of hot showers. We’re completely reliant on donations for food and basic necessities like toothpaste and deodorant.

Catherine Doherty, foundress of the Madonna House apostalate, is famous for, amongst other things, having brought the term “poustinia” to the Catholic Church. It is a term that refers to the cabins people go to for retreats of silence and solitude. Poustinia stems from the Russian word for desert. People spend time in these poustinia to encounter God more fully through prayer and fasting. Though far from luxurious, people often feel more fulfilled in the poustinia.

I have come to understand that fulfilment during my time without a home. Without the comforts of home, I have had to come to Jesus for that true fulfilment.

A Catholic Christian Outreach missionary once said to me, “We are afraid to wait long enough to feel that longing.”

What if this Lent, instead of reacting to every desire, you allowed yourself to go hungry? What would happen?

I urge you to be led by the spirit into the poustinia or desert of your heart just as Jesus was 2,000 years ago. See what happens. Allow your true appetite for something greater be restored. I know He won’t leave you thirsty.

(Hii, 21, is a human resources and international relations student at the University of British Columbia.)

For the first time, several pro-life groups on university campuses in British Columbia held Life Week simultaneously to bring the abortion debate to their peers.

“They debated the morality of abortion and whether abortion should remain legal,” said Anastasia Pearse, western campus co-ordinator for the National Campus Life Network. Jojo Ruba from the Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform debated the pro-life side while various philosophy professors took the pro-choice side.

TORONTO - Students from Toronto’s Loretto College School and surrounding high schools joined together to Give Peace a Dance.

About 300 people filled Loretto College’s auditorium on March 7 to promote awareness about violence against youth, bask in the talents of students and raise funds for the Plan Canada Because I am a Girl initiative.

“It’s a safe-school campaign against youth violence in and around school communities,” said Paulina Onilla, a youth worker at Loretto College who first organized the event seven years ago. “We invite our fellow schools from different parts of the city to come and join us on the campaign and create awareness that they are their schools and they need to take them back in terms of safety.”