鱿鱼视频app

OSHAWA, Ont. - While some youth raise funds at their parish by having bake sales or car washes, the youth in St. Gertrude鱿鱼视频app Life Teen Band decided to do something a little different: they recorded a CD.

And on June 4, the band celebrated the launch of Sing with a Joyful Heart with a concert at St. Gertrude鱿鱼视频app parish in Oshawa. All funds raised from the concert and CD sales will support the parish鱿鱼视频app new Edge and Life Teen programs, parish-based youth ministry programs designed to help youth learn more about their Catholic faith and develop a deeper relationship with God.

鈥淲e hope this CD stays with the band members as they leave high school, get further education  and eventually enter the work force, get married or enter religious life,鈥� said Eamonn Doyle, band leader. 鈥淎nd hopefully the CD will act as a reminder of how their faith grew during the process of making this.鈥�

The CD is made up of 14 songs 鈥� with half sung by the entire group and the other half sung by soloists.

EDMONTON - Canadian delegates at this summer鱿鱼视频app World Youth Day will be wearing their nation鱿鱼视频app colours on a soccer jersey designed and produced in Edmonton.

Erwin Fung, a volunteer with Edmonton鱿鱼视频app Office of Youth Evangelization, designed the jersey and has made it available to dioceses across Canada. 鱿鱼视频app 3,000 young Catholics from across Canada are expected to attend the Aug. 16-21 event in Madrid, Spain.

In Sydney, Australia, in 2008, the Canadians wore a stock hockey jersey with the WYD logo screen printed on it.

鈥淏ut because this is Spain and the national sport is soccer, Erwin designed this soccer jersey that鱿鱼视频app gone across Canada,鈥� said Andrew Papenbrock, director of Youth Evangelization.

So far 3,500 jerseys have been ordered nationwide. 鈥淚t鱿鱼视频app a great unifying thing,鈥� Papenbrock said. 鈥淚n Madrid when you see this jersey you will know we are from Canada.鈥�

If you won the lottery tomorrow, what would you do? Most Catholics would say they鈥檇 donate to charities and give a hand to those in need. If only we all had time and money, we could do the things we want to do and be the good Catholics we want to be.

It鱿鱼视频app easy to think that way, but it鱿鱼视频app not true. We have time and we have money. The problem is how we spend them. Somewhere along the way, we鈥檝e lost the concept of what we want and what we need. This balance is especially difficult for students. We don鈥檛 think twice about spending $4 on a coffee, but hesitate to give a homeless person our spare change. We say we can鈥檛 afford to sponsor a child overseas, but we all have laptops and iPods.

It鱿鱼视频app all about setting your priorities. There鱿鱼视频app nothing wrong with having possessions, but they shouldn鈥檛 hold us back from living our lives for others. In a society that pushes us to be the best at all costs, we can easily be distracted by greed and vanity.

We need to go back to the basics and never lose sight of what really matters: our relationship with God.

TORONTO - Tiffany Harrington spearheaded a school initiative to send sleeping mats made out of plastic milk bags to orphans in Haiti. Her efforts saw 12,000 milk bags 鈥� and counting 鈥� collected, which are then crocheted into the mats.

This community spirit helped Harrington, a Grade 12 student at Monsignor Paul Dwyer Catholic High School in Oshawa, Ont., win one of 20 TD Bank Scholarships for Community Leadership. Harrington, Miranda Dela Cruz, a Grade 12 student at Francis Libermann Catholic Secondary School in Scarborough, and Wei-En Wong, a Grade 12 student from St. Robert Catholic High School in Thornhill, are the only winners from Toronto-area Catholic schools.  

Each of the 20 scholarships is valued at up to $70,000, which includes up to $10,000 per year for tuition to a post-secondary institute in Canada and up to $7,500 for living expenses and books. In addition, winners are also offered guaranteed summer employment with TD over their four years of school.

VATICAN CITY - With fewer than three months to go, preparations for World Youth Day 2011 in Madrid are heating up and organizers are promising a 鈥渇iesta,鈥� adding a Spanish flavour to the traditional opportunities for prayer, friendship, music and religious education.

As of May 7, organizers reported 347,965 youths had registered for the Aug. 16-21 event, which Pope Benedict XVI will attend. The figure included 5,439 from Canada. The Italians 鈥� always a big contingent at World Youth Day 鈥� were leading the pack with 65,196 registrants, outpacing even the Spaniards by more than 10,000.

While registering has benefits 鈥� including priority seating at papal events 鈥� young people seem to know they won鈥檛 be turned away, and so, an earlier estimate of 1.5 million participants seems to be right on track.

鈥淲e can鈥檛 predict how many will register at the last minute,鈥� said Fr. Eric Jacquinet, the official in charge of the youth section at the Pontifical Council for the Laity, the official sponsor of World Youth Day. At WYD Paris in 1997, he said, 300,000 young people pre-registered and there were 1.2 million people at the closing vigil and closing Mass with Blessed John Paul II.

OTTAWA - Whether it was the national anthem, the music echoing from Parliament Hill or the chants erupting in the streets of Ottawa, the voice of the 2011 March for Life was a youthful one.

That voice first belonged to 16-year-old singer Carly Taylor, who began the May 12 pro-life march by singing of O Canada. But she was quickly joined by the estimated crowd of 15,000, including thousands of youth and young people from more than 70 schools, chaplaincies and youth groups from across Ontario.

鈥淵ou鈥檙e the landlords here,鈥� MP Royal Galipeau of Ottawa-Orl茅ans told the young people gathered in front of Parliament Hill. 鈥淧eople like me are just the tenants.鈥�

Galipeau was one of more than a dozen speakers and witnesses to take the podium. That list also included Mario St. Francis, a former model and actor who came to the march from Washington.

MISSISSAUGA, Ont. - A bone belonging to St. Maria Goretti has been added to the new altar at St. Francis of Assisi parish in Mississauga in honour of young people.

Joining the relics of St. Francis of Assisi and St. Clare of Assisi 鈥� which were transferred from the old altar at the end of March 鈥� it is a 鈥渇irst class relic,鈥� said Fr. Joseph Grima, pastor at St. Francis of Assisi. Grima said this means the bone has documentation from the Vatican confirming it is from St. Maria Goretti.  

Grima said he chose the relic of St. Maria Goretti because she presents youth with a model of purity to look up to. 鈥淚n our society today we鈥檝e kind of lost the idea of conserving or giving our purity to the Lord,鈥� he said.  

鈥淭his (the presence of relics in the altar) is a good reminder to us that when we celebrate Mass, we celebrate with all the saints and angels in heaven.鈥�

St. Maria Goretti was only 11 years old when a young man named Alexander tried to rape her. She resisted, and consequently, the young man killed her. Before dying, Maria forgave him. The murderer later realized his wrongdoings after a dream he had of Maria and went to apologize to her mother.

She chose to die rather than submit to the young man, said Grima. 鈥淪he believed it (her virginity) was a value that she wanted to hold dearly.鈥�

(Gagliano, 20, is a life sciences student at the University of Toronto.)

VICTORIA - Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati is inspiring young men in a new way 鈥� through a Catholic apologetics and discussion group named in his honour.

鈥淚 saw (him as) a real positive role model of masculinity,鈥� said Mark Theobald, a teacher at St. Andrew鱿鱼视频app Regional High School, who founded the group in March. 鈥淚n our society, if we live our faith we are counter-cultural and he experienced that as well.鈥�

Frassati鱿鱼视频app Men鱿鱼视频app Group meets monthly at St. Andrew鱿鱼视频app Cathedral in Victoria to discuss issues facing young Catholic men such as chastity, prayer and the relationship between faith and reason.聽 It targets men ages 18 to 30, aiming to encourage the faith of Catholic men after high school. The group鱿鱼视频app most recent meeting on May 13 discussed how promiscuity undermines masculinity. 聽

Pier Giorgio Frassati was a social activist who devoted his life to helping the poor in his hometown of Turin in Italy. He died of polio in 1925 at the age of 24 and was beatified in 1990 by Blessed John Paul II.

TORONTO - Coinciding with the World Day of Prayer for Vocations, the downtown Toronto chapter of the Serra Club will be holding its fifth annual vocations fair May 14-15.

鈥淚t鱿鱼视频app an opportunity to promote vocations to the priesthood and consecrated religious life and to affirm those who have responded to this call,鈥� said Zinnia Milburn, the club鱿鱼视频app vice-president of vocations and vocations fair co-ordinator.

Different religious orders such as the Loretto Sisters and the Capuchin Friars will have booths set up to talk about the good work they do. As well, various Catholic lay organizations such as the Focolare and World Marriage Encounter will also be participating.

Taking place at St. Augustine of Canterbury parish in Toronto, this year鱿鱼视频app theme is 鈥淏ring the light that shines to the world.鈥�

TORONTO - A motion to make the Toronto Catholic District School Board a 鈥渂ottled water-free zone鈥� by September 2012 has passed unanimously.

The board will 鈥渨ork towards phasing out and eliminating bottled water in all schools, cafeterias, vending machines, school and board functions and all school board property,鈥� read the motion presented at the April 20 board meeting.

The objective is to have all schools in the TCDSB become bottled water-free zones, said trustee Maria Rizzo, who said she put the motion forward on behalf of all the board鱿鱼视频app students. Full implementation will depend on contracts the board has signed with vending machine operators.

鈥淏ut we might have contracts right now with vending machine companies so we can鈥檛 end those until the contract ends,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know how long our vending machine contracts go for. They might go until September 2013 but what that means is those contracts will not be renewed.鈥�