Youth Ministry for the Diocese of Saskatoon

By Anne-Marie Hughes

“It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view.”  

Theology on Tap speaker Brittney White chose to spiritually open her presentation in Saskatoon Oct. 19 with that opening line from martyred Archbishop Oscar Romero’s reflection “Creating the Church of Tomorrow.” 

“Taking the long view back” is how White led participants through her life, demonstrating how the ordinary brought extraordinary moments of grace and blessings in her ministry, both in Edmonton’s inner city neighbourhood and in the poverty of Guatemala.

“I am just a very ordinary person in ministry who has been blessed extraordinarily,” says White who in addition to coordinating projects in Guatemala and Edmonton’s core, also works counseling high-risk youth.

In her talk “Extraordinarily Ordinary: Finding Christ in the Ghetto,” White recounted turning points on her life journey. Being inspired to work with youth in crisis, getting a theology degree, seeing the Pope in Germany and undertaking ministry in a foreign country did not come out of inspired moments but often from her own brokenness, she described. 

“I had a pretty average life as a kid growing up in St. Albert. My dad was a police officer and I had a stay-at-home mom. But I found myself in trouble as a teen. I got into some bad stuff,” said White. “But it was my experience in that life that brought me into ministry. Ministry is born of struggle. Paul was blinded, Mary Magdalene had shame she needed to feel, Martin Luther King had Rosa Parks on the bus and Jesus sacrificed himself for our brokenness. We gather because we are broken and our brokenness is a gift.”

“I got myself into a lot of trouble, but in the end it motivated me to get into ministry,” recounted White. This early experience also taught White the importance of one person “stepping out of the circle” and taking the time to reach out and to confront teens who are getting into trouble. 

“In Grade 11 I had a volleyball coach who gave me a slap on the wrist,”' recalled White, who was heavily involved in the sport at the time. “She told me ‘if you don't quit the stuff your into, you are off the team.’ She stepped out of the circle.”

A change in attitude led White to attend university and to study psychology, as well as to her search for something deeper. “I found the theories didn't make sense to me. The one consistent thing I found in my life was God, so I incorporated that into my work, and of course my marks went down.” 

She fell into theology quite by accident. “ I heard from a friend on the bus that Christian theology courses at St. Joe’s were an easy way to boost our GPA so I went, and met the most amazing woman professor. This was a class at the U of A and she knew everybody's name. We learned a lot about each other and what it's really all about: living the gospel faith,” said White. “I could see Christ in her and learned what it is to witness. The world could use less teachers and more witnesses.”

White's search for a higher average eventually lead to her pursuing her masters of divinity from Newman College which she hopes to complete by June 2012. Sometimes extraordinary things come out of ordinary experiences: like a suggestion on a bus.

On another bus, a friend casually suggested another experience that turned out to be life-changing. “She asked me ‘do you want to go to Germany to see the Pope?’” recounted White. “I said yes, because I thought it would be a fun trip.” A wrong turn looking for lunch at World Youth Day and the ordinary pilgrim found herself in the midst of the extraordinary experience of being 40 feet from Pope Benedict XVI in a secure area, using her newly-acquired university German to listen to him speak.

White’s missionary service in Guatemala could have easily been missed, through the toss of a letter into the recycling box. “I was working in youth ministry for someone's maternity leave when through my priest a letter came from the Oblates in Guatemala.  When I first got it I thought it was something we could never do, and I was just going to recycle it.  Then my priest and I talked and prayed about it and made it happen. I could have recycled it but we decided to respond to it."

A few months later, White found herself in a van with eight others in Guatemala, not knowing exactly what they were going to do there, but trusting in God. “It was kind of crazy looking back on it. But I really learned how to pray down there.”

Since that trip. many more volunteers from the same Edmonton parish have gone down to work with an orphanage for children with HIV. Mutual exchanges have meant volunteers from Canada go to Guatemala and youth from that country come back to Edmonton. 

“Approximately 6 million Canadians have been on missions. Many go once and they don't go back. In our missions we have volunteers who have one back a few times.” 

The mission effort has become a big source of support for the small community in Guatemala. One program helps 2,000 kids attend school. Recently a volunteer in the United States secured a deal with a major retailer for 40,000 pounds of food to be shipped there every month. “That volunteer is just 21 years old,” noted White.

The Guatemala experience often impacts parishioners when they come back to North America. “They realize the distractions that keep people from each other and the busy-ness that’s used against us. We take so much for granted.”

She described how one young man named Santos who came to Canada from Guatemala was surprised by the lack of joy during Mass here and the rush to leave when the celebration was over.    When Santos was very quiet after mass White asked him if everything was okay and Santos responded to her saying,“I used to get so mad when Mother Teresa said being poor in spirit was worse than physical poverty. Now I wouldn't give up my family and poverty for anything you have here.” 

After many trips, Guatemala has become a big part of White's life. “On one trip I was in a truck driven by a priest when all these strangers just piled in with us for a ride and we had to stop to let all these chickens cross the road. It was crazy. I just started to laugh with joy and couldn't stop. I just realized that six years ago I would never have dreamed I would be doing this.”

Held regularly throughout the year at a Lydia’s on Broadway pub in Saskatoon, Theology on Tap is offered to young adults ages 19 to 35 years. Theology on Tap is coordinated by the youth ministry offices of the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saskatoon, and the St. Thomas More College campus ministry team.

Speaker Brittney White (front row, third from the right) of Edmonton joined participants at Theology on Tap Oct. 19 in Saskatoon, speaking about how ordinary moments in her life have led to extraordinary experiences in faith and ministry.

Theology on Tap is back!

TOT is for young adults ages 19 to 35 who are invited to gather to discuss faith and life in the relaxed atmosphere of Lydias Pub on Broadway in Saskatoon. This semester we're going to be focusing on the hidden lives of priests, getting to hear their stories and share some wisdom in fellowship about how we can better live out our Christian Faith. Last week we held our first evening with Fr. Nestor Gregoire and had a great time. Below is a review of the event - see what you missed. 

Don't fret, we got two more great evenings planned before Christmas. 

Upcoming sessions include:
Theology on Tap with Bishop Donald Bolen: Meet our new bishop! Tuesday Oct. 19th 7-9 p.m. at Lydias Pub
Theology on Tapwith Bishop Bryan Bayda: Celibacy No Sex Ever! Monday Nov. 8th, 7-9 p.m. at Lydias Pub

See you there! - Colm

BEING, LOVING, DOING - Living our Christian Values

Theology on Tap coverage By Andréa Ledding

SASKATOON -  Theology on Tap began a new season Sept. 21 in Saskatoon, featuring Rev. Nestor Gregoire, OMI, speaking on the challenges of  living Christian values in the world.  Gregoire, who is currently pastor at nearby St. Joseph's parish in Saskatoon, talked informally to the gathering of some 30 young adults at Lydia’s Pub, before they broke into small discussion groups.

“God wants us with a passion. He really wants us,” said Gregoire, adding that God wants to love everyone as individuals, with an infinite passion and depth. “This is how I know God today, but God is always more.”

Weaving in anecdotes about his years of ministry, Gregoire talked conversationally about the various ways people encounter God.  One man, who was going through a 12-step program, was told by his sponsor he needed to come up for a name for his Higher Power – essentially, a name for God.  The name he chose was “George,” because a person named George had been the only source of love and acceptance for him.

“He took the goodness he knew in his life and began to apply it to God,” Gregoire explained, adding that he recognized that as the beginnings of God's unconditional love. “We as human beings have the greatest hunger to be loved.”

Another example Gregoire gave to illustrate the place where faith exists was the Michelangelo painting of the Sistine chapel – where Adam and God are reaching towards each other, but the fingers don't quite touch.

“That's where our faith is – between the two untouching fingers,” he said, describing each party reaching towards the other but never quite touching.  “I know God as best I can but there's always much more to know.”

He laughingly added that when you talk to someone who thinks they know God, just be polite, as there's no point in arguing with someone who insists they know the unknowable; but he added that faith isn't something filled with automatic answers – people need to wrestle and search for meaning and for understanding and for discernment.  

“God is truly mystery – let the mystery of God unfold.

Gregoire described how the nature of God is always reaching back towards humanity, even pursuing with divine love persistently, as described in Francis Thompson’s autobiographical poem “The Hound of Heaven,” which explores God's faithful pursuit and inexhaustible love.

“When we come into our Church faith and explore the call and mission of Jesus and re-capture what it means to be baptized – it's being joined with Jesus Christ,” Gregoire said, adding it's important we recognize that baptism is not a one-time event, but the beginning of a journey.  “You can't “get” baptized – you are ‘brought into’ the life of Jesus Christ by baptism.”

Christ represents God's becoming human to make humans divine, he said. “We're meant for much more than what we're living now – to be transformed and moved into the greater love of God.”

To emphasize the importance of the baptismal call, he explained that in the early Church, the baptismal candidate approached from the west (the darkness of sin and twilight) towards the east (sunrise and new life), where they headed into the waters as if into a grave. “The candidates were plunged into the water – these were people who did not swim – it was an extremely frightening event.”

He spoke of the importance of this symbolism – the call to be full of light rather than darkness, as each person is sent to the world to bring the light of Christ.

“God is working in you. The poor have many faces. You are being the light of Christ,”  Gregoire summarized, adding action is required on our parts – just as cookbooks on shelves are useless until a recipe is followed and becomes something good to eat, God's word requires action from us. “You are marked. Live it out.”

The Gospel shows us that Jesus was “not just a nice guy” – he stepped on a lot of the wrong toes and reached out to the marginalized. And the modern day Church is not just for the good people.

“Sometimes I'd start my sermons by saying, ‘If you're good – you can get up and go home.’  We have a great difficulty with the failure of others, but Church is not for good people. People point fingers and say the Church is full of hypocrites – no, it's not. If you're good, you don't need Jesus. Who did Jesus have for his disciples?” Gregoire asked, pointing out God comes for those who are struggling, and those who are feeling unloved and wrestling with failure.  “Faith gives purpose to life and to death. A human being needs meaning.”

The evening concluded with the larger group sharing themes encountered in the discussion at various tables.  

Theology on Tap is a ministry to young adults, ages 19 to 35, organized by Campus Ministry at St. Thomas More College and the Youth Ministry offices of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saskatoon and the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Saskatoon. The next Theology on Tap session 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 19 will feature Bishop Donald Bolen.