Youth Ministry for the Diocese of Saskatoon

So today we celebrate one of the best days of the year if you're Catholic - ALL SAINTS!

There is such a variety of saints, it gives hope to all that we all are called to holiness and sainthood. Truly anyone who enters into the glory of God in heaven is a saint. But through a really complicated process over the centuries, the church has given special notice and acclaim to certain people of faith. They do this not for pride, or to gloat (we do have A LOT of them), but to give hope and show the many ways we are called to love and be in relationship with God.

Someone started a trend for today on Facebook for Catholics to post as their status their favourite quote from a Saint, and ask them to pray for us. I've just been sitting back marvelling at all the wonderous wisdom being shared and evangelizing the online community! What a cool idea! 

I couldn't just read all these great things at once and give them their due time of reflection, so I copied them to share with you... this will expand and maybe see some later versions. But for now, feast your mind, heart and souls on these words of life! Take your time, come back, maybe just sit with one or two. But let them be a gift to you this day. And may we all as my hero, Blessed John Paul II said, "BE NOT AFRAID" - and become the SAINTS we were born to be!

All you holy men and women, ora pro nobis!

-St. Colm of Saskatoon (one day?!!)

"O Father, Son and Holy Ghost, May we keep faith till time shall cease. Grant us a place among your saints: The poor in spirit, souls of peace" (Lauds, Opening Hymn).

"Let us be content with God has given us. But one thing is necessary and it is not beauty, not health, not talent. It is the salvation of our immortal souls." - St. Alphonsus Liguori

“It is with the smallest brushes that the artist paints the best paintings.” - St. Andre Bessette

"Do what you can, and pray for what you cannot, and so God will grant you the ability to do it." - St. Augustine of Hippo

"Our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee, O Lord" - St. Augustine

"What does love look like? It has the hands to help others. It has the feet to hasten to the poor and needy. It has eyes to see misery and want. It has the ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of men. That is what love looks like." - St. Augustine of Hippo

"You will never know real mercy for the failings of others until you know and realize that you have the same failings."- St. Bernard of Clairvaux

“If you are what you should be, you will set the whole world ablaze.” - St. Catherine of Siena

"With him we shall have the courage to risk loving the neighbor. It is a tremendous risk, because we must also love our enemies. Once we have entered into Christ’s law of love, we have the power and the grave, the charisms, to change enemies into friends and beloved neighbors. To love one’s neighbor is the ultimate risk, for it may even mean death for my brother’s sake if need be." -Catherine Doherty, Servant of God

"The blood of Christ reveals God’s gracious will, which neither wants nor seeks anything but that we be made holy. Whatever He gives or permits is given out of love so that we may be made holy in Him. This is how the truth is fulfilled." - St. Catherine of Siena

"Do not neglect the parish of your own soul, do not give yourself to others so completely that you have nothing left for yourself. You have to be mindful of your people without becoming forgetful of yourself." ~ St. Charles Borromeo

“I AM safe in all my travels walking with my Father in Heaven... I AM spiritually strong and I AM able to bear what God gives me... God Helps me handle anything I choose to carry” - St. Christopher

"We become what we love and who we love shapes what we become. If we love things, we become a thing. If we love nothing, we become nothing" - St. Clare

"A man who governs his passions is master of his world. We must either command them or be enslaved by them. It is better to be a hammer than an anvil." - St. Dominic

"Oh, I fear nothing; if God sends such great suffering to a soul. He upholds it with an even greater grace, although we are not aware of it. One act of trust at such moments gives greater glory to God then whole hours passed in prayer filled with consolations." - St. Faustina

"I have been all things unholy. If God can work through me, he can work through anyone." - St. Francis of Assisi

"Be who you are, and be it well!" - St. Francis de Sales

"As the rays of the sun are so rich that we cannot see their many splendors unless they are shot through a prism, which causes them to break into the seven rays of the spectrum, so too, the Life of Christ which the saints reflect, is so infinitely Good, that it takes an infinite variety of saints shot through the prism of love and penance to reflect the holiness of the Son of God. Sinners are always alike, saints are always different."  - Archbishop Fulton Sheen

“The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult and left untried.” - G. K. Chesterton

"Love and sacrifice are closely linked, like the sun and the light. We cannot love without suffering and we cannot suffer without love." - St. Gianna Beretta Molla

"I am God's wheat and shall be ground by their teeth so that I may become Christ's pure bread." - St. Ignatius of Antioch

"I hunger for the bread of God, the flesh of Jesus Christ ...; I long to drink of his blood, the gift of unending love."- St. Ignatius of Antioch

'Pursue with invincible courage the end to which you have been called; God has furnished such help and means to aid you in attaining it.' - St. Ignatius of Loyola

"Oh, how much I love to suffer for love of our LORD and our Lady. They greatly love those who suffer for the conversion of sinners" - Blessed Jacinta (9 years old!!!!)

The great method of prayer is to have none. If in going to prayer one can form in oneself a pure capacity for receiving the spirit of God, that will suffice for all method." - St. Jane Frances de Chantal

"Marriage is good for those who are afraid to sleep alone at night." - St. Jerome

"I entered into unknowing, yet when I saw myself there, without knowing where I was, I understood great things; I will not say what I felt for I remained in unknowing transcending all knowledge" -St. John of the Cross

"We are called to be saints, all of us; do not forget that." - St. Katharine Drexel

"I believe in the sun when it isn't shining, I believe in love when there's no one there. I believe in God even when God is silent."- Fr. Keith Sorge

"The meat is done on this side, you can turn me over now." -St. Lawrence

"I am the handmaid of the Lord. Let it be done to me according to your will." - St. Mary, Mother of God.

“The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread.” - Blessed Mother Teresa

"Stay where you are. Find your own Calcutta. Find the sick, the suffering and the lonely right there where you are -- in your own homes and in your own families, in your workplaces and in your schools. ... You can find Calcutta all over the world, if you have the eyes to see. Everywhere, wherever you go, you find people who are unwanted, unloved, uncared for, just rejected by society -- completely forgotten, completely left alone." ~ Blessed Mother Teresa

"People are often unreasonable and self-centered. Forgive them anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives. Be kind anyway. If you are honest, people may cheat you. Be honest anyway. If you find happiness, people may be jealous. Be happy anyway. The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway. Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough. Give your best anyway. For you see, in the end, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway." - -Blessed Mother Teresa

"We are at Jesus' disposal. If he wants you to be sick in bed, if he wants you to proclaim His work in the street, if he wants you to clean the toilets all day, that's all right, everything is all right. We must say, "I belong to you. You can do whatever you like." And this ..is our strength, and this is the joy of the Lord." - Blessed Mother Teresa

“Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls. A joyful heart is the inevitable result of a heart burning with love.” - Blessed Mother Teresa

"Life is nothing but a continual struggle against one's self, and it does not open to beauty without the price of suffering." - St. Padre Pio

"Duty before everything else, even before what is holy." ~ St. Padre Pio

"Pray, Hope, Don't worry…" - St. Padre Pio

"He loves, He hopes, He waits. If He came down on our altars on certain days only, some sinner, on being moved to repentance, might have to look for Him, and not finding Him might have to wait. Our Lord prefers to wait himself for the sinner for years rather than keep him waiting for one instant." -St. Peter Julian Eymard

"To live without Faith, without a patrimony to defend, without a steady struggle for truth, that is not living, but existing." - Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati

"The saints are the true reformers. Only from the saints does true revolution come, the definitive way to change the world" - Pope Benedict XVI

"You are not the Sum of your fears and failings... But of the love of your Father in heaven" Blessed Pope John Paul II

"Be not afraid" - Blessed Pope John Paul II

"An excuse is worse and more terrible than a lie, for an excuse is a lie guarded." -Pope John Paul II

"Do not be afraid! Open the doors to Christ, God works in the concrete and personal affairs of each of us. Don't let the time that the Lord gives you run on as if everything were due to chance. With this expression of my hope I send you all, from the depths of my hope I send you all, from the depths of my heart, my blessing." -Blessed Pope John Paul II

"“Without the burden of afflictions it is impossible to reach the height of grace. The gift of grace increases as the struggles increase." - St. Rose of Lima

"For those who have faith, no explanation is necessary. For those who don't, no explanation is possible." - St. Thomas Aquinas

"I know now that true charity (love) consists in bearing all our neighbours' defects--not being surprised at their weakness, but edified at their smallest virtues.” - St. Thérèse de Lisieux

"We are all hosts that Jesus wants to change into Himself." - St. Thérèse de Lisieux

"Love consumes us only in the measure of our self-surrender." - St. Thérèse de Lisieux

"What pleases Him is to see me love my littleness and my poverty. It is the blind hope which I have in His mercy.…There is my only treasure. Why should this treasure not be yours?" - St. Thérèse of Lisieux

"I desire neither suffering nor death, yet I love both; but it is love alone which attracts me. Now it is abandonment alone which guides me. I have no other compass." - St. Thérèse de Lisieux

"where you are meant to be. May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith. May you use those gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you. May you be content knowing you are a child of God. Let this presence settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love. It is there for each and every one of us.” - St. Thérèse de Lisieux

"Most of us are not great conversationalists. That is not needed. Love has its own language[...]Genuine prayer is not talking much but loving much." - St. Theresa of Avila 

"If Saint Paul exhorts us to pray for one another, and we gladly think it right to ask every poor man to pray for us, should we think it evil to ask the holy Saints in Heaven to do the same?" - St. Thomas More

"Considering that when the Saints lived in this world they were at liberty to roam the earth, do you really think that in Heaven God would have them tied to a post?" - St. Thomas More

"Judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the heart."- St. Vitalis of Gaza

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.

Hey Everyone,

Just a note to check out some of the new great outreach ministry happening by Pure Witness Ministries headed up by Carmen and James Marcoux. The 3rd Saturday of the month sees two great gatherings for young people and families. Consider checking them out!

http://purewitness.com/

Read more...

By Matthew Ramsay

A key moment in my journey to the priesthood was an assignment I received in my first year of theology at Mount Angel Seminary. I was sent to work at a youth prison. The high school age guys I worked with were Catholic but couldn’t get to the Mass offered at the prison. My job was to bring them communion. They had all committed violent crimes and were going to be locked up for a long time. At the same time, they all wanted forgiveness, respect, love, and a fuller life than they had known so far. The days when I met these young men began in the seminary chapel. I would pray over the readings of the day, looking for a message that would speak to their lives in prison. Then I would take a few hosts from the tabernacle and bring them to the prison. After the communion service we would talk, sometimes about forgiveness, redemption, and the struggles to live a Catholic life in prison, other times about baseball.

This ministry has sat with me as an image of what the priesthood is. I was literally bringing Jesus to those young men, and over the year I came to see Jesus in them as well. Walking alone through the prison for the first time was a frightening experience, but it brought me to a lot of grace.

The path to communion in the youth prison began in Humboldt. With a loving Catholic family I attended St. Dominic School and went to Mass at St. Augustine Parish. My faith grew through the parish youth group and retreats at St. Peter’s Monastery. As involved as I was, the priesthood was not even remotely on my mind.

This changed with a conference I attended outside Edmonton the summer before my grade 12 year. A priest challenged us to pray a simple prayer every day: “God help me to know your will and do it in my life.” What he said made sense, and I began to pray. This was a dangerous move. I prayed that prayer every day, and gradually, silently, the thought of priesthood appeared in my mind. I tried to push it away, but I kept on praying, waiting for God to give me another answer. Another answer didn’t come, and the answer I didn’t want got stronger.

God put three important events in my path that helped me accept his call. First was World Youth Day 2000 in Rome. There I learned to love the Mass. We had daily Mass with anywhere from twenty people in a convent chapel to two million people and the Pope in a field outside Rome, and I saw a beauty and power I had never seen before.

Second was the John Paul II Bible School in Radway, Alberta. There I learned to love prayer. This school is now closed, but the year I spent there taught me serious prayer. Prayer became a deep conversation and union with the God who loves me. And this God was still calling me to be a priest.

Third was Behold the Lamb, a traveling missionary team. There I learned to love the people. We worked across Saskatchewan, Alberta, BC, and the Territories, and I saw the difference God makes in people’s lives. If one year helping people discover God was so meaningful, what about a lifetime?

Over these years and in hundreds of ways, God changed my heart. The call to priesthood, which looked impossible, unpleasant, and dull, became exciting, beautiful, and real. Finally, after a few years of university in San Francisco, I entered Mount Angel Seminary for the Diocese of Saskatoon.

My journey to the seminary happened largely outside the diocese, but since entering seminary the diocese has played a much bigger role. I am grateful for the wonderful people I have met throughout the diocese, working in hospitals, schools, parishes, youth programs, CCO, Face to Face, and many other places. The lesson I learned at the youth prison appears again and again. Bringing Jesus to people and finding Jesus in people is the way I want to spend my life.

Halfway through my seminary years I came to a wise old monk very frustrated. I had been working and praying for years, trying to grow into a good priest, but I realized that I didn’t even know what I wanted to grow into. What does it mean to be a priest? The monk sat back, closed his eyes, and gave me an answer: To be a priest is to sacrifice yourself, in union with Christ, for the salvation of souls. I try to do that. When I do, I find that sacrifice is never just sacrifice. Christ’s sacrifice moved to Easter, and any sacrifice I make with Christ moves to its own resurrection. That is to say, I always get back far more than I give.

Looking ahead now to my priestly ordination what I’m most looking forward to is watching people encounter God. This might happen through the Mass, the Sacrament of Reconciliation, or other prayers and conversation. However it happens, helping the people loved by God know the God who loves them is an experience worth giving my life for.

By Geoffrey Young

I was born in Saskatoon on October 21, 1985, the third and youngest child of Maureen (Richelhoff) and Jerald Young. Prior to my birth, my family lived and farmed on land near Kerrobert, SK, which is my father’s hometown. My mother’s hometown is Major, SK and she became a teacher.  I have an older brother Tyler (who is married to Odette) and an older sister Natasha (who is married to Shaun Bzdel). We have a close family, in which our Catholic faith has always been a priority. As a young child, I was taught to say prayers before bed and meals, we would go to Mass on Sundays, and I was encouraged as a young child to go to the Rosary club at my elementary school, St. Bernard. My favourite memories include playing hockey and spending my summers at Turtle Lake.

Following my Confirmation I became an altar server at Holy Spirit Parish (Saskatoon) and I continued this up until the time I decided to enter seminary. From an early age, I always respected priests – yet I didn’t understand much about the priesthood.  I graduated from Holy Cross High School in 2003 and although I didn’t know what I wanted to do for the rest of my life, I had always been interested in politics, history, and religion. I studied for two years at the U of S, working towards a BA in Political Studies, but around this time I also began reading philosophy and theology, some works by Cardinal Ratzinger and Pope John Paul II.

Up until that point, I do not remember explicitly “thinking about being a priest”. In 2005, with the events surrounding Pope John Paul II’s death, I had an inexpressible conversion.  During that year, I began reengaging with my faith. I remember asking myself “what is it that truly makes me happy in life?”

Looking back now, I can see moments throughout my early life in which I believe God was calling me subtly to the priesthood. But this vocation was most directly inspired by Pope John Paul II. By his witness and faithful priestly life, he showed the depth of his love for Christ and His bride, the Church. As a 19 year old young man with talent, ability to do many things, he found himself in a time of war – a dark time – yet he decided to give his heart totally to Christ, through the hands of Mary. 

One Sunday Mass following Easter 2005, a Gospel was proclaimed about the call of a disciple, who gave his possessions to the poor and followed our Lord. Then when going for communion, I saw the image of one of the Stations in which Christ is condemned by Pontius Pilate. I felt God was calling me to a radical conversion from my much divided heart. But I didn’t know what this meant. After Mass, I don’t know why, I suddenly found myself asking the priest about the vocation. He said that if I desired to find out more, he would set up a meeting with Bishop Albert. 

I didn’t hear back for about a month, which at first I thought was probably for the best; because I hadn’t really thought this out much! Eventually, I met with the Bishop a few times and over the coming few months, with his support, I discerned that I could finish my BA in Seminary while also discerning a vocation to the priesthood.

So I entered seminary, not knowing with any certainty, but trusting that God would continually guide me. In my heart, I believed in the words spoken by Pope Benedict XVI, “Do not be afraid of Christ! He takes nothing away, and he gives you everything.” I simply took it one year at a time, and promised myself not to make a decision during turmoil but to complete the entire year. 

During seminary, I know that I have matured in many areas; most especially in my spiritual life, my love of the Sacraments, knowledge of the faith, and for my love for the People of God. Throughout my future ministry as a priest, I will always centre my life on Christ – truly present in the Eucharist – and on a true devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Each year I find myself falling deeper in love with the Church I am called to serve and the sacred priesthood that is still today a gift from Christ to his beloved.  I also find that I am a more joyful and loving person because I have heard that calling that fulfills my deepest longings.  

My ordination to the priesthood will be June 10 in Saskatoon. I find it providential that Pope John Paul II will be beatified May 1, exactly 6 years after I decided to follow his example of priesthood and enter seminary. I know that he will remain to be a holy intercessor in heaven for myself and for all the youth of our Church. 

Pope John Paul II said repeatedly to young people: “You are the hope of the Church and of the world. You are my hope.”

I believe that there are young men called to be priests in each of our parishes.

It is my prayer that our local Church will continue to foster a positive environment promoting vocations to the sacred priesthood. There are amongst us also young those who are called to be religious brothers and sisters; there also are the future married couples and families that will transform the Church and the world. I pray that many will discern their call to all forms of Christian life and love. Such a radical call is indeed counter-cultural; but it is life-giving – one of joy, peace, and fulfillment.

Pray for your priests, love them; and know that God will always remain faithful to his promise spoken through that young prophet Jeremiah:  “I will give you shepherds, after my own heart.”