Our We were also blessed to be able to take a group of 48 youth up to Jasper to go skiing at the beginning of February. The best part of the trip, however, was staying in Hinton overnight at the Way of Holiness retreat centre. We led youth in games, and then eventually Eucharistic Adoration, a drama, some of the team shared their own journey with Christ, and they were given the opportunity to go to confession. The priest stayed an hour longer than he was planning to! Some youth who said they hadn’t been to Mass for a long time were eager to stay in that confession line. We have now seen some of those youth attending Sunday Masses.
We got a taste of Encounter team ministry as we held our first Encounter day on St.Valentine's day. The grade 9s welcomed us as we spoke to them about the greatest search (us for God and God for us!), and we recieved lots of positive feedback. In world news, it's now official that on February 28, 2013, our Holy Father will step down as Bishop of Rome. We'd like reflect a little on how dedicated and holy this man is, and how he's contributed to our year of faith, with a few quotes from a talk he gave on youth culture.
"I, too, wish to reaffirm this forcefully: the Church has confidence in young people, she hopes in them and in their energies, she needs them and their vitality, to continue to live with renewed enthusiasm the mission entrusted them by Christ," the Holy Father said. "I very much hope, therefore, that the Year of Faith may be, also for the younger generation, a precious opportunity to rediscover and strengthen our friendship with Christ, from which to derive joy and enthusiasm to profoundly transform cultures and societies."
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