Looking for something new to read? Check it out!

We had a super fun week of ministry events here in Drayton Valley. The jr.high youth joined us for some disco bowling and kareoke last Friday night, and we played an epic game of Bigger or Better with the high school youth. It's amazing what one can get by trading a paper clip!

If you're looking for a new book to read, I'm going to hand this blog over to guest Colin Hay, who is willing to share some insights on the book "Why Catholic's are Right" by Michael Coren.

Stephanie

It seems that these days everyone likes to take a quick shot at the Church. From (seemingly) harmless jokes to out right rants against the Church and the Clergy, it seems that the last acceptable prejudice in the world is against Catholics. Why does it seem that so many people can say such insulting things about Catholicism when saying the exact same thing against a different group of people would result in widespread public outrage? I think it’s because for so many years we as Catholics have just let it go. Instead of making waves and causing a stir by standing up for the Truth, we have simply shrugged it off, ignored it or even pretended like it doesn’t exist. I had always wondered why I couldn’t find any pro-Catholic books that had the same in your face style as so many of the anti-Catholic texts I had found. Then I picked up a copy of “Why Catholics are Right” by Michael Coren.

“Why Catholics are Right” is a well researched and well written deconstruction of society’s most popular arguments against the Church. Coren, a British-Canadian journalist and T.V. personality, writes this book with a wonderful mix of humor and objective historical evidence supporting the Catholic Church. Whether it’s historical events such as the Crusades or the Reformation, Catholic doctrine like papal infallibility or why the Church uses tradition and the Bible instead of the Bible alone, and even social issues such as the Catholic stance on abortion, contraception and homosexuality, Coren’s wonderful mix of knowledge and humor will keep readers entertained and intellectually stimulated. This book was my first encounter with Michael Coren and I must say it has become one of my favourite books and he has become one of my favourite authors. At only 217 pages it is a small book compared to the absolutely gargantuan books that are usually associated with the same topics and Coren’s tongue-in-cheek humor makes this book an easy and enjoyable read for anyone. Whether you have spent your life studying the faith or if you want to start but don’t know where to begin, “Why Catholics are Right” is an excellent book to read. I would recommend that every Catholic should read “Why Catholics are Right” and every non-Catholic should read it too.

“Christian, recognize your dignity” – St. Leo the Great

God Bless,

Colin & iNFUSE 3

Drayton Valley, AB

Station Time

 When Pope Francis made his first appearance as Pope in the Vatican I think my favorite part about his welcoming was when he asked everyone to pray for him before he gave his blessing! My mind was blown in how down to earth he is. All I can say is we need to keep a close eye on what's to come from Pope Francis because great things are about to happen. 

So going from the Vatican City in Rome, Italy all the way back to little old Medicine Hat, Alberta things are going well around these parts. A couple of us on the team (second years and team leaders) have been able to go off and take a personal retreat which has been very rejuvenating for body, mind, and soul.  Much prayer was had and it really gives us energy to keep going strong for the rest of the year. 

We had a really busy weekend with Equip, Family Fun Day, Leadership Training and Unchained. The highlight of the weekend was most defiantly with Equip. We did a shadow play of the Stations of the Cross which was seen by quite the crowd of youth and parishioners who just decided to join us in the hall instead of doing a traditional Stations up in the church. It was such a powerful experience for all who witnessed and partook in it because it made you feel as if you were there, walking beside Jesus on the way to his crucifixion. We had a giant screen set up (12x8 feet) with a projector projecting images on the back to really set the scene. It is defiantly a night that will be remembered for a long time. 

So I encourage you all who are reading this to prepare your own hearts for the crucifixion and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Attended a Stations of the Cross in your own parish, seek out reconciliation/confession to start this Easter season that is so near, spiritually fresh. God Bless

Matthew ten-Bohmer

Infuse 2
Medicine Hat, AB

The Holy Spirit works in awesome ways!

Hi Everyone!
God is so good!
What a wonderful past few weeks it has been in Lethbridge!
We had a community service night for our PULSE youth group for Jr. High students 2 weeks ago, and we baked cookies and made cards for a retirement home in Lethbridge. Everyone who came had a wonderful time! Who wouldn't, with the large supply of sugar being there!

This past week we had a night with a talk by Chase on baptism and confirmation, and how they relate.

Also this week, it was a very exciting day when we got a new Pope; Pope Francis! The day he was chosen, we were at one of the J.r. high school's we go to every week for lunch visits. The school had a few different TV's on through out the school with the news on it, for all the students to watch if they chose to do so. It was a very exciting atmosphere as we watched in the school's cafeteria. The students had chosen their top 5 picks for our new Pope, and Pope Francis was one of their choices! There was loud screams when he was announced! It was so cool seeing how excited they were and how they were genuinely interested in our new Pope. That night my team went out for coffee to celebrate Pope Francis and gave him a toast in Tim Hortons! 

I hope you all have a wonderful week!
God Bless!
Love Amy ten-Bohmer & iNFUSE ONE
Lethbridge, Alberta

Habemus Papam!

We have a new Pope! Our team was blessed to see the white smoke while we were on our lunch break. We were so overjoyed to see Pope Francis that we decided to celebrate with Tim Tam Slams.

In anticipation for the Pope, we listened to "Why do we have a Pope?" by Dr.Scott Hahn at our young adults group Saturday morning. One young couple opened their home for us and the other young adult parishioners for fellowship and faith studies.

Also, this past weekend we ran a jr.high youth night with a variety of prayer workshops which included mini talks on Lectio Divina (Meditating on the scriptures), the PAL prayer method (Praise, Ask, Listen)and praying through worship music. The high school youth had a night on suffering where we answered tough questions like, "Why do we suffer?", and "Did God create evil?" To visually unite our sufferings with Christ, we nailed them written out to a wooden cross.

Our busy weekend concluded with a family retreat. I love retreats. Spending more time with parishioners allows us to minister to them in a variety of ways, which hopefully reaches the hearts of more people, guiding them closer to Christ. It was a great retreat and the only one we will be running in Drayton Valley this year. While it was a small turnout, the parents were very interactive in their small group and we were able to witness the sense of community they share as they contributed with personal stories and advice. How nice it was to learn from the people we serve!

Until next week,
God Bless,

Stephanie & iNFUSE 3
Drayton Valley, AB

iNFUSE 3 Fighting Hunger with Hunger

A Note from Stephanie:

Thanks to my wonderful team, we are now pleased to feature some guest bloggers. Show them your support by reading up on our latest blogs and adding Recruit NET Canada on Facebook. Alex did a great job last week, and this week we get to hear from another member of iNFUSE 3.

Enjoy! God Bless!

Stephanie

Hey Y’All!

This is not your usual blogger, it is Nic!

What am I so excited about? Well, let me tell you! Great things have been happening here at St. Anthony’s parish. We recently just finished a ThinkFast 25 hour fasting sleep-over for both youth groups (Reach and Revive). This was a great event using Development and Peace resources to raise awareness and money for those people in communities whom are negatively affected by the privatization of water. The youth were very involved and raised over $1000! The night was led by Monique and Stephanie and involved the rest of the team who led talks, activities, games, liturgies, and prayers. Then our young adults and some parents helped in the preparation of the long-awaited for breakfast. No youth were seriously injured in the making of this ThinkFast.

We also went to see the St. Anthony's girls Jr. High last basketball game! Unfortunately they didn't win but that's because our grade 7 & 8 team was playing against mostly grade 9 girls. They still played well and put forth brilliant effort! Go St. A's Sharks!

Also exciting news is that we are finally starting to get young adults and volunteers to come out and help run events. We still have some work to do training them, but the fact that they are good young Catholics willing to give their time, talents, and treasure to be involved with the mission of NET, the evangelization of youth!

And so there are only about 2 and 1/2 months left here (so sad) before we fly back to Ottawa for wrap-up! This year has gone by so fast but hopefully the effects of having a NET Team here will be long lasting!

God bless and hold fast as we await the grace that shall abound from the Saving Paschal Mystery! 

Nic Carvalho & iNFUSE 3
Drayton Valley, Alberta.

Discovering Your Purpose in Life

I find the weather down here really doesn't like to make it's mind up. This past weekend it hit a high of 16 °C outside! I got to wash the van from top to bottom for the first time in a long time due to the fact that winter just wasn't leaving. Everyone got a big cleaning kick which was good for the office and our ministry closet... Haha *awkward silence* Anyways, the beauty of God's warm weather was so appreciated around the office and everyone in town. The next day was a different story. We had a huge blizzard just rip through the city covering everything in snow and my freshly washed van was no longer as clean as I left it a mere few hours before the storm began... The highways were shut down and it was like driving around a ghost town after we unfortunately had to cancel our Unchained youth group, bummer!

We were fortunate enough though to have an event on Friday evening for Equip and everyone else in the parish was invited. This Friday night was different because we had guest speaker Michael Chiasson from Texas, USA (currently moving to Calgary and becoming Canadian though!) to speak to us on "Discovering Your Purpose in Life." It was an amazing night for everyone who was able to make it out. Michael Chiasson is a high energy, passionate Catholic speaker who has been across Canada and the USA putting on retreats for youth to youth adults seeking God's will in their lives. I feel many hearts were changed to letting God's will being down in their lives this night which is one of the best attitudes and ways to live your life. I know personally for myself it opened my heart even more to the love of God. I was speaking with one of the priests that had been traveling with Mr. Chiasson and he could defiantly tell that the Holy Spirit was truly working through the whole night. One other huge shout out goes to "Jesus Youth" for providing the music for the night, you guys know how to bring God into the music!  

With that said I'm excited to see what this next week of ministry brings. It's crazy to think there is only about 2 and half months left in town so time to kick it into overdrive for God and the community of Medicine Hat!

God bless

Matthew ten-Bohmer

Infuse 2

God's Doing Great Things!

Hi Everyone! 

Alex here taking over the blog for Stephanie today. Man, have I got some exciting things to share!

Our past week here in delightful Drayton Valley has been quite the busy one. Just this weekend we had our supervisors John Paul and Erin pay us a visit. They definitely reenergized our team to continue with our ministry, and we had a lots of fun with them. Our team spilt up into 2 groups and we played the game “Bigger or Better”. We both started with a paperclip and went around town asking our friends and some strangers to trade us for something bigger or better. At the end of the game one team came back with a fireplace and the other came back with a fan. The team is undoubtedly going to put these temperature-regulating devices to good use in the office!

Now, something exciting about our ministry this week is the second Encounter Day we got to put on! This time it was for the grade 10 and 11 students of Holy Trinity Academy, and boy was it an interesting day. After so many months of building relationships with these students at our weekly lunchtime visits, we finally got to share with all of them about our love for Jesus and got them to think about Who Jesus is and who He should be to them. To tell you the truth, at the end of the retreat, I didn’t think we got through to them. I had a hard day and I was ready to write it off as a ‘bad retreat’. It turns out, to our delight, many of the high schoolers were actually really receptive to the talks and their small groups, and when pray time came around, they were actually totally engaged and eager to pray! Here’s what one of the guys wrote us at the end of the day: “I have come closer to God and finally understand why people care and always engage in prayer and God. I am happy to say I have fallen in love with prayer and God.” Woohoo, praise God!! It’s so beautiful to know God been working through us and touching the hearts of Drayton Valley’s youth! 

So that was our past week. Pretty exciting I must say, and there’s more excitement up ahead. This weekend we’re combining our junior high and high school youth groups and putting on a ThinkFast. We are all fasting for 25 hours and having an overnight event in the church basement. It should be lots of fun, and I’m sure you’ll hear about that in our next blog. Until then, take care and be blessed!!

Yours in our incredible Christ,

Alex Sibiga & iNFUSE 3

Drayton Valley, AB

Hail Mary, Full of Grace!

This past week we had a night at our Jr high youth group PULSE on Mary, our Heavenly Mother!

The night started with a talk given by Dan about Mary, during which they all listened to intently and had lots of questions for him. After, Chase and I (Amy) taught everyone how to make bead rosaries! Everyone got really into the craft, even the guys!

To complete the evening, we prayed a decade of the Rosary together in the Chapel, in the presence of our Lord Jesus, with all of our newly made rosaries!

As we were enjoying snacks after the Rosary, I was having a conversation with a young man who attends our youth group about the Rosary. He seemed like the type of guy who probably didn't pray a Rosary very often. I asked him if this had been his first time praying one, and he surprised me by saying that he prayed a Rosary every night with his mom! How beautiful!

Mary Rocks!

God Bless!

Amy ten-Bohmer

iNFUSE ONE

Lethbridge, Alberta

Purity.

Yesterday, our team had a retreat in Toronto. I had a small group of twelve Gr. 11 ladies. I loved this small group so much because they were all open to the concept of God, but since no one in their lives had ever provided answers to their (very good) questions, they didn't feel that they had any evidence to base their faith upon. I LOVE IT WHEN PEOPLE QUESTION THINGS! (Because that means they find answers). Luckily, I had the privilege of answering some of their questions.

There was one girl who was especially curious. She began asking about everything from ouija boards to angels to creation to atheists. At lunchtime, she continued pelting me with questions. She ended up asking me about purity and why we can't have sex before marriage. She told me she was debating sleeping with her boyfriend who was a few years older than her. I gave her Jesus' reasons, and asked her why she wanted to do it in the first place. She said she was afraid of losing him if she didn't. After our chat, she said "well, that's something to think about."

During the prayer time, she grabbed the Youcat, and was reading the purity section. She beckoned me over again, and just kept saying she just didn't understand: if she loves him, then why not? So I asked her, "What even is love? Love is doing what is best for the other: love is sacrifice...I mean, look at the cross. THAT'S love." I told her that God doesn't place these boundaries to trap us and keep us from love - God is love. He's your Father and wants to protect you from being hurt and broken. After this, she looked at me for a moment and eventually said, "I guess you're right." She left the retreat that day with much to think about: answers to some questions, the uncertain future of her relationship, the value of purity, and a church bulletin that she requested, containing all mass and confession times.

I don't know where this girl is going to go or what she is going to do, but I pray that God will protect her purity and answer her questions. She is one of the countless daughters of God I meet everyday; so, as her sister in Christ, I beg you to pray for her as well, for she is your sister too. Even if you don't know her name, The Lord does.

Rianne Rops,
Encounter Team 2