Spirit & Spark: Faith and Fun at CCSA 2025

From January 30 to February 2, 7 of us from the Chaplaincy journeyed to Montreal for the Canadian Catholic Student Association (CCSA) national conference.  Hosted by the Newman Centre of McGill University, the Conference was an opportunity to meet other Catholic students from across Canada in the spirit of solidarity, reflection and prayer.  The theme of the Conference was synodality and becoming a church that offers a compelling witness to a watching world.  We learned what went on during the recent Synod on Synodality in Rome, the process of prayerful “synodal listening” which guided the discussions, and how this might help us meet the current cultural phenomenon of the pervasiveness of artificial intelligence in many aspects of life. Our liturgies were beautiful, which included Mass at St. Joseph’s Oratory, Mass at Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours – one of the oldest churches in Montreal – celebrated by the Archbishop of Montreal, Christian Lépine, and a closing prayer with the songs of Taize.

We were able to attend the Conference with the extremely generous support from the One Heart, One Soul fund – which was funded by many of you!  Thank you so much for this support, and for praying for us on our journey to and from Montreal.