Rise Up is ‘a great hope for the Canadian Church:’ workshop speaker
By Agnieszka Krawczynski
As Katherine Kennedy knelt to pray in adoration before the Blessed Sacrament, she felt her life change.
“Adoration was so powerful,” the Ottawa resident said during a break at Rise Up, an annual Catholic conference for young adults. “I encountered God’s personal love in a way. It’s very hard to explain, but it was awesome.”
Catholic Christian Outreach holds the conference in a different Canadian city each year. This year it was at Vancouver’s Westin Bayshore Hotel and attended by about 700 young Catholics from Canada and the U.S.
Clara Nguyen, a University of Calgary engineering student, admitted she is “always busy. I never have time to set aside a couple of days and spend them with God.” Rise Up provided an opportunity “to see people who are on fire for God.”
Hundreds of participants visited the adoration chapel, temporarily converted from a hotel conference room, while 45 priests heard confessions.
“It was really moving seeing young men and women adore the Lord and receive His forgiveness,” said Dominican Brother Gregory Liu, who is studying for the priesthood in Oakland, Calif.
“So many priests so generously provided this spiritual support for them, showing them God’s compassion and forgiveness,” said Liu, originally from Toronto.
Participants also attended Mass with Vancouver Archbishop J. Michael Miller, heard from popular Catholic speakers, sang worship songs, and rang in the New Year.
Calgary resident Yuan Wang has attended the conference twice, even though he’s not Catholic. “This year, I connect more and can take it in more,” he said.
Wang said he was particularly inspired by addresses from Andre Regnier, CCO’s founder, and from Clay Imoo, the Vancouver archdiocese’s director of youth and young adult ministry.
“Andre always pushes you to do more than last year,” Wang said. “Every time he gives a talk, he is always so lively and is pushing you to be better.”
On the last day of 2016, conference participants attended workshops on topics such as the Mass, moral issues, forgiveness, prayer, finances, and faith and fitness.
Workshop leader Brett Powell said, “A lot of people are concerned that nobody is reaching out to the young people, that young people are leaving the Church. But when you go to Rise Up, you see the Church is very vibrant with young people.”
Powell, who worked for CCO for 18 years and is now director of development for the Archdiocese of Vancouver, led a session on leadership. “Leadership in Church ministry is leadership in its purest form,” he said.
“Working in a corporate environment, if you have a title, you have a certain authority. In ministry in the Church, all you have is yourself. That’s why authentic leaders are so important.”
Powell said good leaders are practised in good character, competence, and connection. “To have that level of influence and ‘attract-ability’ is so key when we have the message . . . of eternal life and salvation.”
Seeing hundreds of young adults spend a weekend seeking ways to deepen their faith is “a great hope for the Canadian church,” said Powell, who noticed even hotel staff being inspired. “To see these young people gathered, not getting drunk, being very kind with them, and courteous, they look at that and wonder, ‘what is this group all about?’”
CCO was founded in 1988 at the University of Saskatchewan and has missionaries at 12 university campuses across Canada, including Simon Fraser University and the University of British Columbia.
