A 16-year-old member of Holy Name of Jesus Parish in Vancouver is receiving praise for his courage in establishing a Catholic Club at his public high school in Vancouver.

Timothy Que, a Grade 11 student at Eric Hamber Secondary, launched the club on Oct. 19. “The purpose of the Catholic Club is to help people get holier and teach the teachings of the Catholic Church,” Que told The B.C. Catholic.

“It’s going to be hard to teach. I don’t want to water down anything. I want to stand firm in what the Church teaches.”

Que’s pastor, Father Rodney Nootebos, is impressed.

“I’m proud to hear that,” Father Nootebos said in an interview. “It takes incredible courage these days to even say the word ‘Catholic,’ especially in a public school, let alone wanting to help others know the faith and become holy. This is exactly what we need, exclamation point!”

Eric Hamber Secondary School in Vancouver is now home to a Catholic Club in addition to dozens of other students organizations. (Jeff Hitchcock/Flickr) 

Faye McCreedy, the archdiocese’s youth-ministry coordinator, is similarly praiseworthy. “It’s good to know that he’s bold and brave enough and has the courage to step forward as a Catholic,” McCreedy said, “especially in these times when the media haven’t portrayed the Catholic Church in the best of light.

“And it’s great to know that there are still young people who are on fire for their faith and want to evangelize and reach out to their peers.”

Que said is well aware that the Church’s teachings on abortion, marriage, and other issues aren’t exactly popular, even among fellow students who identify as Catholic. Speaking frankly with them – and with members of the club who are of other faiths or no faith – about his convictions may be quite the challenge.

He gets it. He used to be one of them.

“Before I started doing this, I supported a lot of things against the Church,” even while calling himself a Catholic, he said.

It was only after coming across YouTube videos that explained Church teaching in a way that shocked Que that he began to realize he’d been calling himself a member of a religion, but not actually living according to its beliefs.

In an attempt to set things straight, he continued his research and became inspired by Gregorian Chant, Latin Mass, and various moral arguments he had been ignoring. Now, he plans to draw on the Bible, the Catechism, famous Church teachers, such as St. Thomas Aquinas, and his own research to lead the club’s studies.

Supporting Que are the teacher who agreed to sponsor his club, and a friend and classmate who was Hindu and recently became a Catholic. “He was really fascinated about Catholicism, the theology, and everything, and said you can’t find that in any other religion,” Que said.

Supporting high school student Timothy Que are the teacher who agreed to sponsor his club, and a friend and classmate who was Hindu and recently became a Catholic. (Terry O’Neill)

The Catholic Club gathers once a week at lunchtime in the classroom of the club’s sponsor. Que said he will spend most of the time teaching about a certain aspect of Catholic thought. He may also lead some hands-on activities, like creating rosaries – an activity he already enjoys, along with playing guitar and singing ballads.

“I think I’m first going to teach why God exists, for people who struggle with their faith,” he said.

Once people are more comfortable with that idea, he’ll introduce prayer at the meetings, then move to subjects such as sin or Jesus’ Passion.

It will take many hours of research for Que to feel confident in teaching his schoolmates, all on his free time with no grades to show for it at the end, but he believes it is worth it.

“Christ loves you,” he declares. “I think that’s what I want to leave them with.”


The controversial history
of high school clubs

Students most-often initiate clubs to support hobbies and pastimes. For example, Eric Hamber Secondary School’s 2019-’20 list of 68 student clubs shows student associations for mathematics, drinking tea while discussing current affairs, chess, Pokémon, and fishing.

Others, such as the Model UN Club and several philanthropy-oriented groups, are more cause-oriented. And one, called “LGBTQ+ ART,” is of the sort that sparked controversy more than a decade ago when gay-straight alliance clubs first started being organized in North American high schools.

Here’s a partial list of some of the hot-button student-club issues of the past decade.

2012—Administrators at Florida high school twice rejected an atheist club on the grounds it was too controversial.

2019—Debates over gay-straight alliances in Alberta high schools raged in the provincial legislature, the courts, and the media.

2019—A student-led, pro-life club in Ohio sparked controversy after members handed out cupcakes on National Pro-Life Cupcake Day with a message that read: “Each cupcake is for a child who does not get to celebrate a birthday because of abortion.”

2019—A Florida high school student alleged the administration rejected a request for a pro-life club and threatened teachers with termination for supporting it.

Neither the principal of Eric Hamber Secondary, nor a spokesperson for the Vancouver School Board replied to The B.C. Catholic’s requests for interviews on the subject of school clubs.

With files by Terry O’Neill.