C O N T E N T S

The Five Tenets of CCO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Campus Close-Ups . . . . . . . . . . . 4

How Do You Love Someone You Don’t Know? . . . . . . . . 6

Special Announcements . . . . . . . 8

REACHING FUTURE LEADERST O D AY

G O O D N E W S F R O M C A T H O L I C C H R I S T I A N O U T R E A C H

��

W I N T E R 2 0 0 3

My moti-vation tostart

CCO did not onlycome in response toa need on universitycampuses; rather it

came from God’s clear call. CCO is God’svision for how His work can be fulfilledon university campuses.

What is that vision? It has always beenand will continue to be important that weas a movement are clear on what God hascalled us to do. In order to keep our focusand to stay faithful to that calling, we havedeveloped five tenets. These tenets serveas a compass or guide for what we do andhow we do things. These tenets or princi-ples are more than just good ideas, they areprophetic words spoken to CCO by Godover the years.

In my last year of university, I wentthrough the "Life in the Spirit Seminar". Iwas expecting to receive extraordinary giftsof the Holy Spirit, and at the time was dis-appointed to only receive these simple

CCO’s15 Year

AnniversaryCelebrationYou’re

Invited…more information on page 3!

…cont inued on page 2

words of prophecy: "You will be an evan-gelist of the youth." I now, however, realizethe power of these words. It is because ofthese words and because CCOfocuses on youth at universitycampuses that our first tenet inCCO is to be "evangelists of theyouth."

CCO believes there cannot be amore strategic and importantgroup of people to focus on in order to makethe greatest impact on the world. The nextgeneration of leaders: of doctors, of lawyers,of teachers, of politicians, and of those mak-ing decisions that will lead our country intothe future, will be coming from our univer-sities. If we fail to focus on them at this crit-ical time of discovery and development, wefail to impart the value and the power of thegospel to the future generation. Conse-quently, leadership in this country will con-tinue to lack the influence and formation ofJesus Christ and His Church.

University students are in a period of lifewhere they desire to make a difference inthe world. They have the energy, the free-

The5Founding TenetsOF CATHOLIC CHRISTIAN OUTREACH

b y A n d r é R e g n i e r

Our firsttenet is to be

evangelistsof the youth.

1 5 Y e a r s o f R e a c h i n g F u t u r e L e a d e r s

22

Catholic young people. Without this expe-rience many young people find that theirfaith has little to no value. It is not that theyare abandoning their faith, it is that they areunaware of the importance of knowing theperson of Jesus Christ. When young peoplehave a living encounter with Christ, their

faith comes alive. Their connectionto the Church becomes real and lifegiving. They have a great desire toshare that faith with friends, fami-ly and classmates. Seeing the effectthat a clear proclamation of Christ’sgospel has on students and reflect-ing on Philippians 1:18, the second

tenet became obvious: "proclaim Christclearly and simply".

The first few years were an exciting timeof growth for the ministry. In spite of thegrowth, I would find myself in the Chapelcrying out to the Lord for all the nations ofthe World. "What can I do for the Church inRussia, China, Africa, South America? Howcan I reach out to these people?" One day Ireceived an answer: "One person at a time".I realized that the individual student is ofgreat value and holds great potential toaccomplish great things for God’s glory.

CCO knows that the greatest impactyoung people will make will not be at uni-versity. They generally only spend four or

five years of their liveson campus. The great-est impact will be felt asthey go out into theworld to work and raisea family. If we can pre-pare them to take leadership in sharing theirfaith they will take that learning experienceand continue to be leaders for the rest of theirlives. If the Catholic Church is going to havean impact on the world, its individual mem-bers have to be missionaries in the commu-nities around them. That is why we believethat every CCO member is a missionary andwe are all called to reach one person at atime.

Coming out of the chapel, another impres-sion I had was that we must look beyondour families, our cities and our countries andultimately to the ends of the earth. This wasthe call to the disciples in Matthew 28. Theirheart was for the whole world and they wereaware that the salvation offered throughChrist was for all people. It is true that wemay not all be missionaries in a foreign coun-try, but our heart and concern is for all peo-ple to be saved by Christ. This is Christ’sheart, so it must also beours, therefore CCO’sfourth tenet is to "reachthe whole world." CCOimparts a vision to stu-dents to have an impacton the world.

Over the years Godhas done great things in our midst. Eachyear seems to bring new opportunities forthe ministry. We are excited and encour-aged by these opportunities, but it shouldnot surprise us. Early on, the Lord oftendirected my attention to Ephesians 3:20:

…cont inued f rom page 1

dom, the enthusiasm and the idealism tomake a difference. History has shown theimpact young people can have(communism, hippie movement)when they believe in somethingand put their natural God-givenenergy into making it happen.

The vision for CCO expandedfurther when I attended a confer-ence in my last year of university.One of the speakers at this conference quot-ed Philippians 1:18 "all that matters is that in

any and every way...Christ is being proclaimed!

That is what brings me joy." These words hada profound impact on me. I felt as if theyhad been spoken directly to me. This scrip-ture has formed the second tenet and it isone of the most defining elements of theministry.

The Holy Father says "many (Catholics)do not know Christ or do not know him wellenough". This is a reality on university cam-puses across the country. Since our faith isbased on a personal life giving experience ofChrist, this lack of knowledge and experi-ence of Christ cripples the spiritual life of

The5FoundingTenets

OF CATHOLIC CHRISTIAN OUTREACH

The secondtenet is

to proclaimChrist

clearly andsimply.

CCO’s thirdtenet is

to focus onone personat a time.

CCO’sfourthtenet is

to “reachthe whole

world”.

33

"God is able to accom-plish far more than allwe ask or imagine."Our fifth tenet is tohave great expectation.He is showing us whatour expectationsshould be. Whatever we do, however smallor large, we should always have an attitudeof great expectation. We expect that God isgoing to use events and initiatives for Hisglory. God never fails to answer ourprayers. He has taken CCO from a smallgroup of enthusiastic young people to anational movement having internationalinfluence. Is there a more wonderful or morehopeful place to be than in the midst ofyoung people who are working for the king-dom, expecting God to work powerfullythrough them?

It is the hope and intention of CCO toserve the Church on university campusesas long as God calls us. It is essential that westay focused on what God has called us todo. Sometimes it is easy for us to forgetwhat impact we can have in people’s lives.However, these five tenets will assure usthat as we continue to strive for what wehave been called to do we will have a greatimpact.

Our five tenets have shaped the move-ment to what it is today and with God’sguidance, it will continue to grow! We willcontinue to be a movement that is defined bybeing evangelists of youth whose mission isto proclaim Jesus’ name clearly and simply,one person at a time. CCO’s mission is tohave a major impact on the world and withour attitude of great expectation it is possi-ble. "For nothing will be impossible withGod." Luke 1:37. ◆

YOU’RE INVITED…to CCO’s 15 Year Anniversary

Celebration!New Year’s Eve, December 31st, 2003Delta Bessborough Hotel, Saskatoon

Join hundreds of students from the Rise Up Conference…• to celebrate Mass with Bishop LeGatt at St. Paul’s

Cathedral at 4:30 pm

• enjoy a first class banquet and dance at the DeltaBessborough at 6 pm

• rejoice in what the Lord has done in the last 15 years of CCO

Banquet, program and dance tickets ............................................................$40 eachAccommodations for the Delta Bessborough for Dec. 31st ..................$80 each

(prices subject to change depending on availability)

With Special Guests…

To reserve tickets or for moreinformation please contact the head office @ (306) 652-5100 or hq@cco.ca

BishopAlbert LeGattDiocese of Saskatoon

André & AngèleRegnier

Founders of CCO

CCO’s fifthtenet isthat ofhavinggreat

expectation.

CCO StaffJeff Lockert

CCO President

Crystal: "The Internship Program was an amazing time of growthand development. To all the benefactors and supporters, I thank you! Youhave been a major part of my commitment to join full-time staff with CCO.This would not have been possible if the Internship Program did not havethe support of so many generous benefactors."

On behalf of Crystal and all of our future interns, thanks to all of you who have sponsored or are consider-ing sponsoring an intern through our annual Christmas appeal. May the Lord bless you for yourgenerosity!

THANK YOU!

44

campusC L O S E - U P S

F R O M A C R O S S C A N A D A

OttawaUNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA

The University of Ottawa has continued

to experience grace from World Youth Day.

As the vision for this semester unfolded in

the planning and preparation, the student

executive committee decided to focus pri-

marily on faith studies since they are effec-

tive in providing a community of support as

well as challenging students to go deeper in

their faith.

Confirming this decision, a tremendous

increase was seen in both the students who

are committed to attending as well as those

who are leading faith studies with sixteen

groups meeting weekly, ten of which were

led by students.

Henry Frem is one of those students who

accepted the challenge to lead a study. He

had been considering leading a faith study

for over a year but had difficulty building

up the courage to do so. This semester how-

ever, Henry was not able to brush off the

idea and within two days had three friends

signed up! A defining moment made this

possible. Last spring, Henry was rallied

around in a time of group prayer. Those

prayers helped him realize that God

answers prayers. Through this experience

he learned to trust that God is active in his

life and he has developed the confidence

needed to become a key leader on campus

this semester. He presently sits on the CCO

Ottawa student executive and the Unity

Committee executive.

CCO Ottawa is thankful for the growth

that is taking place and looks forward to

what God has in store for next semester as

more and more students respond to the

challenge to be leaders on their campus. ◆

UNIVERSITYOF CARLETON

The majority of CCO’s missionaries are

not its staff, but the students themselves.

One such missionary is Matthew Shanahan,

who has been a student leader here since

the beginning of our presence at Carleton.

During this past summer, he befriended a

classmate named Claire. Claire was having

a hard time adjusting to her move to Ottawa

from South Africa. Though she was raised

in the faith, it had been years since she had

been involved in a Christian community

that could support her. After meeting Matt,

all this began to change. He invited her back

to Mass and then to the Fall Retreat. On a

whim, she registered. Nourished by the

talks, the fellowship and especially the time

to receive prayer, Claire returned home a

different woman. Impacted by Christ’s love,

she decided to learn more about Him in

RCIA-asking CCO staff member Tanya Van

Buggenhout to be her sponsor-and pursue

the Sacrament of Confirmation. ◆

55

SaskatoonFor many Canadians the summer of 2002

is long gone and the events of World Youth

Day (WYD) are simple memories. Howev-

er, WYD blessed Canada with a special

grace. For many young people WYD awak-

ened within them the need to explore their

spiritual roots, a desire that had previously

grown dormant.

At the U of S, the spirit of WYD is still alive!

At the beginning of every semester students

have the opportunity to sign up and indicate

how they’d like to be involved in CCO. Typ-

ical to university culture, often sporting

events or socials are a key source of initial

interest. However, this year there was evi-

dence of a heightened spiritual awareness.

Many students were enquiring about spiri-

tual events, and asking how they could get

involved in a Faith Study! In fact, one young

woman decided to take a Faith Study even

though she was not Catholic and had not

been baptized. She soon made new friends

and God really worked in her heart. In fact,

she recently joined the RCIA program in

order to be baptized and received into the

Church at Easter, and one of the young

women from her Faith Study is her spon-

sor! ◆

VancouverThe semester started with a bang at the

Fall Retreat! Our guest speaker, Fr. Tim

Devine of the Companions of the Cross,

challenged us by his words and witness to

greater depths of faith. Many students

embraced that challenge and experienced

the Lord in powerful ways that weekend.

One such student, Erin Hall, had this to

Regina & Other Links

The most interesting thing about the

many campuses across Canada is not the

differences between each university, but the

shared desire that Catholic university stu-

dents have to make Christ known on their

campuses. Their eagerness to learn to evan-

gelize more effectively prompted a strong

focus on training this semester, and as the

students have put their skills to use, they

are growing in boldness and faith.

At the University of Regina, student lead-

ers befriended a shy young man in his first

semester. At his first CCO event, he saw the

Ultimate Relationship booklet shared.

Hearing the gospel presented so clearly and

simply had a deep impact on this young

man. He became very excited about grow-

ing in his faith, and before long, this shy

first-year student was sharing his faith with

his peers. He even accepted an invitation

to publicly share about his deepening rela-

tionship with Christ at another CCO event

on campus!

One young woman had spent some time

overseas and, like many people, that was her

idea of what it meant to be a missionary.

After serving on her executive and as a faith

study leader, she found that not only did her

peers grow in their faith, but that she grew

in hers. Recently, she shared how her heart

has changed when she exclaimed, “Canada is

a mission field!” The evangelization of this

young woman sums up the growth that has

taken place in all of the student leaders. They

are learning and living proof that “every

member is a missionary.” ◆

say: “I looked at the reverence on every face

in that room and thought if you can’t beat

‘em, join ‘em, so I began to pray and pray

and pray, harder than I have ever prayed in

my life and for the first time I felt the pres-

ence of Jesus, I felt His love, I felt the real

presence of God.”

The retreat was a great launching point to

a semester of growth. With the VINE project

bringing our staff count to seven and with

the blessing of Archbishop Exner, we were

not only able to continue to grow at SFU, but

also to expand to Douglas College in New

Westminster. Douglas College is a campus

with no other Christian clubs or chaplains,

so CCO has been literally breaking the spir-

itual ground on that campus. After just a

month, over twenty students had already

expressed interest in being the charter mem-

bers of CCO at Douglas College.

The growth continues - CCO Vancouver

now has over 27 faith study groups meeting

each week! Our goal is to have forty groups

by the spring!

No doubt the ministry is having a positive

effect at SFU, as witnessed by the reported

comments of an SFU faculty member who

said, “CCO is changing the landscape of the

university”.

We are looking forward to further growth

at both SFU and Douglas College in the

spring semester, as well as another expan-

sion to Capilano College in North Vancou-

ver in January. ◆

66

How do youlove someone

you don’t know?ly seven weeks to go on mission!

Yet, I still didn’t want to go, but felt I

couldn’t refuse. After all, I should be will-

ing to give 2 months of my life to God!

The first week with the Impact Team

was very difficult for me. I was forced to

face everything with which I was strug-

gling spiritually: mass, confession, chasti-

ty, and fellowship, to name a few.

I remember, during World Youth Day

in Toronto, some of my friends were say-

ing how much they missed daily mass

and I just couldn’t grasp what they meant.

Regardless of these struggles, my expe-

rience on Impact Canada made me grow,

mostly in the understanding of the

Catholic Church. How can you love

something you don’t know? I learned so

much about mass, personal prayer and

confession. Maybe I still don’t LOVE

confession, but I can honestly

say that I do like it.

The greatest gift

God gave me

while on

Impact was to

Myriam’sS T O R Y

During the summer of 2002, I was

invited to take part in a seven-

week mission with CCO called

Impact Canada. I didn’t want to go, espe-

cially because I had just started a new rela-

tionship with a boyfriend.

Nonetheless, I asked God to let me

know if He wanted me to go and He told

me very clearly in two obvious ways.

That summer, regardless of the numerous

resumes I handed out, I didn’t receive a

single call for a job interview. Secondly, I

was asked to be a member of Opera Lyra,

but the funny thing is, the summer

rehearsals ended on July 1st and started

back again on August 17th, leaving exact-

b y M y r i a m a n d P a s c a l La l i b e r t e

Myriam withthe girls onImpact.

▲

fulfill my heart’s desire. At the age of ten,

I began praying for God to give me a

Christian boyfriend, hoping to eventual-

ly have a Christian husband: someone

with whom I could share everything,

especially my faith. I asked God to pre-

pare him for me, and me for him... and

here I was dating a NON-Christian.

But Pascal was very open. And thank

God there was a telephone in our dorm.

We talked every night and he wanted to

know everything I was learning and

going through, so I shared it with him. I

told him about my troubles, about every-

thing I was learning, and what God was

doing in my life. I shared with him the

documentation I received and he read all

of it.

I remember one night we were walking

together after a powerful CCO event and

I asked Pascal if I could share with him

the Ultimate Relationship booklet I had

with me. He agreed. I told him about

God’s immense love, about our sinful

nature, about Jesus who wants to be our

friend. We then sat on a bench and prayed

77

together for the first time. Beneath the

stars, with a warm breeze, it was quite

romantic.

Although he wasn’t quite ready at that

time to accept all of these truths, I felt that

God was working. I realized daily that

God didn’t send me on Impact just for me,

but for my parents, for the girls in my faith

study with whom I now have so much to

share...and for Pascal!

Now, I’ll stop talking about him and let

him share his side of the story...

Pascal’sS T O R Y

Myriam mentioned, “How can you

love something you don’t know”...

Let me tell you a little about myself. I

grew up, like many others my age, as a

non-believer. I knew all the arguments

for why faith was important and I also

knew how to disprove them.

However, I did have a lot of respect for

those who had faith, especially the clergy.

But again, I just couldn’t see how I could

wrap my over-rational brain around it: I

couldn’t see how it applied to my life, to

me.

But at one point, as “fortunes” and

“coincidences” kept coming, I opened my

eyes and saw how my life had been such

a blessing all along, and it couldn’t have

been all up to mere chance.

My first step was to believe in God, but

I had yet to have a real personal encounter

that would change my life.

Then came my relationship with Myr-

iam. She embodied everything I longed

for in a life-long partner. That summer, I

encouraged Myriam to go on Impact,

thinking that it was for her sake. But lit-

tle did I know that it was also for my own

sake that she had to go.

While on Impact, she introduced me

not to a distant God who had His hand

on my life, but a person with whom I

could have a relationship, one that would

impact my life. That person, of course,

was Jesus. As I followed in some of Myr-

iam’s footsteps, I fell into the footsteps of

my Saviour, experiencing powerful

encounters with the Holy Spirit, and

began learning about our Lord.

From there, my whole life radically

changed: how I viewed the Church, my

relationship with God, my lifestyle, my

future.

GIFTS INKIND

GIFT

S IN

KIND

Due to our increase in staffing, we are in need of quality computer equipment.In particular, we are looking for donations of monitors, laptops, and/or desk-tops (Pentium II or better). All donations of equipment will be issued taxreceipts according to their value. Please contact the CCO office if you can helpin this area.

(306) 652-5100 or hq@cco.ca

Of

course,

as you

suspect, it

changed

my rela-

tion-

ship

with

Myri-

am, and

through it all we firmly decided to build

our Love on Christ, to continually strive

for a chaste relationship, and to spend the

rest of our lives together.

And, this summer on August 22nd, she

became my bride, and we had the most

wonderful wedding before our Lord,

finally taking our first steps on the road

God traced for both of us, as one.

We realize, now, that our relationship

will be a strong testimony in this culture,

which doesn’t value a sacramental mar-

riage.

With that realization, we know now

that God has a wonderful plan for us both,

and He’s calling us to great things for His

glory. And as we look forward, we know

that we’ve just begun! ◆

88

C a t h o l i c C h r i s t i a n O u t r e a c h C a n a d a • B o x 74 21 S a s k a t o o n , S K S 7 K 4 J 3 C a n a d a Te lephone: (306) 652-5100 • Fax : (306) 652-5177 Emai l : hq@cco.ca • Web S i te : www.cco .ca

Publication Mail Agreement No.1870955

CCO Staff wishes you a veryMerry Christmas and Happy New Year!

May the Lord bless you and keep you!

CATHOLIC CHRISTIAN OUTREACH CANADA

Catholic Christian Outreach is a university student movement dedicated to evangelization.We challenge young adults to live in the fullness of the Catholic faith, with a strong emphasis on becoming leaders in the renewal of the world.

C C O ’ S S U M M E R M I S S I O NOn the 15th Anniversary of CCO’s founding, CCO announced that this upcoming summer wewill be heading out EAST! Our summer mission project is scheduled to be in Halifax, NovaScotia this year. Much like Impact ’99, it will be an in-house mission project with the partici-pants having jobs during the day and leadership training in the evenings.

IMPACT! ’04 is a response to the commission given to the youth of Canada at World YouthDay in Toronto by Pope John Paul II, "... a new generation of builders is needed... to build,brick by brick, the city of God within the city of man...you must be those ‘builders’!"

IMPACT! ’04 is expected to change the lives of those involved by deepening their relationshipwith Christ, and developing their skills as a leaders and apostles so that they can become oneof the "builders" that our Holy Father has called for!

For more information go to: www. cco. ca/impact2004

Back row (L-R): Kris Dmytrenko, Jeff Graham, Jeff Lockert, Michael Hall, Tom Hickey, Brett Powell. Middle Row: Kelly Boyko, ChristineRobbins, Crystal Kline, Nicole DeRoo, Amy Peloso, Caitlin Currie, Renee Lockert, Erin Hickey, Jackie O’Donnell, PJ Lewis, Jeremy Lobo,Andre Regnier. Front Row: Angele Regnier, Andrea Powell, Michelle Perrault, Tanya Van Buggenhout, Magda Czyz, Denise Toeckes,Amber Zolc, Sr. Mary Jane Beavis