Last week in Canada, a wonderful conference for young people called Rise Up was held in Ottawa. Sponsored by the Catholic Christian Outreach (CCO), a Canadian university student movement founded 25 years ago as a small Bible study group at the University of Saskatchewan, it attracted 900 men and women during the Christmas/New Year’s break. Incredible!

The line up of speakers was impressive and included Archbishop Gérald Lacroix, ISPX; Archbishop Paul-André Durocher; Fr. Raymond de Souza, well-known Vatican commentator; Audrey Assad, singer; Sr. Helene Burns, fsp; Sr. Cecilia Rose, SV; Sr. Miriam James Heidland, SOLT.

Timely and needed presentations included: Contraception, Same-Sex Attraction, Emotional Virtue, Modern Atheism, Discernment, Discipleship and more. There was also fun! including a banquet and dance to celebrate the New Year.

The purpose of the CCO movement is to motivate and inspire leaders for the renewal of the world! “By focusing on university students, CCO desires to see not only that young people come to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour, but also for them to radically affect our world.” They are seeking to provide answers to the plagues that beset young people in the modern world: atheism, hedonism, humanism and scientism.

The movement now serves hundreds of students on eleven campuses through a wide array of programs and outreaches. CCO continues to expand with the growing Rise Up Conference, an increasing number of staff, and a growing number of mission opportunities (both domestic and international). Their ministry is mainly one-on-one for this is the personal way to show the love of Christ to the world.

Read the story of Fr. Nick Meisl, ordained in December, who as an Engineering Physics major who had drifted away from the Faith, got involved in a CCO Discovery Study and began re-examine his life including asking the question: Is Jesus who He says He is?

Visit their website or Facebook for more information!