2015 Good news from Catholic Christian Outreach Behind the scenes at Rise Up 8 News of missions around the world 12 Professional’s career changed by heart 17 New CCO Missionaries 2015/16 Joseph Murphy Melissa Cachia Michael Crate Tim Mok Stewardship & Development University of Victoria Carleton University University of Calgary Sherley Vo John Brundage Tesi Carmona Wagner Erica Stevens Queen’s University Mount Royal University University of Saskatchewan Memorial University Michelle Aucoin Kirsten Lane Cameron Ayles Tammy Stankievech Carleton University University of Ottawa Queen’s University Office of the Founders George Kress Jasmine Chevalier Lise Milinovich Christopher McMullan Stewardship & Development Human Resources Stewardship & Development IT Administration WHAT’S INSIDE 3 From the Founders 12 CCO Missions: Brazil, Vancouver, Yukon, Mexico, India 4 Living and sharing our faith 17 Professional’s career changed by heart 5 From the Field 18 CCO thanks consecrated people for countless gifts 6 How to share the “Ultimate Relationship” booklet 20 CCO gives free bibles to thousands of students 8 Behind the scenes at Rise Up 21 Uganda captures heart of Prairie missionary 10 Annual Report 2014/15 22 Faith studies leave a lasting impression on campus Grapevine is Catholic Christian Outreach’s annual publication, produced each year to celebrate our Foundation Day of October 18, 1988. Current distribution is to 10,000 supporters throughout Canada and the United States. It is also avail- able online. For more information, contact [email protected] Graphic spreads designed by John Lim, Chris Pecora and Marlon Solis. Angèle and André Regnier founded CCO in 1988 at the University of Saskatchewan. Their current work is based in Ottawa headquarters. FROM THE FOUNDERS CCO offers itself as a gift to the Church e were privileged to take part in the Pontifical We have always seen our organization as a gift to help Council for the Laity’s World Congress of Eccle- the wider Church. The intention behind our vision, meth- Wsial Movements and New Communities in No- ods and materials has always been to benefit the whole vember 2014. As we arrived in the hall of an international Church, and that intention motivates us to attend events pontifical college in Rome, we could such as Eucharistic Congresses or World Youth barely believe who we were seeing. We Days. This is also why we have translated our recognized notable Church figures in “The purpose of a ministry materials into 11 languages. every direction. What’s more, they all movement is to After attending the Congress, we feel assured recognized each other. For a meeting move. I implore the way we view CCO—as being a gift to the of 400 individuals representing move- Church—is not presumption on our part. It is a call ments from around the world, it had the you, start moving!” from God and from the Church Herself. feeling of a small group of friends. —Pope Francis At the end of the Congress, participants had a In the midst of this awesome envi- private audience with the Holy Father. He remind- ronment, we felt slightly out of place. ed us, “The purpose of a movement is to move. Recalling our beginnings in small-town Saskatchewan, I implore you, start moving!” This, combined with the it seemed like a true wonder to be there. Did we really speakers, confirmed not only our sense of CCO being a belong among these distinguished Church leaders? gift to the whole Church, but also our sense of urgency. During the presentations, in particular the one from The Lord and His Church are calling each of us to quicken Cardinal Ryłko, it was made clear that the Church views our pace, to work with greater boldness. We invite all of the new movements as a gift to the Church. He invited you—our alumni, supporters and friends—to respond to each of the movements to dig deep to understand who the Holy Father’s request by moving with us in urgency. gv we are so we can better offer our charism to the whole Church. The cardinal’s words left us feeling encouraged and affirmed. 3 Living and sharing our faith By Sara Francis, CCO alumna fell in love with my husband over a cup of hot chocolate. Ten years ago, we were on a I ferry to P.E.I. As members of CCO’s mission to World Youth Day in Cologne, Germany, we were going to a team-building session. Sara and Ben Francis celebrate 10 years of involvement with I hadn’t known Ben for long when he bought CCO. With Felicity (3), Isabelle (1) and Joseph (4). me a hot chocolate. But what really caught my at- tention was he also bought hot chocolates for two • visiting with the sick, those in mourning and the poor strangers whom we had just met. If this was an attempt • striving to make our home a place of welcome to impress me, it worked! I was struck by his generosity. As CCO alumni, we want to continue to be protagonists in the New In that moment, Ben’s kindness gave me a window into his heart, Evangelization in our current state of life. Our focus has gone from and his continued generosity over the years has given me a campus to community—the parish, the school, the neighbourhood, glimpse into the heart of Christ. As the saying goes, no matter how social media, our extended family. The possibilities are endless. generous we are with God, we can never outdo God in His gener- One example: for the past two years, Ben and I have taken turns osity toward us. leading a Discovery study. Two autumns ago, I led a Discovery The journey of our domestic church started with our wedding six study for mothers in the evening, while Ben tended to our children. years ago, and since then, God has given us the incredible gifts Then this past spring, Ben led couples from the parish in a Discov- of three children. God has so generously proven His love for each ery study while I watched the children. of us by dying on the Cross and rising to eternal life. What other Giving from a heart of gratitude response can there be than a heart full of gratitude and a desire to “[Ben’s] continued also extends to our resources. share this news? And so, a heart for the lost—for those who haven’t Every time we share our means yet heard the Gospel—fuels our mission as a married couple. We generosity over with others, it’s an opportunity were the lost before CCO reached out and introduced us to a per- for us to grow: truly, it is when we sonal relationship with Jesus. the years has give that we receive. Supporting We are so grateful for how our lives have changed for the better given me a CCO missionaries and projects since making an adult decision to follow Christ, and we want to helps to keep us connected to share that joy of the Gospel with others. We try to be evangelists in glimpse into the the broader movement and to our daily lives using the tools we’ve learned through CCO. heart of Christ.” that inner disposition of having a heart for the lost. The main tool we’ve learned is simply to always have a desire to live and share our faith. For us, some of the ways we do this are: While our aim is to be perfected in the faith, we often miss the mark. Yet, becoming saints remains the desire of our hearts, and • raising our children in the faith our goal is to help guide our family and as many others as possible • creating opportunities for faith conversations in the workplace to heaven, through the grace of God. With hearts full of gratitude in thanks for God’s generous love, we hope you will continue to join • leading CCO’s Discovery faith study at the parish level us on the journey to the Father. gv • coordinating a mothers’ group at our parish Increase the impact of your gift Pre-authorized payments (PAPs) from your bank account are Did you know that by making your donation by PAP (instead a safe and convenient way to partner with CCO. This dona- of by credit card), you increase the impact of your gift? The tion method makes it simple for you to give faithfully to the processing fee drops from 2.5% to only 10 cents. work God is doing in and through our movement. To set up PAPs, contact the Donations department at 613.736.1999 or [email protected] 4 FROM THE FIELD Going anywhere, from coast to coast By Eric Myatt, CCO Eastern Regional Director ne of CCO’s campus missionaries told me his secret to getting up each morning to pray. He would awaken to his Oalarm and an all-too-familiar desire to hit the snooze button and roll over. But, instead of that, he trained himself to say, “I will go anywhere you want me to go.” And in that moment, he knew that where God wanted him was out of bed, downstairs, in prayer. This line he repeats comes from the Apostle’s Prayer. It has become an integral part of CCO’s spirituality and holds special significance to us. For the missionary, applying this line allowed him to take time each day with Christ. It gave him a foundation for his work throughout the day. But the authors of the prayer meant for it to cover more than CCO missionaries Stephanie Dresch and Lorne Stang, ready to invite new students to join CCO.