Left: Melissa Westgeest, on staff with CCO, and Nicole Germaine, Courageous Catholic participant. Both young ladies are excited to see the change happening as the result of Impact and the Courageous Catholic program.
Right: Yours truly with CCO co-founder Andre Regnier


Jennifer Vellacott, Courageous Catholic participant from St. Paul's Cathedral


Courageous Catholic Study Launched During Impact 2009: Fostering a Missionary Disposition
by Robin Anderson
June 29, 2009

“All that matters is that Christ is proclaimed. In that, I rejoice!” –Philippians 1:18

Ahem. I would like to interrupt this Cornerstone series with a word from a special occurrence in the Saskatoon Diocese this summer. Courageous Catholic, Catholic Christian Outreach’s fifth study, was launched alongside Impact 2009! Yours truly had the opportunity to participate in the program, and to see the hope growing in all the program’s participants. “I found myself coming away hopeful,” says Ray Boehm of Our Lady of Lourdes parish.

The study is about fostering a missionary heart, or disposition, that can then be brought into the world. “We wanted to make sure that our alumni were equipped and ready,” says CCO co-founder Andre Regnier, “and that they had the right disposition, so that when they graduated, they would be able to continue their missionary work.” The study soon came to have a broader scope, however: “CCO’s goal has never been to merely create a campus movement,” says Andre. The leaders from campus would hopefully move out from campus to renew the world. Here in Saskatoon, some parishioners who had never been in contact with CCO were part of the program.

The study focuses on a missionary’s heart for the lost, developing great expectations in ministry, how to share the Gospel message clearly and simply, and the process of forming a missionary heart in those whom the participants come into contact with. For Jennifer Vellacott, the Bridge Diagram, that simple tool for sharing the Gospel message, was new: “I really like the Bridge Diagram; it’s a simple tool that is easy to share with others, to explain to them the importance of Jesus and what he did for us.” Betty Boehm agrees, “I think the most important thing that I’ve come away with is that I evangelize using the basic Gospel message, that saving act of Jesus Christ on the cross. Each one of us has a need to accept that personally for ourselves.” Each participant in Courageous Catholic was taken through the Discovery Faith Study, in the hopes that the study will be led around Saskatoon.

“I’m excited to get more involved with the faith studies in my parish,” says Jennifer, “now knowing that I have the tools to even think about doing that kind of thing.” Says Betty, with a smile: “I would like to lead a faith study now.”

A new diagram, intended to teach how to help others form missionary hearts, was new in the study. “The Discipleship Pyramid was new for me,” says Andrew Lockert, “and I thought is was pretty powerful.” Each heart of a missionary begins at the level of relationship, and works its way up through Jesus, formation, and evangelization. The goal of our relationships with others should be to foster that missionary disposition.

I myself can add a hearty “Amen” to the statements of my fellow participants. The study was key for me in tying up some loose ends; disconnected parts and tools that are a component of evangelization and the missionary heart came together in a beautiful synthesis. With prayer and the continued action of Courageous Catholics, the Church in the Diocese of Saskatoon will become one with a fervent love for Jesus, and with a desire to spread that love far and wide.

The Cornerstone music team, from left to right: Kathleen Wolfe (vocals), Eric Filion, Conor George (guitar, vocals), Reid Sonntag (guitar, vocals), Jeremiah Webster (sound), Anthony Churko (bass), Valerie Christie (keys), Michael Hudec (electric guitar), and Kevin Darwent (drums)



Cornerstone #1: A Call to Praise God in Joy and Freedom
by Robin Anderson
June 22, 2009

“Come, let us sing to the Lord
and shout with joy to the Rock who saves us.
Let us approach him with praise and thanksgiving
and sing joyful songs to the Lord!”—Psalm 95, the Invitatory psalm from the
Liturgy of the Hours

Joy. Freedom. These were my impressions of the Cornerstone music team when chatting with them this past week. Their humor, mutual affirmation, and deep commitment to Christ were evident to the utmost. The music team is led by Conor George, from Saint John, New Brunswick (“Get it right,” he insists with a smile, “It’s not St. John’s, Newfoundland, you spell out the word ‘saint,’ and you don’t put an apostrophe ‘s,’ and it’s New Brunswick, not Newfoundland, all right?”). The other members include Kathleen Wolfe (Saskatoon, SK), Kevin Darwent (Ottawa, ON), Michael Hudec (Calgary, AB), Valerie Christie (Petrolia, ON), Jeremiah Webster (Dartmouth, NS), Reid Sonntag (Good Soil, SK), and Anthony Churko (Coquitlam, BC). The team was composed by CCO staff member Eric Filion, who has high praise of it: “I’m really proud of the worship team. I expected a lot of this team, and I let them know that. We really set the bar high and they’ve risen to the challenge.” While listening to the music team speak, I found that I agreed with Eric.

Although each member was chosen for their talents and so that they might grow in those talents, the point is that their hearts are in the right place. Says Conor, “I’d heard a lot about the Cornerstone event on Impact, that it was the pivotal event that happens on mission. So I felt very honored, humbled, and affirmed in my worship leading abilities. There was also a certain overwhelming feeling, feeling like I didn’t have enough experience. And then at the same time, there was excitement.” Valerie says that she also felt inadequate at first: “I felt that I didn’t have enough experience, but this was the way to get it.” However, they realize that the Holy Spirit has been multiplying their work for them.

Being a music and worship leader has helped the team enter more deeply into prayer. As Michael says, “When I look into the crowd, I feel the joy that’s there. You can feel it so powerfully, the Holy Spirit is right there among us, you can see it in people’s faces.” Anthony Churko adds to this by describing the leader’s position, as an “echo” effect. “We’re seeing that the message that we’re sending out through worship reflected right back at us, only ten or a hundred times bigger. When I see people worshipping, I in turn enter more deeply into worship, and it becomes an echo thing.” In the end, says Conor, the gathered group is worshipping as a whole: “We’re worshipping as a Body of Christ, we’re worshipping together.”

A danger in leading music, says Kevin, can be “thinking about the music recording instead of thinking of the prayer. Instead of making it a prayer, you’re thinking too much of the music itself. We have to reorient that, and make sure that it’s a prayer the whole time.” Kathleen adds to this: “Definitely our main job is to lead people to prayer, to lead them to Christ. Music brings people to a place where they can be more open to what God is doing in their lives.”

This team, however, has gladly entered the heart of worship, and their surrender to God is making an Impact on the city of Saskatoon. Over two hundred people were found at last week’s Cornerstone; the event has been steadily growing as the weeks progress. For Conor, “It has been great seeing people who one week aren’t looking like they’re not really into it, and then the weeks pass, and you see that they’re getting more and more into it. You can tell that over the weeks, God has been doing something.” Added to this, says Eric, the team has grown in their own knowledge of worship and what it means to lead the Cornerstones of Saskatoon into the heart of God: “I want to honor them for the way I’ve seen their hearts of worship come out. That’s really reflected in the way the people coming out to the Cornerstone have been able to respond.”

Amen, brother!

The Crew and Cap'n of the ship St. Thérèse, from left to right: Emily Laustch, Elizabeth Stilwell, Alana Hodge, Kathleen Wolfe and Esa Sluzar


Inside the pirate ship St. Thérèse, where these here Munroe girls eat their grub


This here crew is united in love



Ahoy there!! This Here Ship has Love as the Wind in Her Sails
by Robin Anderson
June 12, 2009

“I know of one means only by which to attain perfection: LOVE. Let us love, since our heart is made for nothing else. Sometimes I seek another word to express Love, but in this land of exile the word which begins and ends is quite incapable of rendering the vibrations of the soul; we must then adhere to this simple and only word: TO LOVE.”—St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus

So I spend too much time on Facebook. There, I said it! Lately I have had Facebook’s language set to the Pirate setting: I have been thinking in “pirate” ever since. I don’t know if St. Thérèse would approve, but… this here update will be scrawled in the language o’ pirates only!

This here scallywag had a jaw with Munroe girls this week, to ask them if they be liking living in community, or if these pirates be fighting for the upper hook on the high seas of Impact 2009. This crew be a tight one, however, led by the fearsome Captain Elizabeth Stilwell, who hails from the port o’ Vancouver, and who usually sails on the ship Simon Fraser University. “We’re really blessed, we have a lot of love for each other and we all get along really well,” says the Cap’n, “so far my ‘mom’ position has been really easy.”

Avast! Don’t these mateys wish they could make their mark? Win glory and treasure, to hoist a Jolly Roger on the mast with themselves as Cap’n? To make others swab the deck? The answer to these questions be “no”! “It’s this whole idea of choice, we hear about it a lot,” says deckhand Esa Sluzar, from Ottawa, Ontario. Sailor Emily Laustch, originally hailing from the port o’ Swift Current, Saskatchewan, accords with deckhand Esa: “We love each other so much, we love to love each other, and we’re really in tune with each other.”

We must belay the talk of a black spot on this ship, christened the St. Thérèse. These pirate hearts be united in love, and thus and therefore this here be a united crew, ready to fight on the briny deep along side each other. Each hand can count on the steel of the others to support them. “It’s such a blessing to live with people who are practicing their faith, to have that common understanding,” says deckhand Alana Hodge, a scallywag we met last week that sails under the banner of the Apostle Team. “Not only do you start on a supporting ground, but your relationships are so much better, rooted in Christ.”

“It’s about choosing to love, like what Esa was saying,” says our courageous Cap’n. “We might not feel like it, we may be tired from only having five hours of sleep. But we’ve chosen St. Thérèse as the saint of our house, and we’ve been trying to be anchored by love, as she was. Making that choice to love is really important.”

Arrrr… this here saying be pleasin’ to me ear!

June 5, 2009

A New Venture: the Impact 2009 Apostle Team
by Robin Anderson

June 5, 2009

“Consult not your fears, but your hopes and your dreams. Think not about your frustrations, but about your unfulfilled potential. Concern yourself not with what you tried and failed in, but with what it is still possible for you to do.” -Pope John XXIII

This Impact is the first to have a full-time outreach team on the road, dubbed the "Apostle Team." They have already been in many schools in and around Saskatoon, bringing the love of Jesus with them wherever they go. They want to see lives changed, to bring “every heart to Him,” as the Impact tag line goes.

The team consists of Larissa Nelson, Ian Anderson, Eloisa Tamondong, Alana Hodge, and Andrew Nobauer. They come from across Canada, from places as geographically separated as Vancouver and Toronto. Their fields of study range anywhere from electrical apprenticeship to music. And yet God has brought them together to Impact the city of Saskatoon. “I think each of us were put in a position that weren’t really 100% comfortable with,” says team leader Larissa Nelson. “But through that weakness, God is strong. I want to see us grow in our service for God, in self-giving.”

Indeed, this theme rings true for the whole team. Each member spoke about their weakness, and how God is using their weakness to help them grow: God is showing them how He can work in power despite their feelings of inadequacy. Says Alana, “I’m realizing the call to love people, whole-heartedly, within weakness; that when I see weakness in myself and others, I’m called to love even more. And this doesn’t just go for the team, but in the kids we’re meeting at the retreats.” The desire for God is not hard to find, says Andrew: “I’ve met people who are searching for truth everywhere we’ve gone.”

Ultimately, says the Apostle Team, it’s not about them: their mission is to proclaim Jesus. “There was a student at the retreat we did today,” says Ian, “and I asked him, ‘What did you think about the sessions we put on today? Be honest with us, how was it?’ And he said, ‘To tell you the truth I wasn’t listening for most of it, but then that one guy’s testimony (Andrew’s) really hit me.’ And he just started sharing about the struggles he’s going through right now.” Encounters such as this one can lead to a person coming to Cornerstone, Impact’s weekly outreach event. “It has been especially encouraging to see some students from an inner city school come out to something like the Cornerstone,” says Eloisa. Many of these students have never heard of God’s personal love for them. The team may be their first introduction to the person of Jesus Christ.

“He’s thirsty for God,” says Andrew, speaking specifically about a student he’s been getting to know since being on the Apostle team. The team knows from experience that this student is not the only one. They will continue to seek out those thirsting for God as the summer progresses: they will continue to see their own thirst for God through the missionary work they pursue.



Impact 2009 Apostle Team, from left to right: Andrew Nobauer, Larissa Nelson, Alana Hodge, Eloisa Tamondong, and Ian Anderson




Different people, one purpose: that Jesus would be proclaimed