2007-2008

Civitas would like to thank all who attended and helped out with our Catholic young professionals evenings during the past year.

Over the past year our various speakers presented us with various truths of the faith and concrete ways to rise to the challenge of living out our faith in a world that is often ignorant of or even hostile to the Gospel message.

We began the year with a day long symposium/retreat:

  • Fr. Allan MacDonald of the Companions of the Cross was the chaplain who celebrated mass and lead in prayer during adoration.
  • Paul Tomory Sr. gave an overview of JPII’s vision of the Civilization of Love
  • Fr. Winston Rye presented the Canadian Martyrs as examples of the courage, love, and missionary zeal that the church so desperately needs today.

A quick recap of our evening seminars:

  1. The Sisters of Life – in their talk they spoke with great joy and enthusiasm about their work in defending and building a culture of life. They are a rapidly growing religious community that Toronto is truly blessed to have speaking up for those who have no voice.
  2. Archbishop Thomas Collins – “Building JPII’s Civilization of Love.” The Archbishop challenged us to imitate the life of Christ in all we do, and to cut through the illusions presented by our society and culture by realizing that we are part of something far greater than our immediate experience of the world around us.
  3. Leslie Tomory – “Evolution: Reconcilable with Christianity?” In his intriguing talk Leslie demonstrated that elements of evolutionary theory, when defined properly, are in fact reconcilable with Christianity and the belief in a transcendent God.
  4. Fr. Ian Boyd – “Chesterton and the Evangelization of Culture.” Fr. Ian spoke with great affection for G.K Chesterton, providing insight into why he is considered by many to be one of the greatest Catholic writers of all time, and why his writings are just as relevant today as when he was alive.
  5. Andrea Mrozek, the founding Director of ProWomanProLife, a news and commentary blog on all things related to women’s rights and freedoms, life and abortion, spoke about her efforts to spread the pro-life message to all women, regardless of their religious affiliation.

We extend our thanks to all our speakers for generously giving of their time to share their wisdom, and to the many Toronto lay groups who joined us in our efforts.

2006-2007

Civitas would like to thank all who attended and helped out with our Catholic young professionals evenings in our inaugural year.

Pope John Paul II repeatedly challenged us to “be not afraid” to live our Christian life to the full. We are humbled and excited by the fantastic response of so many young professionals passionate about strengthening their faith through solidarity, learning, and most importantly prayer.

A quick recap of our first year speakers and topics:

  1. Fr. Tom Rosica, CEO Salt and Light Television, “Build it and they will come – why young people responded to JPII.
  2. Anthony Schratz, “The Church and Her worldview: Understanding the foundation of the Civilization of Love
  3. Camille de Blase-Pauley, “Personhood, Happiness and Human Rights
  4. Anna Halpine, founder of the World Youth Alliance, “Human rights, the dignity of the person and global institutions, building a Civilization of Love.
  5. Eddie Cotter, founder of the Dead Theologians Society, “Transmitting our Heritage – Understanding our foundations.

We extend our thanks to all our speakers, to the many Toronto lay groups who joined us in our efforts, and most especially to Fr. Tom Rosica for all his support and encouragement in getting this group started.