Catholic Christian Outreach
Catholic Christian Outreach Canada (CCO) is a group of Catholics who do missionary work at universities in Canada. They try to teach students three things:[1]
- How to have a close friendship with Jesus
- How to be good Catholics
- How to be leaders and missionaries.
History
André and Angèle Regnier started CCO in 1988 at the University of Saskatchewan. The Regniers were part of an Evangelical Protestant group called Campus Crusade for Christ. They saw that other people in this group were excited about being Christians. They wanted Catholics to be excited about their religion too. They found a group of Catholics called the Catholic Charismatic Renewal who were already trying to do this. This group showed them how to get Catholics to be excited about their religion. The Regniers and their parish priest started CCO so that they could teach university students at the University of Saskatchewan about their religion and how to teach others about it too.[2]
Expansion of CCO
CCO began with only four missionaries at the University of Saskatchewan. As of August 2013, it had more than 70 missionaries at eleven universities.[3] CCO plans to start doing missionary work on 20 new universities between 2008 and 2028.[4]
* CCO does not work at these universities any more.
Rise Up
CCO runs a conference called "Rise Up" every year. It is one of the largest conferences for young Catholics in Canada. The largest Rise Up was in Ottawa in 2013. There were 850 people there.[5]
The conference happens every year from December 28 to January 1. At Rise Up, there are presentations, workshops, songs, prayers in front of the Eucharist, confession, and a big dinner and dance on New Year's Eve.[6]
Mission Projects
CCO runs many missions. Some of them are in Canada and some of them are in other countries. CCO often sends students and missionaries to World Youth Day.
IMPACT Canada
There is a mission that happens every year called IMPACT. Students from across Canada go to one city for a summer of missionary work. They live together and work in teams at various parishes, where they lead faith studies and run retreats and special events.[8] IMPACT also has a weekly event called Cornerstone that involves skits, songs, testimonies, and Catholic teaching,[9] a Courageous Catholic program that teaches people how to share their faith, and a monthly Summit event involving songs, prayers in front of the Eucharist, and confession.[8]
| Year | City |
|---|---|
| 2002 | Ottawa, Ontario |
| 2004 | Halifax, Nova Scotia |
| 2007 | Vancouver, British Columbia |
| 2009 | Saskatoon, Saskatchewan |
| 2010 | Calgary, Alberta |
| 2011 | Ottawa, Ontario |
| 2012 | Halifax, Nova Scotia |
| 2014 | Victoria, British Columbia |
| 2015 | Vancouver, British Columbia |
| 2018 | Vancouver, British Columbia |
Methods and Materials
Students involved with CCO lead and attend weekly faith studies at the university. These faith studies help students learn more about their religion and how they can live it out. The studies are based on the Bible, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and other Christian writings. They also use many analogies, a way of explaining things simply. There are five studies called Discovery, Source, Growth, Obedience, and Commission.
CCO wrote a small book The Ultimate Relationship to teach people the basic parts of the Christian religion.
Catholic Christian Outreach Media
Eucharistic adoration at Rise Up 2011
References
- ↑ O'Reilly, Pierre. "What is CCO Canada?" (PDF). Companions of the Cross, spring 2002. Companions of the Cross. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-03-24. Retrieved 2011-05-19.
- ↑ Scalisi, Patrick (December 2008). "Higher Learning, Higher Power" (PDF). Columbia Magazine: 12. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-03-24. Retrieved 2011-05-19.
- ↑ Gyapong, Deborah (2010-09-06). Activate the Holy Spirit's spiritual gifts. http://wcr.ab.ca/old-site/news/2010/0906/gifts090610.shtml. Retrieved 2011-05-19.
- ↑ Girard, Carolyn (2008-11-10). "20 years of mission for Catholic Christian Outreach". The Catholic Register. Retrieved 2015-02-25.[dead link]
- ↑ Gyapong, Deborah (2014-01-08). "Nun's witness sends students scrambling to confessionals". Western Catholic Reporter. http://www.wcr.ab.ca/ThisWeek/Stories/tabid/61/entryid/5053/Default.aspx. Retrieved 2014-07-15.[dead link]
- ↑ Brown, Emma (2012-12-14). "Youth 'Rise Up' to party in two cities". The Catholic Register. http://www.catholicregister.org/ysn/ysn-news/item/15556-youth-‘rise-up’-to-party-in-two-cities. Retrieved 2015-02-25.
- ↑ Yaworski, Kiply Lukan (2013-01-14). "Young Catholics 'Rise Up' in two locations". The B.C. Catholic. http://bccatholic.ca/component/content/article/1-latest-news/2323-young-catholics-rise-up-in-two-locations. Retrieved 2015-02-25.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Yaworski, Kiply Lukan (2009-05-27). Catholic Christian Outreach (CCO) returns to city of its birth for summer Impact 2009 mission: diocese welcomes 60 young missionaries. http://www.saskatoonrcdiocese.com/news_articles/documents/CCO%20welcomed.pdf. Retrieved 2015-02-25.
- ↑ Groot, Christina (September 2007). Catholic initiative has national IMPACT!. http://canadianchristianity.com/bc/bccn/0907/14impact.html. Retrieved 1 June 2012.