IMCS - Pax Romana will be sponsoring the ...
Eradication of Poverty
March 14-16, 2012
CCSA members are invited to consider attending. Last year, university students from Canadian campuses: UBC, St. Mary's University College, Campion College, and UVIC and UPEI attended.
For more information and to register, please go to the following website:
http://usmaya.org/index.php?option=com_chronocontact&Itemid=153
Cost will be about $150 for accommodation in addition to your travel.
Deadline to register is February 5, 2012.
You can read more about the 2011 UN Study Session on the CCSA Blog:
http://studentsunite.tumblr.com/page/2
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A report by the CCSA representatives who attended in 2007 follows...
Canadian Students - Awakening to International Injustices
By: Brittany Turcotte (St Thomas University) and Carla Carmichael (University of Prince Edward Island)
To bring God’s life to all people, “I have come that they may have life and have it to the full” (John 10:10), is the mission that the Catholic college and university students of North America are striving to achieve. As Catholic students, our Church’s rich social teaching, teaches us as students to share the social mission and message of our Church. As members of the Church and of society, we have the right and duty to promote the common good as do other citizens (Justice in the World, #38). The social teaching empowers youth to join hands and unite in solidarity to help those deprived of their rights.
Through this, we can combat such devastating youth injustices in education and employment, health issues, and citizenship. We understand that these problems reach far beyond the scope of an individual but united as part of the One Human Family, Catholic students have hope that these issues will cease to exist.
We were quite fortunate to have the opportunity to represent the Canadian Catholic Student Association, (CCSA) (Web: www.cccm.ca) at the North American Collaboration meeting, March 14, 2007, which took place at Maryknoll House in Ossining, New York. This meeting was fruitful in the fact that the relationship between the National Catholic Student Association, (NCSC) and the CCSA has been strengthened. It is the intent of the CCSA and the NCSC to work more closely together to achieve common goals and become more united body within the International Movement of Catholic Students (IMCS).
A day later we began the United Nations Study Session. (March 15-17) This was an extremely prosperous three-day event. The topic "Catholic Social Teaching: Empowering Student Action" was very fitting because it can be said that the participants in attendance were all leaders within their churches and universities. The discussions prompted by the four main areas of focus; Education and Employment, Student Health, Student Participation and Citizenship, and Solidarity with the Poor and the Marginalized, were inspiring. Being among such passionate and intelligent people gives hope that the youth, the students of today have the power to make a difference, to have our voices heard.
Throughout the study session it was expressed that as Catholic students we have the responsibility to hold our governments accountable for their actions. We must continue to impress upon our governments the importance of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG's) and remind them of their promises of achievement.
Our visit to New York was an experience that will remain very dear to us throughout our lives. We returned to Canada with a feeling of empowerment and the need to take more action within our dioceses, churches and universities. We don't have illusions of grandeur, we don't intend to achieve world peace or equality overnight but it is comforting to have met other student leaders, like ourselves, that are concerned with the happenings around us, both locally and globally.
Brittany Turcotte is the International Relations on the CCSA Executive and will be representing Canada at the IMCS meetings in Geneva Switzerland April 18- 25
Carla Carmichael is the CCSA President and along with Brittany will be representing the CCSA at the International AIDS Conference in Toronto in summer.
