The Spark That Lit the Flame

Our Edmund Rice Immersion experience, the spark that lit the flame, was born out of ERBB Ireland in 2023. This initiative brought together leaders from across the Edmund Rice network, including 天美传媒’s Steve Garland and Dom Zimmermann, Joe Martinez (President) and Kristy Kane (Principal) from St. Laurence in Burbank, IL, Mark Donahue (President) and Bob Alberts (Principal) from Brother Rice in Chicago, IL, and Cormac McCart from the Westcourt Centre in Belfast, Ireland.

On Saturday, December 13, members of the 天美传媒 Reverence for Life team attended and served at the annual Mass for Life held at Holy Rosary Cathedral in downtown Vancouver.

The Mass was celebrated by Archbishop Richard Smith. Students assisted as greeters and support for the service and reception.

Following the Mass, students were invited to attend a reception. During this gathering, Isabella Comuzzi (Grade 11) was selected to share a student reflection on Reverence for all Life.

Isabella Comuzzi’s Reverence For Life Speech

Last year, I had the opportunity to help plan and organize a Reverence for Life Expo that brought together hundreds of attendees. It was an incredible experience. People were able to ask honest questions, listen to powerful keynote speakers, and actually learn what the pro-life movement is about beyond the stereotypes. What stood out to me the most was how respectful and open the conversations were. It showed me that when people are informed, they are more willing to listen and to understand.

Being pro-life is often portrayed as controversial. It鈥檚 criticized by mainstream media, misunderstood by the public, and definitely not considered 鈥渃ool.鈥� It doesn鈥檛 help you fit in, gain popularity, or avoid judgment. In fact, it often does the opposite鈥o why do I still believe in it?

Because reverence for life isn鈥檛 about politics or popularity. It鈥檚 about recognizing the value and dignity of every human life. Reverence for life is reverence for all life. It is the personal action of living out God鈥檚 unconditional love and plan for every person He forms. No matter a person鈥檚 age, race, gender, strengths, weaknesses, financial security, health, or any other circumstance, every life holds meaning. It is the most inclusive, the most loving idea, and in a world that so often succumbs to hate, it is necessary to grow in this understanding of love.

Pro-life is choosing love. It is choosing to love the unborn child from the moment of conception to their natural death and beyond. It is choosing to love and support mothers 鈥� single mothers, mothers discerning abortion, and mothers who have gone through with abortion 鈥� treating them with compassion, mercy, and understanding. It is choosing to love the people whose quality of life has been hindered, who could be struggling with substance abuse, homelessness, mental health issues, and more. It is choosing to love someone so much that you refuse to let them believe their life is no longer worth living, even when society tells them otherwise through programs like Medical Assistance in Dying. It is following in Jesus鈥� footsteps, recognizing that He knows each of us by name and has placed within us an inherent dignity, especially in those who are vulnerable, marginalized, or facing challenges, reminding them that they are never alone and always worthy of love.

Mother Theresa of Calcutta is famously quoted:

“Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching its people to love, but to use any violence to get what they want. This is why the greatest destroyer of love and peace is abortion.”

As youth, we are the generation shaping the future. If we don鈥檛 stand up for life, for basic human dignity, and for love, who will? Reverence for life calls us to courage over comfort, compassion over indifference, and love even when it is difficult. It challenges us to speak for the voiceless, stand with the vulnerable, and fight for hope in a world that so often chooses despair.
And that is why it matters鈥攏ot just to me, but to all of us. Because every life, every heartbeat, every person, is worth standing up for.

We are proud of our students for their leadership, service, and commitment to upholding the dignity of life in our community. This team is currently helping to organize a student Expo for Life that will take place on Friday March 6th at St Nicholas Parish in Langley. More details coming soon.

Lenten Journey Week 8: The Care for All Creation

The final week of our Lenten Journey (April 22-25) sees us shifting our attention to an examination of the Care for All of God鈥檚 Creation. This year marks the 10-year anniversary of the publication of Pope Francis鈥檚 Laudato Si鈥� and we would like to mark it, as well as the final week in our eight-week Lenten Journey, with a public presentation and display of photographs and pieces of art submitted by individuals throughout our community. Have we tweaked your interest? Please. We encourage you to read on.

Looking to Laudato Si鈥� for inspiration:

Laudato Si’ – On the Care for our Common Home – is the Holy Father鈥檚 seminal Encyclical Letter on the environment and human ecology. The letter is addressed to “every person living on this planet” and calls for a global dialogue about how we are shaping the future of our planet through our daily actions and decisions. The World Council of Churches and many environmental organisations of different faiths backgrounds welcomed the encyclical. It criticises consumerist driven, profit-seeking economies, and emphasizes acute sensitivity to debt, inequality, and poverty. It calls on all of us to play a part in building a more just and sustainable world. We see that right now, the whole world is hurting.

Several main themes run through the text:

• • Every single person on earth is connected by the very fact that we all inhabit the earth, which is our 鈥渃ommon home.鈥� However, how are we shaping the future of our planet? We have made it 鈥渓ook more and more like an immense pile of filth.”
  • Climate change is a global problem with serious implications; it represents one of the principal challenges facing humanity in our day.
  • The letter advocates seeking clean and renewable energy sources, a 鈥渂asic and universal human right鈥� to drinkable water, and more far-sighted practices that respect the earth鈥檚 biodiversity and seek to protect species that are close to extinction. 鈥淓ach year sees the disappearance of thousands of plant and animal species which we will never know, which our children will never see, because they have been lost forever.鈥�
  • It points to media and the digital world that contribute to a sort of 鈥渕ental pollution鈥� through the production of 鈥渘oise and distractions of an information overload.鈥�
  • Modernity has been marked by an excessive anthropocentrism: more and more, human beings take on a self-centred position, focused exclusively on themselves and on their own power. This results in a 鈥渦se and throw away鈥� logic.
  • What is happening in our home concerns 鈥渞apidification鈥� 鈥� that is, 鈥渢he continued acceleration of changes affecting humanity and the planet combined with a more intensified pace of life and work鈥�. “Rapidification” is a lifestyle that must be reconsidered. This is not to denounce progress. Unsustainable production, consumption, and disposal is NOT progress.
  • The starting point is 鈥渢o aim for a new lifestyle鈥�. Education in environmental responsibility can encourage ways of acting which directly and significantly affect the world around us, such as avoiding the use of plastic and paper, reducing water consumption, separating refuse, recycling, cooking only what can reasonably be consumed, showing care for other living beings, using public transport or car-pooling, planting trees, turning off unnecessary lights.

As part of Week 8 of our 天美传媒 Lenten Journey, we are hosting a photography & art contest open to the 天美传媒 Community (current students, family members, and alumni).

Capture what 鈥淐are For All Creation鈥� means to you! Submit an original photograph or artwork (AI-generated images are prohibited) to reflect key messages that show:

• The incredible beauty of our physical world (e.g. photos of landscapes and natural environments near and far)
• The local biodiversity (e.g. flowers, fauna, insects, wildlife: ecosystems of all types)
• The importance of our waterways (e.g. rivers, ports, straights, seas and oceans)
• Challenges as a consequence of our lifestyles (e.g. the residual effects of human-physical interactions)
• Actions for positive change – examples of local initiatives (e.g. individuals, agencies, activities – food recycling, tree planting, reducing carbon footprint)

Deadline for submissions: Apr. 11, 2025

Click below to read the full contest details and submission form!