2025 CCSA National Reflection by Juliana Yong
The Canadian Catholic Student Association 2025 National Conference was amazing to say the least. With such a robust title for an event, one wonders what it’s all about and why Catholic university students from all over Canada would go to such an event. These questions lingered in my mind as I applied for a sponsorship to attend (the College was able to sponsor five students to go, a huge blessing), but I was also very excited to go to Montreal for the first time with other Catholics just like me. Moreover, the event itself was being hosted by the Newman Association of Mcgill University, and as a few of my friends and I were also simultaneously starting up the Newman Club at Corpus Christi College, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to get some real insight on making our own Newman Club the best for our local students.
More than just learning about campus ministry and the Newman Association, the main theme was synodality. It was very cool to hear talks from people who were part of the most recent Synod, as delegates or table facilitators, and having our practice of synodal discussion in different groups was very invigorating. One of my favourite talks was on artificial intelligence and how we live in a culture of such drastic change. It brought my eyes to light of how easily what makes people human, can be replaced with intelligence that though human-made, isn’t human at all.
The community from the Newman Association and the other students from different universities nationally were magnetically vibrant and extremely warm-welcoming. One of my friends and I, as soon as we entered the Newman building of Mcgill practically said at the same time “This feels like home.” We students bonded very closely within just a few hours. Before we had to go back, we even had a line dancing session with one of the students who taught all of the footwork and it was so fun.
As part of the event schedule, we were able to go to well-known churches such as St. Joseph’s Oratory and see the tomb and heart of St. André Bessette and the tomb of Marguerite Bourgeoys. I have seen relics of saints before but never in my life the tomb of a full saint so it was a powerful moment for me to be in the presence of such holiness in community with the other students around me in the same room. It almost felt magical. The five of us and our campus minister were also able to visit the iconic Notre Dame Basilica and no words can describe how the Basilica or any of the many churches we saw in Montreal just radiated deep Catholic traditions in the magnificent architecture and beautiful artwork.
From the talks to the community to the churches to the wonderful food as well, it’s definitely on the list of my favourite trips overall. It’s safe to say, we were also pretty sad when the day came for us to leave. Thank you so much to Corpus Christi College for funding the whole trip and for this opportunity to be part of such an amazing event!
