First, they took out the blackboards and put in whiteboards. Now simple drawings have been replaced by 3D printed objects that students can physically hold.

A staple of the annual Diocesan Youth Convention is the presenting of the Manus Christi Awards.

As a girl, I was always mesmerized as I watched the altar servers begin Mass.

With that the 68th annual diocesan Youth Convention kicked off, seeing hundreds of teenagers gather at the Buffalo Grand Hotel for a weekend of faith, fun and friendship.

Christ is alive, and the Diocese of Buffalo wants everyone to know it.

Has there ever been a time in your life when you've felt God's love for you truly and intimately?

Sunday, Oct. 27 was the final Mass celebrated by Father Tom Doyle at Our Lady of Peace Parish before he retires.

Sporting their new helmets and shoulder pads, the Cardinal O'Hara High School football team lined up for practice and took their cues from Coach Shaquille Dudley, as assistant Coach Lewis Hawkins helped with the linemen.

There is something going around at South Buffalo's Notre Dame Academy - and the students are spreading it. Kindness is contagious and the student council wants everyone to catch it.

St. Luke's Mission of Mercy had a lot to be thankful for this past weekend as young volunteers helped to fill bags with Thanksgiving Day goodies for the clients the Buffalo mission serves.

At my small Catholic high school, I am grateful to have always had strong role models who were in the classes ahead of mine.

Three parishes boarded a bus at 4 a.m. on Oct. 13, then sped west to a youth rally in Bowling Green, Ohio. Billed as a middle school event like no other...

A National Youth Ministry Summit was held at the Franciscan University of Steubenville on July 31-Aug. 2.

This past summer, I worked as a horse counselor at Camp Turner.

Almost four years ago I graduated from Northern Chautauqua Catholic School, and not a day goes by where I don't reminisce and smile about the time I spent there.

Madeline Dorobiala's gift of mercy is on the rise.

The Holy Spirit is working through Notre Dame Academy as it starts a video club with reunited members of Daybreak TV Productions.

Millennials are notoriously blamed for being killers of previously-thought-necessary industries and activities: Applebees. Napkins. Golf. Mayonnaise.

After attending the Protecting God's Children® Workshop, attendees are asked to continue their training through monthly online training bulletins and periodic re-certifications.

Pope Francis has waved off the idea that young people are the future, saying they are the "now" and should be treated as such.

The gym of St. Bernadette School became a big top as the Orchard Park parish hosted their festive summer Bible Camp themed "Parade Around the Our Father."

Pope Francis recently wrote that young people are called to be witnesses of the Gospel, wherever they find themselves, by the way they live.

St. Joseph Collegiate Institute celebrated the success of its student athletes when 18 seniors caught the eye of college recruiters, and signed commitment letters to play for them.

Coming onto Youth Board I was a very shy and not very confident person, but now coming off of Youth Board I am more confident in myself and am open to talking more.

Pope Francis met with a group of high school students this weekend, encouraging them to monitor their cell phone use, so as not to create obstacles to a culture of encounter.

First-graders at St. John the Baptist School recently participated in a service project to help them understand the Lenten goal of giving alms. Organized by their teachers Jill Parrino and Melissa Richey, the students were asked to do chores and other odd jobs around their homes to earn some extra money.

For an hour, the gym floor at Christ the King School was awash with a sea of yellow and red jerseys as Christ the King battled St. Gregory the Great for the sixth-grade girls basketball championship

More than 600 high school students from all across the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo gathered for the 67th Annual Diocesan Youth Convention as they participated and got to "Power Up" their faith and relationship with God and others at the Buffalo Grand Hotel March 1-3.

For over a dozen years, come snow or shine, Camp Turner has provided a winter camp full of hikes, games and campfires. If the weather is right, snow forts are made, if not, hockey and crafts are still available.

When I had my first birthday, my parents thought that I would need a companion in the form of a dog. So for my first birthday present, I got a little beagle puppy and we ended up naming him Oscar.

DEPEW — Students at Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament School learned lessons about the spirit of giving, production, economics and sales. Each class was given $25 and challenged to use that money to create something that could be sold to make money for a charity chosen by the class.

Over the next five years, more than 1,000 children are expected to learn computer and engineering skills at Our Lady of Victory Elementary School. These skills will prepare students for careers that have not even been invented yet. This is thanks to the Susan E. Brvenik Foundation.

KENMORE — The halls of St. John the Baptist School are alive and buzzing with excitement as students, faculty and staff have jumped feet first into the Diocese of Buffalo's STREAM Education Initiative.

PANAMA CITY, Panama - Pope Francis celebrated the closing Mass of World Youth Day 2019 on Sunday, Jan. 27.

EGGERTSVILLE — St. Benedict School technology coordinator and pre-K through eighth-grade Technology teacher, Marcia Elliott, is enhancing her primary and intermediate grade coding program. She will be introducing coding robots Dash and Dot with the primary grades and Cue with her middle school students.

ORCHARD PARK — The students at Nativity of Our Lord School had a very busy in November. On Nov. 5, students gathered to pray for our nation. They said a rosary, dedicating each decade to a different government office.

World Youth Day 2019 opened Jan. 22 in Panama City, Panama. Over 150,000 have registered for the event which ran until Jan. 27. Usually held in the summer, this year's event was held during the cool season of Panama, which conflicted with the American school year. As a result, the Diocese of Buffalo has not planned a pilgrimage to the Central American city.

Christmas is over. Lent has not yet begun. How does a spirit-filled teen keep the faith in this middling time? The annual diocesan Youth Convention offers teens an opportunity to Power Up their faith over a three-day weekend filled with good talks, prayer and nearly a thousand new friends.

Recently the curtain went up on the Iroquois High School Drama Club production of "Godspell." While there have been many productions and revivals of the 1971 original, I was proud to be a part of this production. There are challenges inherent in pulling any production together, but "Godspell" presented its own unique ones.