I serve as the NextGen Director at St. Ignatius, but for my family, this parish has been home for eight years. It is where we found community, close friends, and where our daughters have grown in faith. Each week, their favourite place is the Good Shepherd Atrium—a space alive with awe, wonder, and discovery.
Before ministry, I was an architect. I learned how light can transform a space. In the Atrium, God’s light transforms hearts in the same way. Children enter a room where the ordinary becomes sacred. Every object, every gesture invites curiosity, reflection, and encounter.
The Atrium is not a classroom. There are no lectures, no rigid lessons. Adults walk alongside children, observing, listening, and accompanying them as they discover God personally. Sofía Cavalletti, developer of Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, reminds us that every child has an innate capacity for a relationship with God, waiting to be recognized and nurtured.
I have seen this firsthand. When asked, “Who is God for you?” a 7-year-old child named Alejandro drew a candle surrounded by stars and said, “God is the light of the world, and He made everything for us.” No one taught him this—he discovered it. Stories like his fill the Atrium: children giving themselves to God, opening their hearts, finding joy in His presence.
For years, I watched my own daughters draw, tell stories, or share discoveries in the Atrium. I often thought it was just another “class” assignment or activity. Only now do I see the depth of what was happening: each drawing, each word, each question was a personal encounter with God. It took years for me to understand that the Atrium is not about lessons—it is about a sacred space where children find God in their own way, and adults witness, accompany, and are transformed alongside them.
Parents witness the wonder too. Children who were restless become attentive and peaceful. Parents often find themselves drawn into God’s presence alongside their child. The Atrium transforms not only young hearts but adult hearts as well, creating a shared experience of faith.
For our church, the Atrium is more than a program—it is a living testimony to God’s work in young lives. Through the Atrium, we get to be witnesses of transformation, to accompany, nurture, and celebrate each encounter with God.
The Atrium is a hidden gem—a pearl of great price. Every story of discovery, every moment of awe, every spark of faith is a fruit of God’s light. The fruits are real, lasting, and deeply transformative—for children, families, and adults privileged to walk alongside them.