How YTOL Started

YTOL began in 1976, during an international meeting of the Teams of Our Lady in France. Teams of Our Lady (TOL) is an international movement for married couples. During the meeting, youth who came with their families wanted to experience a community similar to that of their parents. They wanted to share their friendship, faith and joy with each other, to take on an active role in the life of the Church and to reach out to their friends. The movement was born out of these shared aspirations.

Since then, the movement has spread across the globe. It has over 5000 members in 12 countries: Brazil, Columbia, Canada, Haiti, Portugal, Spain, Italy, France, Belgium, Lebanon, Syria and Mozambique. Its current international headquarters are located in Lisbon, Portugal.

YTOL in Canada

YTOL in Canada began in 1998. As of September 2001, there are a total of 9 teams in Windsor, Waterloo, Kitchener, Mississauga, Toronto and Scarborough.

In Canada, YTOL works with two age groups. It helps high school students get organized in their parishes and gives young adults, who work or study, support in their growing faith. Only in Canada does YTOL work with high school students. Internationally, the age group involved in the movement is older (post-secondary).

Lay Movements in the Catholic Church

Lay people are members of the Church who are not professed religious. They are all called to work in the Church. As lay people, they “have the right and duty, individually or grouped in associations, to work so that the divine message of salvation may be known and accepted by all men throughout the earth. This duty is the more pressing when it is only through them that men can hear the Gospel and know Christ. Their activity in ecclesial communities is so necessary that, for the most part, the apostolate of the pastors cannot be fully effective without it.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church 900)

A lay movement is an organization of lay people who want to serve the Church together. While working with the Church structures, a movement also needs its own structure to coordinate activities with its members.