"This past week we addressed the problem of suffering and evil in the world. The goal of our activities was to help the Middle Schoolers understand why suffering and evil exist and are allowed by God who is good and loving.

The photos (below) show one of the group activities in which the table groups looked through newspapers for articles on both good and bad news, which they pasted into separate poster boards. After this activity, the groups had small group discussions with their faith leaders about how they feel when they hear stories about suffering, evil or pain, and what they do when a friend is hurting,in pain, or experiencing “bad news” in his or her own life.  

At the end of the sessions, we had a brief period of reflective prayer in which we prayed for people in the world affected by the bad news articles they saw in the newspapers as well as their own intentions."