Conferences aim to rejuvenate faith of Catholic teens

DENVER, Colo. - The heart of the annual Steubenville of the Rockies Conference in Denver was evangelization, and the basic Gospel message - God created us, our lives have meaning and Christ loved us so much he died for us - was everywhere, according to a Denver archdiocesan youth ministry official.

"This has been an extremely powerful coming together and the kids have responded so well," said Chris Stefanick, director of the Youth, Young Adult and Campus Ministry Office of the Denver Archdiocese. The July 21-23 conference drew 2,100 youths from all over the United States and Canada. "We had a hundred more youth on a waiting list," Stefanick told the Denver Catholic Register, archdiocesan newspaper. "Every space for this weekend was filled up back in March." The same weekend the Steubenville Atlanta Conference was held, drawing nearly 3,000 youths. The events were sponsored by the Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio, and are two of a dozen hosted for high school students by the university on its campus and around the country. Organizers described them as "a weekend to get rocked by God, to get serious about life in Christ and his church, and to learn the truth of the gospel." They include talks from nationally known speakers, large- and small-group discussion, reconciliation, praise and worship, and entertainment. In Denver, one of the featured speakers was musician Sean Forrest, founder of the movement "Movin' With the Spirit," which proclaims God's word through retreats, music and prayer. He addressed the young men at the conference on the subject of the "Unchanging Family," with special attention given to how to be a leader. For many years, Forrest played with bands in bars, living what he called a "party-on" type of life. Then he discovered Jesus, he said. "My life was not only wrong, but self-destructive," he said. "I could be a good-time drinking buddy and that was fine, but when I turned to God, all these people I knew thought I had a problem." The conference's closing event July 23 was a Mass celebrated by Denver Archbishop Charles J. Chaput. During his homily, the archbishop spoke on vocations and vacations and how equally important both are. "Consider a vocation, as in being a shepherd," he told the group. "Shepherds were commonly known to the people of the Old Testament; their role was well understood. The shepherd feeds, leads and protects the flock. We are called on to be good shepherds, regardless of what our future will hold." As for vacations, Archbishop Chaput spoke of Jesus telling the apostles, "Come away and rest." He added that the Third Commandment says to keep the Lord's day holy - rest just as God did on the seventh day following the creation of the earth. Vacations allow people to participate in the creative life of God and to give their spirit a chance for renewal, he said. "By vacations," the archbishop said, "I am not talking about just having free time. Rather, time for us to be free. It is important that we have this time; that we play and become refreshed in order to work, rather than work in order to play." For Victoria Martinez, 17, the conference was her third. "I return because of the warm feeling I get at adoration. It changes my life every time. I raise my arms and pray and it's as if I'm rejuvenated," she told the Denver Catholic Register. It was 16-year-old Matt Guerin's first time attending, but he was already making plans to return in 2007. "All the kids come together and talk about God in a way we feel comfortable with," he said. In Atlanta, the event was co-sponsored by Life Teen. Conference host and youth minister Paul George served as the event's anchor for the weekend. He talked about the theme of the weekend, "Unchanging," and told the teens that God revealed to him in prayer that he wanted to do a "rescue mission" at the conference. "What do you need to be rescued from?" George asked the audience. "Addiction? Sin? Fear? What do you need to be rescued from?" "I don't know where you come from, if your mom shoved you in a van.... I don't know if you believe in God or if this is the first time you've heard his name proclaimed," he said. "When we live in a world that's changing... he is constant and steady, a God you can build your life on." Father Jose Robles-Sanchez from St. Francis Cabrini Church in Alexandria, La., delivered the homily for the Mass July 22 on the theme of "respect me, baby." At one point he asked the band to play a little "Respect" to drive the message home. As Father Jose danced across the altar quizzing the teens about how to respond to peer pressure that would put them in a place of sin. "You are going to say, 'Respect me baby!'" he said. Mother of two and youth chaperone from St. Dominic's Parish in Panama City, Fla., Rowena Trzeciak, 54, was back for her third time as a volunteer, "For me it's to show teens that there is a better way to live than the world gives them." The celebrant of the final Mass July 23 was Father Tim Hepburn, campus chaplain at Emory University in Atlanta. He said he hoped that when youths looked back on the conference "they will know they experienced God."

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Copyright (c) 2007 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops