Youth Conference a memorable experience building faith and community

The National Catholic Youth Conference held Nov 16 – Nov 18 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, gathered people from across America for a life-changing encounter with Christ. It was a three-day experience of prayer, community, evangelization, catechesis, service, and empowerment for Catholic teenagers (of high school age) and their adult chaperones.

Diocesan representatives to the conference, including 24 youth and chaperones from the parishes of St. Joseph, Hillsborough; St. Joseph, Bound Brook, and a deacon from St. Matthias, Somerset, joined more than 12,000 NCYC participants for the “Fully Alive” conference.

Chaperones included Valeria Morales, youth minister, St. Joseph, Bound Brook, and Deacon John Radvanski, youth minister, St. Matthias, Somerset, accompanied five teens from St. Joseph, Bound Brook.

Youth minister Bob Ferretti and Marie and Josh Huang chaperoned 15 teens from St. Joseph Parish, Hillsborough.

REFLECTIONS!

 

St. Joseph, Bound Brook

Melanie Garcia Bautista: My NCYC experience was great, I got to learn more and grow spiritually and mentally. My biggest takeaway were all the messages … like “You are not a problem to be dealt with but a mystery to be encountered.” My favorite part of NCYC was the time spent with my group, reflecting and expressing our personal thoughts and opinions on certain subjects talked about or what we’ve seen during NCYC.

Sandra Moran Martinez: For me NCYC was an amazing experience where I met people from all around the world who also shared the love of my faith. I am so happy that I got to experience NCYC and that so many people also experienced NCYC and will take their experience with them back to their church. My biggest takeaway was, “Joy over fear; if we want to be “fully alive” we cannot be afraid.”

 

 

St. Joseph, Hillsborough

Youth minister Bob Ferretti: Having 12,000 young Catholics together, worshipping God in song, prayer, adoration, and the Eucharist is a very powerful experience. For the 24 teens who traveled from the Diocese of Metuchen to Indianapolis in November, it was, in many ways, life changing.

The theme this year, Fully Alive, allowed our teens to find ways to enter deeper into their relationship with Jesus wherever they find themself. The highlight of the pilgrimage for most of the teens we brought from St. Joseph Church in Hillsborough was Bishop Joe Espaillat from the Archdiocese of New York. Bishop Joe’s sharing of what Adoration is and how to enter more fully into relationship with Christ during it was impactful. His homily during the closing Mass was powerful – “If you want to be fully alive then you must choose joy over fear,” and he challenged us to return to our home parishes filled with joy.

Ally Quinn: I really enjoyed Adoration, which has helped me spend more time alone in my thoughts with God. Some of the musicians reinforced that worship can be exciting and fun rather than strict and stressful.

Megan Vogt: The understanding I gained from NCYC helped me realize that my faith is a lifelong journey and I am so excited to continue to experience God on this journey. NCYC helped to change my view and realize that experiencing the Lord will happen all throughout my life and every time I do, I learn something and my faith deepens.

Hannah Herterich: God is the one calling you to pray, He is always within you. When you struggle in life turn to prayer because God is always there to listen.

Katie Cusack: HAVE FUN! Even Bishop Joe said Jesus himself was a jokester. Part of being Catholic is spreading love and we must enjoy our faith to do that. … My favorite part about NCYC is the fact that I was able to experience it with a family. To have faith, you need a sense of community. The group that traveled to Indiana was one that could never be forgotten. It was an unbelievable bonding experience that made friends into family.

Bringing home the experience!

Grace Hanna: Letting the youth of our parish know that God has a plan for us is important because teens sometimes can be confused or unconfident about what they should do in their life.

Brenna Roarty: I would definitely bring back the idea of singing and worshiping God in more ways than just structured prayers.

Katie Cusack: I think it is important that everyone who attends youth group knows that everyone’s on a different journey in their faith and it is okay to not feel exactly like what the person next to you feels.

Alex Acocella: In our youth group we should be asking more controversial questions to gain deeper understandings and connections with God.

Ally Quinn: I really want to have a box of intentions since people are scared to speak up about their intentions but still want us to pray for them.

Megan Vogt: One thing that I think would be fun to bring back to youth group is a civil dialog format of discussion that I practiced in a breakout room which is basically creating a very structured discussion on a specified topic in an environment where everyone can speak their mind and interact with each other’s opinions without it getting tense or confrontational.