"Nowhere you've been or anything you've ever done in your life, has taken you more than one step away from Christ," Steve Agrisano, popular Catholic singer and songwriter, told a sold-out arena of high school students and their chaperones during the Religious Education Congress' Youth Day Feb. 28.
With the theme, "About Face: Focused on God" the lively and well-organized day featured workshops for 15,000 high school students and their chaperones on topics such as chastity, living out the Biblical message, apologetics, social justice, celebrating liturgy, exploring a vocational call, being Catholic and having a sense of humor and even finding the Christian purpose of participating in high school athletics.
The day also included a Mass celebrated in two locations of the Anaheim Convention Center, with Cardinal Roger Mahony presiding in the arena and Auxiliary Bishop Oscar Solis presiding in one of the nearby halls.
Agrisano was one of the keynote performers to open the day-long event along with Jesse Manibusan, Doug Brummel and rapper Righteous B that left students clapping and dancing one minute, and deep in prayer the next.
During the Homily in the arena, two students each told stories of a moment of conversion in their lives. For Cruz Mesa, a parishioner of St. Louise De Marillac Church, Covina, in his senior year, he began feeling himself drift from the fervor of his faith he felt as a high school freshman and sophomore. He said that though he has had a desire to join the military since Sept. 11, 2001, he began to wonder if God still "needed" him.
Mesa then got a call that he was accepted to West Point Academy and he also received a call to speak at Youth Day. His good news and also attending Reconciliation helped him to see that God didn't forget about him.
"And he has a mission for each and every one of you," Mesa said.
Janeeka Perera, a student at Chaminade High School, West Hills, said she felt a change in her faith when she and her family went to Sri Lanka to help victims of the tsunami that struck Dec. 26, 2004. There, villagers asked if her family would donate shoes to students who needed them. Perera was able to meet the students and she learned that they would have been barred from school had they not had the shoes. She said that the moment made her realize how much she had taken for granted as a teenager.
"The villagers opened my eyes to what made God so difficult for me to find," she said. "An about face is being able to face God, even if you are not certain where he is, you just have to know, you just have to trust that he is there."
"God's love and mercy are always there for us, always calling us back," Cardinal Mahony said during his homily.
Much preparation
According to Mike Norman, coordinator of Youth Day for the past 12 years, work on the event starts about a year in advance. The archdiocesan Office of Religious Education staff works with a youth day coordinating team made up of high school students and their chaperones. The theme comes from the liturgical readings that coincide with Youth Day --- this year, from the book of Jeremiah.
"One of the kids said that it was like an 'about face' in marching band," Norman said. "No matter what you are doing, you can always turn your face back to God. And we just all loved that."
Agrisano, who wrote the Youth Day theme song "One Step Away," used information from the meeting to write it. This year is only the third Youth Day to have an official song specifically customized for the day.
For the first time, Youth Day included a "Vocations Lunch" where 30 students had lunch in small groups with five bishops and five other priests and religious sisters and brothers.
Chris Saenz, a 16-year-old parishioner of St. Louis of France Church in La Puente, said that he wanted to attend the vocation luncheon because he is considering becoming a missionary to South America or Asia. He was seated next to a Maryknoll sister that he had talked to about his call at a vocation fair at his parish a few weeks earlier.
"I was fortunate for her to be here," he said. "Hopefully, I can walk out of here today with a lot more information."
Melissa Villegas, 15, and Vanessa Aguirre, 14, of St. Joseph the Worker Church in Winnetka, said they most enjoyed attending the workshop "Without Regrets," led by Jason and Crystalina Evert, on living a life of chastity. They said that they learned from the session that "it is never too late to change your life."
"It makes people think and I think any teenager would find it important," Aguirre said.
St. Joseph the Worker youth attended the Congress in three busses with more than 120 students and chaperones.
Gabriel Almendariz, 14, of St. Christopher Church in West Covina, said he most enjoyed having the opportunity to attend Mass with a large group of students his own age.
"I learned that you could still have fun and learn about Jesus," he said.
Sarah Buckley, 15, attended the rally with 30 other students from her parish, St. Raymond in Downey. Her favorite speaker was Jessie Manibusan who "explained that the Eucharist is always in our lives and that it is meaningful to him."
First-time attendee Scott Lueke, 16, also from St. Raymond, said the Mass was the best he had been to. Lueke, who served as a Eucharistic Minister for the Mass, said, "I learned that you need to be appreciative of what you have. I am so grateful for everything we have." |