Schenectady youth attend a 'Force-ful' event

Titled "Odyssey 2000," the retreat looked at the hero's journey and how Christians are called to walk it. The retreat was open to youth in grades 10 through 12. Some parishes made the retreat part of their Confirmation requirements; others opened it up to all youth of the parish. Ninety young people attended along with 12 youth leaders.

The peer-led retreat was one of several events planned by SCRECA this year to pool the resources in the deanery. SCRECA has also hosted a youth Mass and offered catechist training as a group.

Joint effort

Sister Monica Murphy, CSJ, guidance counselor at Notre Dame-Bishop Gibbons School, agreed. She said the young people were able to witness the diversity of the Church and see that it's larger than their parish. Since this was a peer-led retreat, they were also able to see that faith is important to people their own age.

"They saw faith is alive in other young people," Sister Monica said. "It's not just older people feeding them things."

Youth to youth

"It's important for peers to share with peers," he said. "Then they see it's not just adults that God works through."

Rev. George Fleming, associate pastor of St. John the Evangelist and retreat facilitator, added: "Youth speak with a different kind of authority. Other youth can identify with them."

The youth who spoke showed a vulnerability to their peers, he said. Those listening were grateful because they could recognize the courage it took to publicly share their faith.

Attention

Donna Simone, religious education coordinator at St. John the Baptist, said, "Everyone was paying attention. They weren't just here because we made them come."

Sister Monica was most impressed with the reaction of the retreatants to the witness talks given by team members. "There was applause after," she said. "I thought that was beautiful."

Reaction

Alexandra Sautin, a parishioner of St. Thomas and junior at ND-BG, was also impressed with the crowd. "There wasn't supposed to be this many," she said. "I had to be here for Confirmation, but they made it more fun. They didn't just lecture us; we got to do stuff."

The retreat utilized video clips from "Star Wars," shown on a large screen projection television, "a great gimmick to get them interested," Father Fleming said.

The youth facilitators used elements of popular culture to begin discussion. For example, the "Star Wars" trilogy talks about "The Force" that allows the hero to succeed. In his talk, Joe Brennan encouraged the youth to see the force of God in their own life.

"Who is the Force for you? This is important," he said. "Who someone else says God is may help you to form your own vision of the Lord, but God is who you need Him to be. God will continue to be this forever. Even if your needs change, He will continue to fulfill your needs. God is always available to us."

(02-04-99) [[In-content Ad]]