Teens fired up by Ohio meeting

Anne Dunn wonders if attending the National Catholic Youth Conference the next time will have the same impact as her initial thrill last weekend at being among 20,000 Catholic teenagers from across the country.

Matt Hathaway, on the other hand, is already planning to return as a junior chaperon for the next NCYC in 2009

And Samantha Bagnoli, whose attendance this year made her a two-time veteran, swears that it's just as exciting the second time around.

"I thought it was going to be 'all Church, all the time' -- and it wasn't," said Samantha. Says the 17-year-old from Mechanicville High School: "If I wasn't a senior, I would definitely go again."

Weekend of faith

The trio of teens were among 342 youth and chaperons from the Albany Diocese who traveled to Columbus, Ohio, for the biennial conference, whose theme was "Discover the Way."

The Nov. 8-10 gathering included workshops and speakers on faith-related subjects, daily liturgies, concerts and activities.

But summing it up in those few words, according to the teens who went, doesn't begin to describe the atmosphere that sent them home faith-filled and energized.

"You're kind of afraid to tell everyone in school, 'I believe in God,'" remarked Matt, 16, who attends St. Mary's parish in Coxsackie. But, at NCYC, "you don't have to be scared. It was an eye-opening experience."

Looking for God

Adam Fisk, a junior at Tamarack High School and a parishioner of St. George's Church in Pittstown, heard about NCYC through a Bible-study group, but he had doubts about going.

"My heart was wavering on whether I did believe in God or not," he noted. "There was no evidence showing me God is real."

He decided to sign up for NCYC for two reasons: He'd heard that 20,000 teenagers attended, which sounded like an impressive number; and he liked the idea that participants traded souvenirs from their home states.

He came home with a megaphone he'd gotten in a swap with a teen from Chicago, plus a cross from Ohio, a water bottle from California, a pin from Texas -- and a different outlook on faith.

'Fabulous' trip

"The entire trip was extremely fabulous, from the speakers to the workshops to the closing prayer," the 16-year-old stated. "I was flabbergasted."

He was particularly struck by the stories of keynoters Rev. R. Tony Ricard, a priest of the New Orleans Archdiocese who spoke on how his parish was affected by Hurricane Katrina; and Renee Bondi, a singer and music teacher who became a quadriplegic at 29 and was told she'd never speak again above a whisper.

Against all odds, she regained her voice and now speaks on faith and sings to national audiences.

"It was amazing just listening to this woman speak!" Adam enthused. "Her story was one miracle after another."

Impressions

Abby Kizer of St. Madeleine Sophie parish in Guilderland was similarly impressed by both Ms. Bondi and Tony Melendez, a musician born without arms who plays guitar and organ with his feet.

"They were the most inspirational," said the teen, who's 15 and attends Guilderland High.

Abby and her brother, Colin, had an important task before NCYC: They designed the t-shirts worn there by some participants from the Albany Diocese. Their logo included a cross and a boat, along with the words of the conference's theme, "Discover the Way."

Aside from feeling that responsibility, Abby was also affected by NCYC itself.

"There's not a lot of teens that go to my church, so meeting teens from around the country was overwhelming -- just seeing all those people there that believe the same things I do, sharing with other people my age," she remarked. "I'm going to go back in two years, because it was amazing. I feel changed."

Enthusiasm

Expressing enthusiasm about faith was a high point for all the teens.

"Our church is really subtle," Samantha said of her home parish, Assumption/St. Paul in Mechanicville, noting that most parishioners are older than her.

But when she saw peers at NCYC singing and dancing at Mass, "I came out of my shell. I said, 'You know what, I will, too!'"

She ended up not just meeting teens from other states, but many from New York, with whom she exchanged FaceBook and other contact information in addition to hats, beads and pins.

New friends

Anne, a senior at Albany High, was surprised to find herself passing other groups at NCYC and screaming the name of her home state so they would scream theirs back, then stopping to chat.

"You only experience 20,000 people doing the same thing once in your life," she shrugged.

Adam agreed, noting: "I'm normally shy with people I don't know, but the opening speaker said to 'be fearless this weekend.'" So he made friends and got phone numbers of teens from around the country.

"Now that I've been there, I realize I need to start talking to more people," he said. "There's a lot of good in people that needs to be brought out."

Insights

A workshop called "Being a Man of God" and another on popular music made Adam think about his own positive and negative traits.

For example, he'd always stereotyped all rap music as bad, but he learned in the workshop about a rap song on a "top-10" list for its positive lyrics. He saw that his generalization had kept him from appreciating some good music.

He also learned about his role as a "man of God," which made him think about times he had told lies. "A man of God should be honest," he said.

Impressive session

"Do Life," a concurrent session at the conference, hit home for Eileen Quandt of St. Joseph's Church in Schoharie. A junior at Schoharie High School, she appreciated the session's message about making life sacred and "real."

"The description [of the workshop] talked about having true relationships in life, but the speakers talked about a lot of other things like forgiveness and trust," she noted. "It was just really great."

Eileen was among many NCYC attendees who said their experience is hard to communicate with people who didn't go.

"It's completely different" than going to Mass at home or attending faith formation classes, she said. "The environment was a lot different than home -- so many young people, so energetic. I'm a lot more into being a Catholic now and my faith. I wish some of my friends my age could have come."

Belief restored

Matt said that his friends who weren't at NCYC could never understand how much the weekend affected him -- "not even close."

Before the conference, he'd been thinking about "a friend that died last year at this time. I was questioning God. One [NCYC] speaker said there's no accidents, that everything's planned.

"That got me back to believing, I guess."

(Trading souvenirs was a fun part of NCYC for many of the teens. "I got a sailor's hat and a Texas shirt that said, 'Peace, y'all,'" Samantha told The Evangelist. Abby ended up with quite a few hats, including one shaped like a cheeseburger. "I was the trading queen, I guess," she said, laughing. "The whole weekend was incredible," stated Eileen. "It wasn't one thing -- it was all of it." Adam added: "There's no way I could have seen any of this stuff anywhere else. It could not be re-created anywhere else.")

TEEN DIES

Tragedy marred meeting

Teens from the Albany Diocese were among thousands of NCYC participants who prayed and sent condolences to the family of Veronica Gantt, a Las Vegas teen who was struck by a car and killed just after arriving at the conference.

Anne found out about the tragedy before her group arrived. "It was kind of shocking, but it brought us together," she told The Evangelist.

Many Albany teens wrote condolence cards for Veronica"s family and parish.

"I wrote that she and her family are in my prayers, and that God has a way of making things better," Adam said.

He chose those words out of the belief that "if a family is religious enough to send their child to NCYC, they must have" faith.

"We prayed a lot for her family and her parish," said Eileen. "It was really a tragedy. It could have been any of us."

Adam participated in some discussions that covered how the accident might have been avoided through safety procedures. Veronica had been walking back from McDonald's the first night of the conference when she was struck.

Adam said he couldn't stop thinking about the group Veronica had traveled with to NCYC, who had arrived excited but went home "heartbroken" -- and of Veronica herself.

"We had a moment of silence for her," he noted. (KB)

(11/15/07) [[In-content Ad]]