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More than 200 high school students across the Albany Diocese are expected to fill LaSalle Institute in Troy this weekend for the first diocesan youth rally in four years.

Themed "God is Love" in a nod to "Amazing God," the Diocese's three-year evangelization and spiritual renewal initiative, the rally will include:

• testimonials and skits about faith by teenagers;

• music by Popple, a Catholic acoustic humor rock band, as well as the diocesan youth and young adult musical group;

• workshops for youth on the Christian response to bullying and for adults on engaging youth in the Church;

• service activities, such as making hygiene kits for homeless families at Bethesda House in Schenectady, Christmas ornaments for the City Mission and Thanksgiving placemats for the Salvation Army; and

• a walk through a "prayer labyrinth."

Two national speakers will teach participants how to tap into God's love for them.

"We know the nature of God is to surround us with abundance," explained Rich Curran, a Wisconsin-based speaker. "So how do I, as a teenager, tune into that?"

Mr. Curran claimed that most of the time when people talk to themselves, they do so in a negative manner - especially during adolescence. He will ask the teens to help him act out situations to teach them about confidence.

Bob Perron, the other speaker, will outline steps to understand God's love: first, he said, one must commit oneself to trust in God and in prayer; second, one must live faith in a community of other people; last, one must show courage to live out the Gospel.

In a separate workshop, Mr. Perron will lead a discussion about the responsibility of Catholics to break the cycle of bullying in schools and neighborhoods.

As director of youth ministry for the Diocese of Des Moines, Iowa, Mr. Perron has advocated against bullying for years. He took a job at a teen suicide hotline during college, where he studied psychology.

His first call was from a junior in high school who was being bullied. Mr. Perron said he didn't have a chance to talk to the student before he killed himself.

Anyone can be bullied - not just the scrawny kid of popular stereotype, Mr. Perron said. "Targets" of bullying tend to be shy and socially awkward or subject to ridicule because of a physical attribute.

When Jesus was crucified, the speaker said, people stood and watched or walked away. Youth must stand up for peers who are being bullied in the way that, ideally, the young people would stand up for Jesus.

(The youth rally starts Friday at 5:30 p.m. and ends Saturday evening. Registration for Saturday is still being accepted at the special rate of $20; call Dave Stagliano, 453-6630.)

(11/11/10) [[In-content Ad]]

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