Youth learn at conference

Near midnight at a recent conference, Fredi Morocho bowed his head for a few minutes of prayer. He looked up two hours later.

He said that "words are not enough" to describe his experience as a delegate to the Northeast Hispanic Youth Ministry Regional Encuentro, a conference aimed at helping Hispanic youth grow in faith and involvement with the Church.

The conference was held March 24-26 in Fairfield, Pennsylvania. "Encuentro" is a Spanish word meaning "encounter."

The Encuentro, coordinated by the Northeast Hispanic Catholic Center in New York City, drew more than 300 Hispanic youth from Maine to Washington, D.C., including Mr. Morocho and three others from Holy Family parish in Albany.

Six Holy Family parishioners will also attend the national Encuentro in June at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana.

"I told myself that it was going to be a good experience, but I did not know the extent of how far I was going to go spiritually," said Mr. Morocho, who is 23.

Participants attended Mass in Spanish and Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, and talked about ways they help their parishes and peers develop spiritually. They discussed the growing Hispanic ministries in 30 northeastern U.S. dioceses and in their own areas, and exchanged ideas on "how we can grow as a Church and a community," according to Mr. Morocho.

Yoloxochitl Vidal, a 20-year-old native of Mexico now studying at Hudson Valley Community College in Troy, attended because she wanted "to know more about my religion, about the teachings of Jesus Christ."

Being at the Encuentro was "almost like being home," she said. "They were people like me -- they spoke Spanish, and they believed in God. Sometimes, you think you are the only person."

Participants across the board, said Mr. Morocho, expressed the need for more priests who speak Spanish and a desire among Hispanic youth for Bible studies, talks on theology, prayer and spiritual growth. They said they needed "total support from our parishes and spiritual leaders in order to accomplish all the ideas."

Ms. Vidal said that, for many participants, "it [means] so much to be part of a group" of young Catholics of Hispanic heritage.

Since coming to the U.S. for school in 2004, she has missed the traditions of Catholic practice in Mexico, such as special Friday Lenten celebrations.

Mr. Morocho called the Encuentro "a great experience, and most important, a place where we can see how we can bring more youth into the Church."

Ms. Vidal hopes to "involve more people in this, and to learn something about me -- about how to be Hispanic and Catholic in this country."

(The delegates began preparing for the event a year ago, when they heard about the Encuentro from members of a Hispanic youth and young adult program in North Carolina who spoke in Albany on how to expand ministries to Hispanics and attract young people to church.

Since then, the group at Holy Family have held "retreats, workshops and instruction on how if we [develop] a spiritual life, our life in general can just change and be better," said Mr. Morocho.

Currently, they are working with youth at a Schenectady parish to develop a live, outdoor Way of the Cross exhibition on Good Friday.)

(4/6/06) [[In-content Ad]]