Diocesan youth attend national rally

By RENEE WEBB, Globe editor
November 3, 2005

Youth and adults from the Diocese of Sioux City were among the 20,000 to attend the National Catholic Youth Conference that was held Oct. 27 to 30 in Atlanta at the Georgia World Congress Center.

Jessica La Fleur, diocesan director of youth ministry, 163 people from 10 school, parish or cluster groups in the diocese attended the conference.

Members of the following parishes, clusters and Catholic schools were represented: Kuemper High School, Carroll; St. Rose of Lima Parish, Denison; St. Edmond High School, Fort Dodge; St. Mary Parish, Hawarden; Greene County Cluster; Sacred Heart Parish, Manning; St. Louis Parish, Royal; To Heaven's End Youth Group of Immaculate Conception and Nativity Parishes, Sioux City; Sacred Heart, Spencer and St. Michael Parish, Kingsley.

The conference was built on the theme - Winds of Change.

"They discussed how God is the wind that blows in our lives and how the winds of change constantly blow in our lives," noted La Fleur. Despite the fact that some winds or changes in people's lives can be negative they stressed that "through the changes in our lives, God is ever present."

Woven into the message was the concept that there is a call to conversion and change.

"Hear the wind, feel the wind and fly with it so to speak," she said. "God calls your heart to change."

For La Fleur, this was her third National Catholic Youth Conference. This particular conference offered more opportunities for prayer and prayer experiences.

Each day started with music, prayer and a keynote presenter, followed by more music. The same type of format concluded the day. During the day, conference goers could attend a wide array of workshops.

"This year something that they did differently is have some workshops for young men only and some for young women only. They did that when talking about dating, relationships and one on spirituality," said La Fleur.

The majority of the offerings were open to both the young men and women. Some of the workshops addressed service, poverty and faith at college. She noted that some were focused on catechesis - educational - and others were lighter, often concentrated on building community.

Carolyn Von Tersch, DRE and youth minister at St. Rose of Lima in Denison, has been to three NCYCs and found this one to be the best yet.

"This one was very refreshing," she said. "It added more of a spiritual dimension - a more prayerful mode to the conference. I think the kids really responded well to that."

She also found value in the workshops. Her favorite one was on chastity and human sexuality.

Von Tersch encourages other parishes to send youth to the national conference. Her daughter was one of the two from Denison to attend and she is already talking about attending the next conference that will be held in two years.

"NCYC was one of the most fun weeks of my life," said Jessica Washburn, a youth from Kingsley. "It was an awesome chance to meet people from all over America. One of the neatest things to me was that when I saw 20,000 Catholics from all over America it made me realize that there are kids out there who care about God. It just really made me feel good."

Washburn also thought it was awesome at the Masses when everyone sang together.

For Steph Seidl, a senior at Kuemper High School in Carroll, this was her second opportunity to attend NCYC and she said it was her best experience yet.

"My favorite part about attending NCYC is knowing that I

am not alone. Being able to spend just three days with 18,000 other

young individuals who are just like me made me realize that I am not the

only teenager out there living this particular lifestyle. I guess you

could say then that my favorite part was during the congressional

gatherings of the conference when everyone was together in the Georgia

Dome. It was amazing to see those 18,000 teenagers together under one roof," she said.

About 17,000 to 18,000 of the attendees were youth and the remainder were adult leaders and chaperones.

Sam Hacker, director of youth ministry for the To Heaven's End Youth Group in Sioux City, mentioned that nine youth from her youth group attended the conference. For Hacker, this was her sixth National Catholic Youth Conference.

"It was a wonderful conference. I absolutely found this conference to be very stimulating," she said. "The MCs had the kids motivated from minute one."

Hacker said that what stood out for her was the message that the youth can make a difference in their church and faith now.

"For so many years we looked at teenagers as being the future of the church. They are the present of the church," she stressed. "They are needed now."

Of the nine from her group to attend, seven were first-time conference goers. They are already discussing possible fund-raisers to assist them in going to the 2007 conference.

To build community, organizers of NCYC asked that different groups brings to exchange with others. Some brought beads, prayer cards, T-shirts, stickers, hats, buttons and other items.

La Fleur pointed out that Mass was offered everyday and reconciliation was available throughout the conference. The last major event for the conference was the closing liturgy on Oct. 29.

"The liturgy really moved me," she said. "It is very empowering for the kids to be among their peers - all dealing with the same things and yet they are very pumped about their Catholic faith."