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Happening ... in the Local Church
2009 National Catholic Youth Conference
'I wish everyone in the world could see what I see'
 Traffic
stops in downtown Kansas City as thousands of Catholic teens join in a
Eucharistic procession. (Photos by Kevin Cullen) |
 Hannah
Peterson, left, and Sarah Willis pose for a photo with a cardboard image
of Pope Benedict XVI. The girls are members of St. Joan of Arc, Kokomo. |
 Father
David Hellmann, Father John Zahn and Father David Hasser celebrate Mass
with Local Church teens at their hotel. |
By Kevin Cullen
The
Catholic Moment
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — City police stopped all traffic. Grand Boulevard and 14th Street fell silent on what would have been a busy Friday morning downtown.
Bystanders knelt on the sidewalks as 21,000 Catholic teenagers and their chaperones followed the Blessed Sacrament for five blocks through the heart of this city of 475,000.
Reverence and adoration reigned as a bishop and an archbishop, dressed in golden vestments, carried the Body of Christ in a glittering monstrance beneath a fringed canopy. Bells tinkled softly as scores of priests and seminarians, some holding candles, joined in the Eucharistic procession from the Sprint Center to the Kansas City Convention Center.
It was purely, proudly Catholic. And for many, it was the unforgettable highlight of a faith-filled gathering called the 2009 National Catholic Youth Conference, staged Nov. 19-21.
“It was awesome, completely awesome,” said Jay Frazee, volunteer youth minister at St. Ambrose Parish in Anderson, one of 239 people from across the Diocese of Lafayette-in-Indiana who made the long bus trip.
He saw no boisterousness, he said, “just good kids, united in the love of Jesus. They love Christ and aren’t ashamed to be Catholic.”
Frazee said they represent the Church today, not the “future Church … I hope that the fire turns into a raging torrent.”
“From
where we were standing, we could see all the people,” said Samuel Engels,
15, of St. Joseph Church, Leb-anon. “It was something. I could hear all
these people saying prayers. It made me feel closer to God and to the Church
to be with people from all over the country, all Catholic.”
“You
definitely can see that you’re not alone,” said Sarah Jones, 16, of St. Joan
of Arc Church in Kokomo. “It’s a cool bonding experience that you can’t get
anywhere else. It’s very unifying. The energy you get here gives you more of
a reason to pursue your faith.”
The National Catholic Youth Conference, usually called “NCYC,” is held every two years and it attracts teenagers from all across the United States. The next one, in 2011, will be held in Indianapolis. The 2009 event was hosted by the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph and the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas. Approximately 1,000 volunteers helped.
The conference offered a packed agenda that included nationally known Catholic singers and speakers, plus Masses and scores of workshops for both youth and adult leaders. Dozens of priests heard thousands of confessions. A 191,000-square foot “thematic park” offered games and a simulated rain forest. Forty live bands performed, and more than 400 exhibitors promoted Catholic colleges and universities, seminaries, religious orders and countless products, including “Virginity Rocks!” T-shirts. Other attractions included an adoration chapel, Comedy Club, a prayer chapel and a dance.
According to local convention and visitors’ officials, NCYC was Kansas City’s third-largest event in 2009, filling thousands of hotel rooms, hundreds of tour buses and numberless restaurants. The economic impact was estimated at $15.5 million.
NCYC, staged since 1983, often has the appearance of Mardi Gras. Students wear custom-made T-shirts, telling the world where they’re from, and goofy hats that feature Midwestern cows, Maryland crabs, Florida sharks and New York “Statue of Liberty” crowns made of green foam rubber. Participants traded caps, shirts, beads, buttons and pins.
Performers and speakers received countless standing ovations from the infectiously joyful crowd. When one discussed the signs of a bad boyfriend, they screamed “Dump him!” At other times, they took turns shouting “N-C!” then “Y-C!” When asked, “Who’s the Church?” they yelled, “We are!”
After being lowered to the stage from on high — via cables — Bob McCarty spoke at the kickoff event at the Sprint Center, a glittering sports/entertainment venue downtown. He is executive director of NCYC’s sponsor, the National Federation for Catholic Youth Ministry.
He urged the teens to be disciples, to model their lives after those of the saints, and to “step up” and “step out” against discrimination, abortion, and other social and moral ills.
Steve Angrisano, a popular Catholic recording artist, said that NCYC showed that “the young Catholic Church is alive and well.” He urged the teens to “be a light in a world that needs that light so desperately.
“I wish everyone in the world could see what I see from here,” he said from center stage of the Sprint Center.
“I don’t know why you came here, but I know it will be beyond your wildest imagination if you let it be,” he said. “Don’t be distracted. Don’t waste your time here texting your friends back home. They’ll be there.”
Jesse Manibusan, a musician and inspirational speaker, urged the students to surrender their lives to Christ and follow the theme of NCYC 2009: “Christ Reigns.”
“I saw Jesus this weekend,” he said.
NCYC represents the “young Church,” said Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, of the Diocese of Galveston-Houston.
Brian Johnson, his director of youth ministry, challenged the high-schoolers to “leave Kansas City fired up for Jesus.”
It’s not enough for Christ to reign in one’s heart, he said. The challenge is to carry Christ’s love into the larger world, and spread the Gospel message of faith, hope, love and forgiveness.
“People will know (him) by your actions. They will know him through your deeds,” Johnson said. “If you think the point of this weekend is to jump around and be crazy, that’s not enough. Be the hands of Christ in your world.
“Walk the walk,” he said. “It’s not enough for you just to talk the talk … Don’t hold him in. Share and give and experience Christ to others.”
Those were powerful messages, said Brian Donahue, youth minister to high school students at St. Mary Church, Alexandria. He is the father of four daughters, three of them teenagers.
Teenagers tend to remember the things they saw and heard at NCYC, he said, and that provides valuable “back up” to the lessons that parish youth ministers teach them.
“It’s not just my parents’ religion; it has been handed down” from Christ himself, he said.
“When you expose your students and children to new experiences, you have no idea what they’ll pick up on,” he said. “Parents have told me that the Number One thing they (their children) remember is NCYC. They’ll have children someday, and NCYC will come up. You’re building bridges to the parents of tomorrow.
“We do this because we love our children and we love our faith,” Donahue said.
NCYC provides “a taste of the larger Church. They (the teenagers) are seeing 20,000 other people here excited about their faith. You can’t help but be affected by all the enthusiasm,” said Father John Zahn, associate pastor at Our Lady of Grace Church, Nobles-ville. He has attended five such conferences and accompanied 40 teens from his parish to Kansas City.
The bus rides help deepen faith, he said, and so do the silent times — during Masses, adoration and the Eucharistic procession.
“Twenty-thousand adolescents, absolutely silent … you don’t find that in a classroom,” he said.
“It’s just amazing to meet people from all over the country,” said Nick Engels, 15, of St. Joseph Church, Lebanon. A musician, he said he identified with the Catholic themes of the musical performances.
The final event of the conference was a Mass at the Sprint Center, celebrated by Bishop Robert W. Flinn of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, and concelebrated by 11 other bishops. Some 250 priests distributed Communion.
Bishop Jaime Soto, the homilist, said that the Internet has led to a “helter-skelter grab for information.”
“Jesus has been tapping on the home page of your heart. He wants to text the truth of God’s mercy on your soul,” he said.
The closing Mass was the highlight for Mary Kunkel, 18, of St. Louis de Montfort Parish, Fishers.
“It
lasted three hours and it was beautiful. It made me feel happy to be
Catholic and proud to have the faith,” she said. “It is hard to describe,
but it was life-changing.”
“As we were all saying the Creed, what we believe, it was kind of overwhelming,” said Eric Seitz, 17, a fellow parishioner. “The power of God was in the room.”
Maui
Williams, 17, loved the happiness that she found at NCYC. She’s from Our
Lady of Grace Parish in Noblesville.
“It’s cool to be able to be with everybody who are so happy and glad to be here,” she said. “No one was cranky. It was awesome.”
The highlight, for her, was exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, just before the Eucharistic procession began.
“It’s tangible; you can feel how everyone is feeling, how happy they are, and how much they love God,” she said.
Eric Lecher had the same experience. He is associate director for youth/young adult faith formation in the Pastoral Office for Catechesis, and coordinated the trip.
Although he was seated high in the auditorium, he was moved by the bishops and other clergy, all kneeling in adoration before the golden monstrance that held the Body of Christ.
“The energy was electric. The Spirit was truly present; you could feel it in the air,” he said. “Lots of kids and adults said they had never been exposed to something like that on that scale.”
“You felt that you were at the altar,” Lecher said. “You were far away, but you felt that close.”
• • •
Coming next week: More on the messages from NCYC speakers