BY PRISCILLA GREEAR
Staff Writer
MARIETTA--Teens from throughout the archdiocese gathered at a Life Teen
Youth Rally Nov. 7 to gain strength to use against the many peer pressures they
face and to persevere in their spiritual journeys.
Sponsored by the archdiocesan office of youth ministry, the rally drew 350
teens to St. Ann’s Church for a time to praise God, explore their faith
and make friends. The goal, according to national Life Teen director Randy
Raus, was to encourage teens to surrender their lives to Christ and to help
them on their spiritual pilgrimage toward the new millennium.
“It’s a great opportunity to meet other people your age,”
said 16-year-old Erin Burley, a parishioner at the Church of St. Gabriel in
Fayetteville. “(The rally) has inspired me a lot.”
Christian recording artist Israel opened the event performing “Against
the Stream,” the theme for the day. As he performed, teens sang and
clapped along, lifting their hands in praise. St. Ann’s Life Teen band,
led by Ed Bolduc, also provided music throughout the day.
In a morning session called “Vital Signs,” Father Tim Hepburn,
pastor of St. Gabriel’s Church, challenged the young people to develop a
relationship with God by listening and talking to Him in prayer and by reading
Scripture.
“Where are your eyes fixed? Do you ever fix your eyes on what would be
the word of God, the Scriptures?” he asked. “How do you know what God
is saying if you don’t hear His word?”
Sitting close together on the gym floor, teens then shared some of the rough
currents they fight such as loneliness, low self-esteem, fear of not fitting
in, and also temptations to cheat on tests, gossip, use drugs and alcohol, have
sex, and be apathetic toward life.
“Today can be a day that changes the rest of your life. That’s the
goal,” said Ricardo Sanchez, a songwriter for Israel, calling the teens to
a deeper conversion to Christ. “Whatever’s been bugging you,
whatever’s been a storm in your life, whatever you’ve been struggling
with...you can surrender it. You’ve got to be real. You’ve got to be
truthful.”
In an afternoon session, Kathy Wolf, director of archdiocesan religious
education and faith formation, described her own struggle with low self-esteem
as a teen. Wolf said she felt unloved and that led her to try and prove herself
by taking care of everyone else’s problems. After accepting the false
message that she wasn’t good enough, she also stopped going to the
sacrament of confession, Wolf said.
She returned to the sacrament at the age of 24 and told the teens that she
has learned that “confession is a place where I can check that baggage,
let it go.”
“When I walk in with a priest, I sit down and share my heart and all
the struggles of not being good enough. What I get in return are the arms of
Christ around me-- the unconditional love poured out to me,” she said.
The need for confession and for God’s unconditional love to heal her
self-esteem has continued into adulthood, she added. “I have to fight that
every day--keep going to confession to open myself up to the sacramental life
that the church offers and now, more and more, I do believe the truth that I am
a child of God. All of you are loved.”
Reminding teens that no problem is too big for God, she said, “My
challenge to you is to drop your bags at the foot of the cross, to embrace the
sacramental life of the church and to not believe the lies.”
Israel also spoke of his feelings of worthlessness as a youth which led him
to fight physically with people. In order to feel better about himself, he
said, he had numerous sexual partners and fathered a child out of wedlock. He
said he eventually surrendered his life to God and began experiencing
God’s mercy and healing.
Joseph Lynch, who serves as an older core member for the Life Teen program
at St. Pius X Church in Conyers, spoke of his experience with epilepsy as a
child, from which he has been healed, and said it had given him a deeper
awareness of the dignity of each person and, in particular, of persons with
disabilities who should never be mocked. “I know everyone in here has made
fun of somebody,” Lynch said. “You have no right to make fun of other
people.”
As Jesus performed radical loving acts, Matthew Robaszkiewicz, archdiocesan
director of youth ministry, challenged participants to do one unusual act in
the upcoming week to witness to their faith. Teens responded with suggestions
such as beginning a prayer group, avoiding gossip, confronting someone taking
God’s name in vain, inviting someone to church or praying before a meal.
Father Hepburn closed the program calling youth to come to Jesus through the
Eucharist and give their burdens to Him in order to receive His power to live
the lives to which they are called. Forming a circle, teens knelt and prayed
before the Blessed Sacrament.
Teens at the rally described how God strengthens them to overcome the heavy
pressures of youth.
Corey Gledhill, a member of the Life Teen program at St. Ann’s, said
her faith strengthens her to resist temptations to drink, smoke and have sex.
She strives to set a good Christian example for others.
“It’s hard because those temptations do come to you, but if you do
look to God as your role model, you can overcome those temptations,” she
said.
Erin Burley said that she gains strength to resist peer pressure through her
church family, where she meets people she can really trust.
“When everyone else has gone outside (following Life Teen meetings), I
usually go inside and talk with teens because I feel they can probably relate
to whatever situation I’m in,” Burley said.
Kelly Litton, a 16-year-old parishioner at Mary Our Queen Mission in
Norcross, said that as a home school student she struggles with loneliness and
meeting people.
“I’m not comfortable and I don’t know how to fit in at a lot
of places. I don’t know how to talk to people,” Litton said. At the
rally, she said, “There are a lot of people and they’re all nice and
they’re all willing to come up and talk to you and be your friend.
It’s very comforting.”
Jeff Morris, a 17-year-old in the youth group at St. Mark’s Church in
Clarkesville, said that there aren’t many Catholics in northeast Georgia.
The rally was an opportunity to meet others of his faith. He said it made him
examine past actions and want to improve himself and gave him new strength to
stand up for his beliefs and resist the pressure to drink alcohol and smoke.
“They’re an amazing group of teens. They were very real,”
Raus said following the rally. “Teens are here for the truth. They’re
not shallow.”
|
