BY PRISCILLA GREEAR

Staff Writer

MARIETTA--Nearly 600 teens attending the Youth 2000 prayer festival at St. Joseph’s Church joyfully sang and prayed by candlelight into the evening before the Blessed Sacrament as part of the weekend’s faith-building experience.

The Feb. 26-28 event, led by Franciscan Friars of the Renewal from the Bronx, N.Y., included Masses celebrated by Archbishop John F. Donoghue and Father Rick Mickey from Memphis, Tenn., talks on the sacraments and times of meditation and worship. Organized by St. Joseph’s parishioner Herb Blanchard, the retreat also featured music by Lion of Judah, the parish Life Teen band. Flags of several countries were displayed along with a theme banner, “I Am the Bread of Life.”

Teens from 27 parishes in Georgia and eight parishes in North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee took part in the retreat.

Anne Brawley, national Youth 2000 director, said the goals are to help youth learn about the Gospel and Catholic teaching. She also hopes the young people will come to know Christ as a friend and develop a love of His real presence in the Eucharist.

“It’s so centered in the truth and the Gospel and many of them find it here at the retreat,” she said. “Everywhere we go the young people are responding beyond all expectations to the solid teachings of the church. They really want to fit into the church. The Holy Father has been calling young people to evangelize. He challenges the young people and this retreat is a challenge.”

The Eucharist-centered, international festival began in the United States in 1992 in response to a call by Pope John Paul II at World Youth Day 1989 for youth to evangelize as the third millennium approached.

Father Mickey spoke of the pope’s love for young people as he described the 78-year-old pontiff’s recent visit to St. Louis. In his homily, the priest reminded youth of the Gospel call to love one’s enemies. He recounted a trip to Rome as a young priest where he celebrated Mass with the pope and gave him letters from second-graders. The letters made the pontiff smile and appear joyful. The pope then gave him holy cards for the children and said, “You tell the children that their Holy Father loves them.”

“It’s easy for me and probably for many of you to love the Holy Father because he loves us back,” Father Mickey said. “It’s easy to love those who love you. It’s really difficult when you love somebody who used to love you, but they don’t seem to love you anymore ... when they don’t always agree with everything you believe and stand for. People hurt you.”

Father Mickey then described the importance of listening to Scripture in Mass.

“Sometimes we’re not open to hearing the message of the Gospel at Mass,” he said.

He advised youth to listen to “the wisdom of God as it’s proclaimed through the church. Open your ears and listen to His message. ... God loves you. That intimacy with God is found through the Blessed Sacrament, (through) Holy Communion.”

Throughout the weekend, the Blessed Sacrament was at the center of the gathering, the priest noted. “He is the center of this room. He is the center of our lives.”

As Jesus in the Gospel of John gave the apostles the power to forgive sins, Father Andrew Apostoli, CFR, in his talk described the value of confession and how to prepare for it. He said youth must become aware of their sins before going to confession and he asked them if they have participated in activities which conflict with any of the Ten Commandments.

Father Apostoli then applied some of the commandments to everyday behavior. Coveting one’s neighbor’s goods includes being jealous and wishing another harm, he said. Stealing includes actions such as cheating on homework and tests, wasting time at work and writing graffiti. The commandment to honor one’s parents includes not talking back to them, but helping at home and spending time with the family.

The commandment against murder, he continued, involves giving in to feelings of anger and jealousy, abusing the body with alcohol and drugs, abortion and thoughts of suicide. The commandment to love God includes making time for prayer, not doubting or being ashamed of one’s faith and also avoiding ouija boards or the occult. Sins against the commandments also encompass passionate kisses or sinful touches, looking at pornography, masturbation, fornication and artificial contraception, he said.

Once realizing their sins with God’s help through prayer, Father Apostoli said Catholics should be sincerely sorry for them and go to confession, where they can express their sorrow to God. He urged youth to do penance after confession saying, “You’re trying to live a good life. That’s the best sign of a good confession.”

He said priests are bound by a seal of confession never to reveal what was confessed to them. He said he forgets most of the sins he hears and that he goes to confession nearly every two weeks.

“A lot of people have so many kinds of feelings deep inside. They bury them, they sort of suppress them. ... When you go to Jesus he’s ready to forgive you. He wants to take that pain out of your heart. Maybe it’s the pain that I hurt my parents or that I’ve been acting like a selfish person. No matter what’s on our heart ... God knows that and you know. Don’t be afraid. He still loves you very much.”

Father Bob Lombardo, CFR, elaborated on the value of confession.

“None of us are without sin. We’ve all made mistakes. We’ve all done things we regret and that’s why Jesus gave us this beautiful sacrament to free us from sin and the guilt that’s associated with it.”

He said the conscience alerts people to their sins and that people should feel guilt for sins but not shame, which involves feelings of worthlessness.

“If you’ve done something that you feel guilty for, that’s the alarm system going off and you get it fixed through confession,” he said, adding that “your conscience is defunct if it is not in sync with the teachings of the church.”

“God believes in you and you can do it,” he said. “The temptation is all around us, but the power of Jesus is more important ... Sin has no power over Jesus. Rather Jesus has power over sin.”

He explained how God works through priests to forgive sins just as he uses people to preach and baptize. Sins of omission are good works never done, he said, such as failing to reach out to an alienated and awkward youth by showing acceptance and love. He concluded by urging all to go to confession.

“You’ll feel a sense of peace in your soul because you’ll be reconciled with God and the church.”

Those attending the prayer festival said they gained new insights into church teachings.

Eugene Turner, a student at Berry College, said the retreat gave him a better understanding of confession.

“It’s challenged me to tell my non-Catholic friends about my Catholic faith because now I have answers ...They ask me about confession and now I know why we confess to a priest instead of confession straight to God.”

Fourteen-year-old Jenna Ann Kaufman of St. Joseph’s Church gained a better appreciation of the Eucharist.

“I’ve learned more about it this weekend. What it means when we take it -- how we’re taking Jesus into our bodies. ... I just understand it clearer.”

Seventeen-year-old Leah Cebulski said the weekend was giving her strength to resist constant pressure she feels through the media to have sex and use drugs. She hopes to become more centered.

“Things like this help me to be a little more meditative ... you can concentrate better and be more prayerful. It’s really hard for me to sit down and think unless I’m drawing,” said Cebulski, a parishioner at St. John Neumann Church, Lilburn. “I came down here last night for about one hour or two and just sat with (the Blessed Sacrament) and prayed after everybody had gone to bed. And a lot of people were doing that.”

Victoria Cassity, a parishioner at the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Summerville, S.C., who also attended a Youth 2000 retreat in Italy, said she gained strength to overcome struggles at school like the pressure to drink after dances and other special events.

“This really impressed me, this retreat, because everyone was so open. They were all just very open and frank and willing to listen nonjudgmentally,” she said. “You finally get with people you can understand and relate to.”

PREACHING -- Standing beside a banner with the theme of the weekend, Father Andrew Apostoli, CFR, preaches to a capacity crowd of teens and young adult in the gymnasium of St. Joseph’s Church, Marietta, Feb. 26. Franciscan Friars of the Renewal have led Youth 2000 prayer festivals in the U.S. since June 1992.
Photos by Michael Alexander

BREAD OF LIFE -- Archbishop John F. Donoghue stands at the altar for the Communion rite with (l-r) Father Andrew Apostoli, CFR, Father Paul Berny, pastor of St. Joseph’s Church, Marietta, and Father Rick Mickey from the Diocese of Memphis, Tenn.