Local News Archive

Print Issue: July 4, 2002

Sonfest Celebration Urges Teens To 'Go Deeper' Into Their Faith

BY LISA WHEELER, Special to the Bulletin

PENSACOLA BEACH, Fla. - Ultimate Frisbee and eucharistic adoration and 500 Atlanta teenagers converged on Pensacola Beach recently to celebrate Sonfest, the archdiocese's annual spiritual retreat for youth.

Armed with beach towels and bathing suits, young leaders of the church spent five days listening to the word of God proclaimed, reconciling themselves to Christ in the sacraments and being shown the ways to use their unique identity as Catholics to change the world and further the kingdom of God.

Circling the monstrance, and illuminated by candlelight, Sonfest participants gather on the beach for eucharistic adoration. Many residents of neighboring hotels were moved by the sight of the teens in prayer.

The theme: "Go deeper" was chosen earlier this year by Barb Garvin, archdiocesan director of youth ministry, and an executive team of experienced youth ministers. As the team came together to organize the week, they prayed about what the Holy Spirit was leading the teens in the Atlanta community to become. In a thunderous welcome to the Beachside Conference Center, where the retreat was held, Garvin reminded the teens where they were being led. "You are here to let the Holy Spirit into your life, to feel him working through you, challenging you to go deeper and becoming empowered." Fired up by the pulsing songs of worship led by Kevin Wyglad and his band, the teens were on their feet and ready to begin this week of praise and transformation. "Shout to God," Wyglad said, as they clapped and sang.

Father Adrian Pleus, parochial vicar at St. Catherine of Siena Church, Kennesaw listens to the confession of a Sonfest teen. Approximately 500 teens from the archdiocese attended the 4-day retreat.

Over the next five days, the teens took part in six major sessions which included witness talks and teachings and small group faith sharing. Included in the devotional aspects of the week was morning and evening prayer led by a different parish youth group and daily mass offered by one of six priests from the Atlanta archdiocese. Afternoons were spent in the sun and on the beach, forming community with other Catholic teens through organized events like ultimate Frisbee, volleyball and sandcastle contests. And in more than just the clever phrase the week seemed to embody, teens could come to the Son in the sacrament of reconciliation, while absorbing the sun in one of six beachside confessionals.

John Crockett, from St. Theresa Church in Douglasville, said the community experience was critical in building his faith. "it made me feel important. I feel part of the church and I feel accepted."

Modeled on the Life in the Spirit seminars offered for adults around the archdiocese, this Florida retreat is designed, like its mature counterpart, to offer help to those who want a fuller release of the Holy Spirit so that they can live a deeper Christian life. Corey Roper, a rising college freshman from St. Oliver Plunkett Church, Snellville, has been coming on Sonfest for four years. He says it is an important part of his spiritual growth. "It is an experience unlike any other retreat," he said. "I find myself more in touch with God here and His presence than on any retreat I have attended." Katie O'Hara, also from St. Oliver, is on her fourth Sonfest as well. She said that when her parish first started coming, they had maybe 20 or 30 people. This year St. Oliver Plunkett needed two charter buses to bring their group of nearly 100. Said O'Hara, "I admit that when I first started coming it was because of the beach and the boys, but each year I have seen myself coming back for the right reasons, my relationship and time with Christ and my relationships with my church community." Jayne LaFave of Prince of Peace Church in Buford shared a similar expectation. It was her first time and she expected that it would be all about fun on the beach and was not thinking about the spiritual side. "I got the complete opposite of what I was coming for. I feel so much more fulfilled spiritually. The first night that we came in, I felt like I belonged here and I knew something big was going to happen."

Teens from St. Matthew's Church, Winder, gather on the beach with their youth minister, Amy Hedges (third from left) during the Sonfest Beach Retreat held June 18-22 in Pensacola Beach, Fla.

Transformation seems to be the key movement of the Holy Spirit on these retreats. Mike Ragan, the youth minister at Holy Family Church, Marietta, and the emcee for the general sessions, agreed that "what happens here is unexpected."

"They may come for one reason, but it really hits them while they are here. I like to say that we kind of sneak up on them with the Holy Spirit."

Father Adrian Pleus, parochial vicar at St. Catherine of Siena Church, Kennesaw, pulled it together for the teens by affirming that as in the creation of the world, God's infinite power transforms. "Out of chaos, he creates something that is beautiful and ordered. God sends forth his love infinitely so that we are drawn into the community that includes the Father, Son and Holy Spirit."

Father Tim Hepburn, chaplain at Blessed Trinity High School, Roswell, leads music during the Sonfest retreat.