Conference's Theme is on JOY
By Susan Duerr
The theme this year was Joyful Faith from 1Peter 1:8 – “Without having seen him you love him; though you do not now see him you believe in him and rejoice with unutterable and exalted joy.”
I had the privilege of being a chaperone for a group of 15 high school students from St. Regis. Some of the kids weren’t so sure about being there but by the end of the conference they were very glad they had attended. The speakers told us that our faith should be joyful – they told funny stories, funny jokes, and showed funny you tube clips. We even had a joyful dance. Through it all, we learned about our faith and how God wants us to be joyful. Mark Hart told about how when he was away from God for a time he came to realize that he was addicted to what other people thought about him and that this was not freedom but slavery to other people’s opinions. Life without God is like being on a Merry-Go-Round: always going in circles – not very exciting; predictable. Life with God is like a roller coaster: you never know where you’re going but the ride is always full of surprises. Don’t be afraid to do God’s will.
On the second day, we were all asked to share our joyful faith by evangelizing some neighborhoods and handing out some information on the local Catholic Church. At first, most of us were uncomfortable; but we were given some training and then bused to the neighborhoods to challenge ourselves. As we started knocking on doors and meeting people we soon found that it wasn’t so hard and at times was really joyful. We even prayed with some of these people. When we returned to the hotel, the kids were asked to share some of their experiences. Some of the students from St. Regis got up in front of the 400+ attendees and told of their unexpected joyful experience.
I have been on several of these conference trips and every time I am amazed to see so many high school students loving and living their Catholic faith; realizing maybe for the first time that it’s ok to be Catholic and that there are lots of other kids out there who are also Catholic.