Boatloads of Blessings:
NCYC 2007 Renews Faith Among Teens

By Marie Elena Giossi

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Unafraid to explore the depths of their faith, around 20,000 Catholic teenagers and youth ministers from across the nation gathered last weekend in the name of Jesus to rediscover and renew their faith in communion with each other.

“Discover the Way/Descubre El Camino” was the theme of the 29th biennial National Catholic Youth Conference (NCYC), sponsored by the National Federation for Catholic Youth Ministry and hosted for the first time by the Diocese of Columbus, Ohio, Nov. 8-10.

Marie Elena Giossi Photos 

Overview of the Nationwide Arena’s main stage, decorated to look like the deck of the Santa Maria

Tragedy befell the conference before it even began with the death of 16-year-old Veronica Gantt, a Las Vegas high schooler killed in a hit-and-run accident in the early morning hours of Nov. 8. Veronica’s name was spoken throughout the weekend and remembered in the prayers of peers she never had a chance to know. Her passing put the value and brevity of life in perspective for all attendees.

General sessions for this three-day experience of prayer, faith formation, community building and empowerment were held at the Nationwide Arena, while workshops and concurrent sessions took place at the Greater Columbus Convention Center nearby.

Jornadistas Yerlin Fernandez, Jasmine Salazar, Christopher Lopez, Katherine Borja, and Massiel Pion show off the Brooklyn Diocese’s green and gold jester hats

Teen workshops addressed various topics, including relationships, spirituality and prayer, global issues, chastity, vocations and leadership. Bishops from around the country also sat down for roundtable discussions with teens. A special track was offered for Hispanic youths and workshops were available for adult leaders.

Singer, songwriter and storyteller Steve Angrisano emceed the general sessions, and introduced the three keynote speakers. Friday morning, youth listened to Tony Melendez, who was commissioned as a Hope Giver by Pope John Paul II after he heard this man, born without arms, sing and play guitar and push-button organ with his feet. That evening, Father R. Tony Ricard, a priest for the New Orleans Archdiocese, rocked the house as he shared how his faith community survived Hurricane Katrina by believing in God. On Saturday, Renee Bondi shared the God-incidences that enabled her to discover the vocation God gave her after an accident nearly took her life.

Richard Pipchinski, adult faith formation coordinator for the diocesan Faith Formation Office hangs out with Deacon Nathaniel Smith from St. Clement Pope Church

Teens representing various regions of the country helped plan the event and participated on the main stage. Over 900 volunteers worked behind the scenes.
There were opportunities for daily Mass, reconciliation, adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and to pray the Rosary, as well as concerts in The Way Café, dances, a comedy club and Port Discovery, a theme park featuring interactive exhibits, recreational activities, representatives from religious communities and colleges and booths selling clothes, CDs and books.

Festivities culminated on Sunday evening, Nov. 10, with the ultimate celebration of faith, a closing Mass, offered in the Nationwide Arena by Rochester Bishop Matthew Clark, who stood in for Columbus Bishop Frederick Campbell, who was recovering from foot surgery.

From Brooklyn to the Buckeye State

Two buses departed from St. Andrew the Apostle, Bay Ridge, and Bishop Loughlin M.H.S., Fort Greene, on Thursday, Nov. 8 at 5:30 a.m., carrying an historic 68-member delegation, including 45 youths and 23 adults from the Brooklyn and Queens Diocese, which arrived in the Buckeye State around 4:30 p.m.

Youth and adults from Alaska to Maine were accommodated in over 5,000 hotel rooms throughout central Ohio. Local teens lodged at The Varsity Inn, just over two miles from the arena and convention center, near Ohio State University’s campus. Buses shuttled them to and from all events.

St. Andrew the Apostle Youth Ministry; St. Clement Pope parish, South Ozone Park; and Bishop Loughlin M.H.S., Fort Greene, sent the largest contingents. Groups of teens and adults attended from the Bensonhurst Cluster Youth Ministry, the Jornada Movement and Jovenes de Valor. Representing the diocesan vocation office were Father Kevin Sweeney, vocation director; Lisa Amore, administrative assitant and seminarian Alonzo Cox, currently serving his pastoral year at St. Sebastian, Woodside. Arnelia James attended from St. Gregory the Great parish, Crown Heights.

Tyla Fernandez observes a moment of silence for Veronica Gantt

Marilyn Santos, adolescent faith formation coordinator in the diocesan Faith Formation Office, organized the diocesan delegation, the largest to ever attend NCYC, with her colleague, Richard Pipchinski, adult faith formation coordinator.

Conference, hotel and transportation fees totaled $450 per person. The diocesan Alive in Hope Foundation provided full- and partial-scholarships for 34 attendees in the amount of $7,000. 

“I believe in this conference,” said Santos, who attended NCYC while working as a parish youth minister in the New York Archdiocese. She is grateful for the support she’s received from the groups that attended, the Alive in Hope Foundation and Auxiliary Bishop Frank Caggiano.

Attending NCYC would not have been possible for Edwin-Nikko Kabigting, a student at St. Francis Prep, Fresh Meadows, and parishioner at St. Stanislaus Bishop and Martyr, Ozone Park, if not for an Alive in Hope scholarship and the support of his parish. “I showed my pastor, Father James Meszaros, the scholarship letter and he said he’d pay the rest,” said Kabigting, a violinist who wanted to attend NCYC so he could build up his faith and friendships.

Bishop Loughlin H.S. and the Bensonhurst Youth Ministry also provided financial assistance for youth who wanted to attend.

Father Sweeney led chants of “New York City” and “Brooklyn” as the crew marched into the Nationwide Arena in time for the opening ceremonies. In keeping with the theme of “discovery” and the “Columbus” location, the arena stage was designed to look like the deck of the Santa Maria.

Teens wore commemorative T-shirts bearing the conference logo, “I Love New York” pins, and donned green and gold jester hats with bells, all courtesy of the diocesan Faith Formation Office. Diocesan groups from around the country traditionally vie to arrive wearing the most outrageous headgear, which teens then trade with one another. Flying pigs, lobsters, chickens, ears of corn and other crazy hats could be seen throughout the standing-room-only arena.

“In a time when our media seems to highlight the bad about the Church, here we have 20,000 good stories. You are a sign of the hope of the future of the Church lived out today,” said Robert McCarty, NFCYM executive director, addressing the crowd.

He acknowledged that as humans it is natural to feel lost, overwhelmed and confused in times of personal hardships, man-made tragedies and natural disasters. 

“Somehow in the midst of that, we try to find the way … We have a God who makes a way out of no way. God’s love is so tremendous He sends Jesus, His Son, to be with us,” he said.

He reminded teens of the promise Jesus made to His disciples, “Fear not. Be not afraid. I am with you always.”

For those who hadn’t already heard, he shared the tragedy that befell Veronica Gantt and the entire stadium fell silent for a moment of prayer.

With no official powers, he declared the young woman “a member of the communion of saints,” which elicited a standing ovation.

“In light of the tragedy, Jesus always overcomes,” said Arnelia James from St. Gregory the Great, who was scouting out the event for her parish’s youth ministry program. “We’re either a lesson or a blessing. Jesus put her here to be a blessing for us all.”

Gantt’s brief life and sudden death really made teens think about Steve Angrisano’s words, “There are no accidents with God…

“It is my prayer that we don’t go home exactly as we came here. We’re here because in the midst of all this celebration of the young Church, God is calling us to follow His Way,” he said.

During the three days, he led teens in singing various hymns, especially the event’s theme song, “Discover the Way.” Teens enthusiastically joined the refrain: “Jesus is the Way. He is the Truth. He is the Life. Jesus es el Camino. El es la Verdad. El es la Vida. Discover the Way!”

The first day, six-time NCYC veteran Christine Kemp, St. Andrew’s religious education director, made a beeline for Jesse Manibusan’s workshop, “Wanted: Perfectly Imperfect Persons for Teen Disciples of Christ.”

St. Andrew’s crew at the opening ceremonies

Manibusan wore a happy face T-shirt as he told teens to be themselves because that’s the way Christ wants them.

“It’s like Pentecost here, the energy and spirit. The Church is so ablaze. … There is a wellspring of inspiration, encouragement and prophetic witness of God’s joy and grace,” Manibusan later told The Tablet.

Listening to Tony Melendez was the best part of the trip for Elizabeth Pantaleon, a senior at Fort Hamilton H.S., and member of St. Finbar’s youth group, who attended the weekend with her cousin Giovanni Valle, 19.

Melendez, she said, “makes me want to go out and change the world. We have so much we can accomplish and we don’t. He’s missing his arms and look at all he does.”

Eighteen-year-old James Jones, a forensic science major at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and president of St. Clement Pope’s youth group, was impressed by the fact that despite the hardships Melendez has faced, “he’s still able to see the miracles.”

Melendez reminded the young man of his late grandmother who suffered during the end of her life but always extended her hands when given the opportunity to receive the Eucharist. “If my grandmother could go through that and still believe and trust in Jesus, then so can I,” he said.

Jones had doubts about going to NCYC but was grateful his mother pushed him and his 15-year-old brother, Charles, a student at St. John’s Prep, Astoria, to go.

Alicia Rivera, a religious education teacher at St. Athanasius, who attended with her daughter Christiana, as part of the Bensonhurst Cluster Youth Ministry, said, “it was awesome to see so many kids together worshipping God and doing the right thing.”

As a mother and educator, Alicia is concerned about the temptation and pressures that exist for teens today.

“They’re expected to be grownups when they still need to be children. This gives them an opportunity to express themselves,” she said.

Brandon Hew, a junior at Bishop Loughlin, originally signed up because his friends were going but by Saturday morning, he realized he was there for himself.
“I didn’t know where I was before but now I feel closer to God. My personality is changing. I’m more positive.

I’m not afraid to meet new people and make new friends,” he said.

He was one of 13 teens and two adult LaSallian volunteers who attended from Bishop Loughlin under campus minsiter Melissa Altman.

Group picture before teens returned home from Columbus

“I had such a great experience as a youth,” said Altman, whose family parish in Greensburg, PA, sent a 280-member delegation including her mom and sister. 

“I knew they (Loughlin students) would get here and see the larger Church. I knew it would empower them. I wanted them to witness for our school and I thought it would change their hearts. I think its done that for sure.”

When she approached Brother Dennis Cronin, FSC, principal, about this, Altman recalled, “He said, ‘Let’s go for it.’ He really made it possible. He realizes the greater impact these events can have.”

Loughlin students applied for and received a $1,500 Alive in Hope scholarship and held two fundraisers at the school. Whatever costs students couldn’t pay, Brother Dennis covered.

Altman said, “It was important that the kids knew the school was putting the money forward for them to come here.”

“I thought the whole trip would be holy, holy, holy but it’s fun too,” said Loughlin senior Steven Anglade, a parishioner at St. Francis Assisi-St. Blaise, Crown Heights. “I found people that believe the same things I believe in. I’ve never felt closer to God. I definitely know there is a God and He’s with me at all times.”

As teens journeyed nearly 500 miles home on Sunday plans were set into motion for a reunion in late January and to begin preparing for NCYC 2009 in Kansas City.

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