Fr. Henry Nguyen, SCJ, our vocation director, sends a message from Long Beach, CA, where he took part in the National Catholic Youth Conference over the weekend.
“I had the unique opportunity to be the presider and homilist for Thursday’s 5:15 pm Mass,” wrote Fr. Henry. “Bishop Larry Silva of Honolulu and several other priests concelebrated. The room was filled with hundreds of young people, their chaperones, and other priests and religious.
“My message to them was a reminder that they are not the Church of tomorrow but the Church of TODAY. Young people have an important place in the Church now. The priests, religious, and chaperones are only here at this event because of them. Their journey of faith, along “the way” (this year’s theme), is a relationship they have with God.”
The NCYC is a powerfully unique three-day experience of prayer, community, evangelization, catechesis, service, and empowerment for Catholic teenagers (of high school age) and their adult chaperones. As Fr. Henry notes, this year’s theme is El Camino, or “The Way.”
