Young Oklahoma Catholics Headed for National Conference

By Eileen Dugan
The Sooner Catholic

OKLAHOMA CITY — Catholic students from public and parochial high schools from Guymon to Duncan and Oklahoma City to Harrah are excitedly packing their bags for the National Catholic Youth Conference, October 27-30 in Atlanta, Ga. They do not want to miss out because the conference takes place only once every two years. Some 144 Catholic youth and their chaperons from 23 parishes from the archdiocese will join thousands of others from across the country at the World Congress Center as the “Winds of Change” conference blows into Atlanta.

Some of those traveling farthest to the national conference from the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City are the 13 students from Saint Peter’s Church in Guymon. Charmaine Long and Emily Fisher will bring these young people by RV from Saint Peter’s to the Pastoral Center in Oklahoma City on Wednesday, October 26. It will take five hours. These teens will join with other Catholic youth from across the archdiocese and board chartered buses for the additional 15-hour bus trip to Atlanta.

Long hopes that by attending the conference, the young participants will develop a “deep understanding of God and His awesomeness and become high on God”.

Duncan youth from Assumption Church and their youth director, Klarice Dant, will also have a long ride. They figure they will travel a total of 927 miles from Duncan to to Georgia. Dant said parent volunteers will drive the students in vans to the Pastoral Center.

Dant will be watching out for 17 youth from Duncan, plus three from Sacred Heart, Oklahoma City

“I wouldn’t be able to do this without the support of the parents,” Dant said. “They take their vacations now so they can help out. They also help me with fund-raisers and pay for whatever we don’t raise.”

In Duncan and the several missions attached to Assumption Church the “kids don’t get out of town very much. Also, the Catholic kids here are a very small minority. They go to the conference because they want more Catholic spiritual growth and want to know there are other Catholics they can meet. They look forward to the bands, the guest speakers, the Christian music, the things that get them together with other Catholics,” Dant said.

The majority of attendees at the conference will be youth between the ages of 16-18 years old. Many will be leaders in their own churches, schools and dioceses, but some will be just beginning their faith walk.

“Prayer”, “community” and “empowerment” are the catchphrases for the conference. The schedule will include general and concurrent sessions addressing “forgiveness, Catholic spirituality and prayer, global issues, sexuality, and leadership”. There will also be opportunities for liturgy, concerts, exhibits, even sports.

        Catholic youth will bolster each other as they gather on a national level and share their beliefs and faith. Coming together to celebrate their Catholic Christian faith, they will recognize their role in the larger Catholic Church, conference organizers hope.

Keynote speakers from as far away as Jamaica will be brought to Georgia to teach or entertain. Emcee, Steve Angrisano, “a singer, songwriter, and storyteller” from Colorado will open the conference with a performance entitled “Draw Strength from God” while Tammy Eveard, also from Colorado, will enlighten conferees with her message, “Winds of Change Carry a Message”. On Friday evening, the former auxiliary bishop of Baltimore and present Bishop of Mandeville, Jamaica, the Most Reverend Gordon D. Bennett, S.J., will encourage young Catholics to “Stand Strong in our Faith”. “Singer, songwriter, guitarist, and teller of humorous tales”, Jesse Manibusan, of Texas, will close the conference with his presentation, “Praise God above all things”.

One of the more innovative concepts of the conference is the 2005 theme park. Called Peachtree Corners, the theme park will be located in an area the size of four football fields in a part of the Georgia World Congress Center not used for general or concurrent sessions. Open Thursday, Friday and Saturday afternoons and evenings, this section of the Center will house “hundreds of exhibit booths, inflatable games, service opportunities, sports, arts and crafts” in four quadrants designated as Mind, Body, Spirit, and Community.

Catholic Youth Foundation USA networked with parishes and dioceses participating in the National Catholic Youth Conference and asked them to sponsor persons from the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast, enabling them to attend the conference. Many young people and their adult advisors from Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi had planned to come to the conference but, after the hurricanes, were unable to do so. The Archdiocese of Oklahoma City will sponsor one such person.