By A.M. Kelley
Catholic Herald
Youth from around diocese attend conference
SUPERIOR -- Jessica Davis had never been to a conference. But to her 14-year-old ears the October National Catholic Youth Conference in Atlanta sounded like a drag.
"I thought it was going to be boring and in a church," she said.
A few days after returning home to Ladysmith, Davis admitted that she was wrong on both counts.
"It was special," she said. "The music got you excited about God."
She wasn't alone on the trip. More than 100 teens and 53 chaperones from 14 parishes in the Diocese of Superior went. From Oct. 27-30 they mingled and befriended Catholics their own ages from all over the country.
Davis is a freshman at Ladysmith High School and the daughter of Lori and Greg Davis, members of Our Lady of Sorrows Parish.
One of the many conference souvenirs the young Davis carried home from NCYC won't fit into a scrapbook -- it's her newfound faith.
"I'll be excited to go to church now that I have an understanding," she said.
Another attendee, Woodruff eighth grader Claire Vos, had similar experiences.
Vos thought she'd been around a lot of people at Wisconsin horse shows, but those crowds were nothing compared to the excitement and energy of the estimated 16,500 who showed up for the Georgia conference.
"All the people talked about how God was in their lives," she said. "He works through other people and is always there for you. And all the stuff was fun. BMX bikers were there. They said they had to trust God, risking their lives every day."
Vos, 13, is the daughter of Cheryl and Jerry Vos of Holy Family Parish and attends Minocqua-Hazelhurst and Lake Tomahawk School.
Her sister, Mari, 16, and their mother also attended. Cheryl Vos, 43, has been to three youth conferences and is the coordinator for faith formation and a youth minister for Holy Family in Woodruff.
Besides caring for their charges, the chaperones attended workshops. Like the teens, Cheryl Vos said she was exposed to new ideas about prayer and her faith. A Taize workshop in particular captured her attention.
"It's a practice founded in France after World War II," she said. "The Latin service was really awesome."
She wants to start a Taize prayer group in Woodruff and continue her study of the method.
Another chaperone, Chris Newkirk, the Bishop Hammes Center's assistant director of Religious Education and Youth Ministry, is 38 years old and a veteran of six youth conferences. She said the Georgia event was full of energy, music, Christian comedians and study, and hopefully showed the teens that the Catholic Church is relevant in their lives.
"The young people came with open minds and spirits," she said. "It moved them to a different level in their faith."
Brent Craine, 44, was another of the chaperones.
"The conference was a mix of ministry, music and enthusiasm," he said, "The (organizers) get the kids excited about faith."
He and his wife, Vernita, are members of the St. Anthony Abbot Parish in Cumberland. Not a formal youth minister, Craine simply calls himself a parish member and volunteer.
"I love to do things with kids," he said. "And hopefully I can open their eyes to the excitement of faith and encourage them to stick with it."
This year's youth conference was Craine's third. He and Vernita have three grown children and two accompanied their father to conferences in past years along with many other youths from the Cumberland parish.
"They all took something out of it," he said. "They saw kids being fired up for Jesus, something they don't see in the Catholic Church. Other churches have big rallies with singing and praising (for youths)."
Besides talks and workshops for the participants on forgiveness, Catholic spirituality and prayer, global issues, sexuality and leadership, Craine said conferences are important for teens because they are exposed to other forms of worship.
"They see that the Catholic Church is not just about the Eucharist and showing up on Sunday," he said.
Even some of the teens who went to the conference with less than open minds and receptive attitudes profited from the experience, according to Craine.
"We had at least one kid who was there to basically get away from school," he said. "But by the time we got back I think he got something out of it. I think he saw other kids going forward with their faith, kids with a purpose."
There were two chaperones and seven teens at the conference from St. Anthony. It cost $800 for each teen to attend and they worked for two years to raise the money.
The next conference will be held in 2007 in Columbus, Ohio. That's not too far into the future for Craine. Just a few days after arriving home from Georgia, he's ready to start all over again with fundiraising events, all for the purpose of passing on the excitement of faith to the next group of teens.
© Superior Catholic Herald, 2005