Archdiocesan youth urged to
answer the call to holiness

By Mary Ann Wyand

“Got Pop?” and “Whoz ur Daddy?” were the big questions asked during skits, keynote presentations, workshops and the homily at the Archdiocese of Indianapolis High School Youth Rally on Feb. 27 at Roncalli High School in Indianapolis.

More than 550 teenagers and youth ministers from central and southern Indiana received T-shirts with those questions printed in bold letters at the start of the rally. The answer, in smaller type on the back of the T-shirts, proclaimed “I believe in God, the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth.”

The T-shirts were a “pop culture” reminder that the first words in the Apostle’s Creed are the solution to the daily challenge of living a Christian life, and teens need to look closely at the choices they make to be sure they are following God’s will.

Archbishop Daniel M. Buechlein welcomed the teens and thanked them for giving time to God during the youth rally.

“I hope that you are remembering to pray for our Holy Father, Pope John Paul II,” Archbishop Buechlein said. “… He’s been pretty sick lately, but a couple of weeks ago, he wrote a letter for young people. … He used his favorite image of ‘Cast out into the deep,’ which is from the Gospel of St. Luke (Lk 5:4). … [He said] ‘Young people, cast out into the deep. Answer your vocation, the call to holiness, which every one of you has as a baptized daughter or son of God.’ ”

During the youth rally, the teens spent time in prayer in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament, had the opportunity to receive the sacrament of reconciliation and prayed the rosary in a Marian procession to nearby St. Jude Church for Mass.

Father Leo Patalinghug, associate pastor of St. John Parish in Westminster, Md., and spiritual director of the Cursillo Movement of Baltimore, entertained the youth with break-dancing as well as karate, which he compared to a spiritual battle in his keynote presentation.

“In his apostolic letter for the Year of the Eucharist, the Holy Father talks about how you become what you eat,” he said. “We’re going to have a chance to become more like Jesus” by receiving the Eucharist at Mass.

“God is calling every one of you to do something,” Father Patalinghug said. “You know what that is? Bring good news to this desperate world.

“If you want to get to know Jesus, ask Mary,” he said. “We’ll have a [rosary] procession with Our Lady of Fatima, following her statue so that she can bring all of us closer to her son. We’ll get to know him fullest and most perfectly in the sacrifice of the Mass.”

Reminding the youth that Mary said “I am God’s servant. Do with me what you will,” Father Patalinghug said, “Today, we have a special opportunity to welcome the Lord … in the Blessed Sacrament, … in each other, in the priests, in the word and also especially in receiving the Eucharist.

“Your presence here is saying ‘I’m going to give Jesus a chance,’ ” he said. “As a priest, my ultimate job is to fight against evil. … One of the things that I have to do is not only to let you know that God is real. … I also have to let you know that the devil is real as well. … My job is to help you to fight against the devil. … The devil doesn’t want you to pray. The devil doesn’t want you to do God’s will. The devil doesn’t want you to get to heaven. But you are a child of God, not a child of evil. That’s awesome.”

Father Patalinghug also presented a workshop called “Evian—Natural Spring Water,” a discussion about how Mary’s purity, virtue and unwavering faith as the first disciple are a powerful witness for teenagers in a society immersed in a culture of death.

During the Marian workshop, he also discussed his vocation to the priesthood.

“If you ask, ‘Lord, what do you want of me?’ ” he explained, “what’s really beautiful is God’s going to tell you. That’s exactly what happened to me in college. I said, ‘God, I’m going to give this a try. What do you want me to do?’ [The answer] was so loud—‘Be a priest.’ I said, ‘I’ll talk to you later.’ It took me a long time to make this decision … about two years after college. … Making a decision for God—that’s really the point of Christmas.”

Another workshop, “Pepsi—the Choice of a New Generation,” reminded the teens that Christ is the choice of each new generation, and God has a sacramental plan for marriage and family life in a troubled society where 53 percent of marriages end in divorce.

“Sprite—Obey your thirst” illustrated the importance of understanding the Catholic faith and obeying the teachings of the Church to receive God’s grace and find happiness in life.

“Mountain Dew—Do the Dew” urged the teens to “Do the pew” by receiving the word of God and the Eucharist at Mass.

“Gatorade—Quench your thirst” focused on sports and God, and explained how high school students can integrate their love for Jesus into their love of sports in a secular society where sports is becoming the new religion.

“7-Up—The Un-Cola” encouraged the teens to learn how to be “un-cool” by being pro-life supporters in a world where abortion, capital punishment and euthanasia are legal and impoverished people don’t have enough food.

Archdiocesan Youth Council member Jimmy Cox of St. Mary-of-the-Knobs Parish in Floyds Knobs portrayed Jesus in the opening skit and said later he enjoyed helping plan the youth rally.

“It was really exciting to be Jesus in front of five hundred people,” Jimmy said. “It gives you a whole new outlook on your faith just to know that you’re not the only youth who goes to church and does all the youth ministry events. It’s almost like a support to know that you have five hundred other youth that are doing this [rally] along with you. It’s really a neat experience. Youth ministry has been my whole life since seventh-grade, and I’m excited about getting into young adult ministry in college next year.”

Father Jonathan Meyer, associate director of youth ministry for the archdiocese, was the homilist during the youth Mass at St. Jude Church.

He urged the teens to say “yes” to God and say “no” to sin.

“We thirst,” Father Meyer said, “… Where can we go to quench our thirst? What do we fulfill that thirst with? Is it with Christ or is it with other things of the world? … All of us are so thirsty … and we get angry at God. Oftentimes, when I talk with people about the sins they are struggling with, they don’t want to give them up. They’re attached to them. … We argue with God. We argue with what he knows is best for us. We get upset because our ways are not God’s ways. … What is the source of all of our sins? … We thirst, just like the woman at the well, to be loved by others.

“No one else but Christ will satisfy our longings and our desires,” Father Meyer said. “… He and his commandments and his Church are the only things that can satisfy us. … We thirst for him, but his thirst for us is so much greater. And his love for us is so much greater.” †