More than 500 attend Worcester Diocese's high school youth rally

    By Tanya Connor
The Catholic Free Press
From charades to stories to instruction about objective truth, Sunday’s high school youth rally at Assumption College engaged local teenagers. Organizers said 535 youth and adults from 30 parishes attended.
“I thought it was a good opportunity for the youth to encounter the Lord in a number of ways” – each other, talks, music and especially the Eucharist, said Timothy Messenger, director of the diocesan youth and young adult ministry.
“Encounter” was the theme of the rally, organized by Mr. Messenger’s office, NEWorcester: New Evangelization Worcester for Youth and Young Adults.
National speakers and parish youth ministers Kelly Colangelo, from Florida, and Tim Glemkowski, from Illinois, gave keynotes and separate talks to young women and young men.
Bishop McManus celebrated Mass with Fathers Nicholas Desimone and Donato Infante III, from St. Mary Parish in Uxbridge and St. Joseph Parish in Charlton, respectively.
In his homily, the bishop said everyone needs heroes.
His voice sometimes broke with emotion as he recounted his conversations with his heroes, now canonized saints: Pope John Paul II and Mother Teresa.
He told of celebrating Mass with the pope, who gave him a cross, and told him: “Be a good bishop” and “Do not be afraid.”
Bishop McManus said he tries to take that message for himself, and Pope John Paul II’s instruction: “Open your hearts to Christ.”
The bishop recalled trying to thank Mother Teresa. She instead thanked him, saying her sisters couldn’t do their ministry if priests didn’t say Mass for them.
Her messages?
“Stay out of God’s way” and “Do ordinary things with extraordinary love.”
Bishop McManus imparted his own message: “Strive to be a hero and strive to become a saint.”
Ms. Colangelo shared a not-so-saintly past – and transformation – in her keynote and women’s session.    
“I had all of this Jesus stuff right in front of me,” she said of her teenage years at church events her parents made her attend. “I knew about Jesus … but I didn’t know Jesus.”
Unlike St. Maria Goretti, martyred for refusing sex outside of marriage, “I did not guard my body or my purity,” Ms. Colangelo said.
Lies she believed were: “I’m never going to be good enough,” “I’m alone” and “I’m damaged goods; I’m not worthy of being loved by someone.”
She said a priest helped her promise herself to never miss Sunday Mass (the Eucharist is “the source and summit of your life”), to pray daily and to be chaste.
“My body was made for my future spouse,” she told the young women. “I challenge all of you to go for these three promises, and to know who you are. Because our God is a king and you are his daughter, you are a princess.”
She showed a video of “Jessica’s Daily Affirmation” in which a little girl rejoiced in her gifts. Ms. Colangelo said sometimes people don’t affirm themselves or others. She affirmed youth ministers, told the youth to give them a hug and asked listeners to pray with each other.
Mr. Glemkowski told the young men about cultural lies about masculinity, including impurity, Mr. Messenger said. But the identity of Catholic men involves adventure, a quest to find God, he said.
During his keynote, Mr. Glemkowski showed photos of his wife, saying, “I love her the most because she is absolutely in love with Jesus Christ. We love each other so much that we made a baby. … My vocation as a father and a husband is incredibly important to me.”
He told about his wife sharing the faith with someone who believed “we can’t know what’s true.”
“We crave, as humans, to know the truth,” Mr. Glemkowski said.
“Our culture” says religion is subjective truth, one’s opinion. He said the statement, “Jesus rose from the dead,” is objective – either true or false. The statement, “I feel peace when I pray,” is subjective. If Jesus rose, it shatters everything we know about reality, he said.
“He comes to earth and he says, ‘I am God; I am the truth. … If you don’t have me, you have no life,’” Mr. Glemkowski said.
Jesus can’t be just a wise man; he’s either a liar, a lunatic or Lord. But liars aren’t likely to “die for everybody.” And Jesus doesn’t sound like a lunatic; many people have embraced his wisdom and found joy.
“The only possible option appears to be that he has to be right,” Mr. Glemkowski said.
“You were created … from love … to be loved … and to give that love to others,” he told listeners. “Jesus desperately desires this reality for you. Unless you have a relationship with him you can’t” have that.
“God became man so that you could encounter Jesus personally,” he said. “The Church is the extension of Jesus’ incarnation.” And the Church is centered around the Eucharist. With this, he prepared listeners for the eucharistic adoration which followed.
Asked for his thoughts about the rally, Andrew Leger, 15, of Holy Family of Nazareth Parish in Leominster, said, “The only description I can come up with is, Jesus is here. … I think my favorite part is adoration; it’s just, like, so powerful.”
“I liked what they were saying about objective and subjective (truth),” said Michaela O’Connor, of St. Anne Parish, Shrewsbury.
“I learned how to be more confident of my religion.…the way they talked about it, how you should be proud of who you are,” said her fellow-parishioner Anna Courtemanche.




    Infanta Antony, of St. Luke the Evangelist Parish in Westborough, said she liked all the talks and the music. Tre Grenon, of St. Mark Parish in Sutton, said he liked how everyone came together from different parishes.