Courtney McGrail
Sophie Overall experienced a community of joy at the Youth 2000 summer festival
Sophie Overall
The task of inspiring young minds to seek out the Gospel may seem like a daunting task, but for Youth 2000, this task becomes a necessity. This past weekend, the Youth 2000 Summer Festival was held for the fourth time at the Cistercian College in Mount Saint Joseph Abbey in Roscrea, where more than 1,000 people, ages 16-35, came together with the unifying goal of expanding his or her faith.
The theme of this year’s festival was, “Receive my mercy… inherit my kingdom” (Acts 26:18), and this structured the festival by day. Thursday was the Welcome day, Friday was Day of Mercy, Saturday as Mary’s Day, and Sunday the Mission Day.
Upon arriving in the main hall (which is set up so people can gather and enjoy their meals), there is an overwhelming sense of comaraderie. To the foreign observer, all of the events, people, and habits in your line of vision may seem chaotic, but to those who mark this festival on their calendar, this is a place of joy, safety, and acceptance.
Friends
Many people at the festival are here for their third or fourth time, like Ashely from Cork, who is 16. “This is my third time here, and I like it so much because I feel like you can just be who you are here. You feel kind of weird sometimes with your friends if you talk about how much you love God or how religious you are. But here, everyone can just be who they are and feel happy.”
Ashely, amongst many other kids, feels that one of the best things about the Youth 2000 Festival is that here, not only is celebrating your faith the norm, it also provides a platform to deepen your understanding of your relationship to God.
One of the hallmarks of the Youth 2000 Festival are the workshops, and this year the offerings captured nearly every facet of faith. Fr Mark Condon in his workshop ‘Dodgy Stuff: The Danger of New Age’ proclaimed: “It takes courage to stand up and be Catholic today.”
While in Fr Vincent Twomey’s workshop, ‘Cost of Discipleship: Martyrdom’, Fr Vincent pointed out that, “Courage is found in endurance, not in action.” In Fr Vincent’s workshop, a question was asked about how to reconcile with the reality of those in Syria who are forced to be martyrs. To that, Fr Vincent answered, “Pray.”
In addition to these two workshops, others included exploring love and relationships, faith in media, pro-life, praying the scriptures through Lectio Divina, and trying to determine what your vocation could be. In the vocation workshop, Fr Ruairi O’Domhnail began by explaining that, “your life is not your own, it is a gift from God to bring joy to others”. It was proclaimed that whether you find your vocation through the religious life, or through marriage and family, it is important to realise that God “has a plan for everyone”, as Fr Ruairi said, but also that it is to serve others, no matter which path you may take.
For many people at the festival, Friday’s reconciliation service was the highlight. Numerous priests made themselves available for anyone who wanted to celebrate the Sacrament of Confession. Before this service, Fr Patrick Cahill, a festival favourite as he commonly introduces many events with enthusiasm and fascination, prefaced Confession by reminding the crowd of young people that humans make mistakes, and this should be taken into account before entering Confession.
Archbishop Charles Brown, Papal Nuncio led Saturday’s Mass. This was a special occasion as the archbishop greeted the crowd on Saturday by stating how important it is for the youth to continue and propel the Catholic faith, and to use this festival to overcome any fear that may be felt beyond the festival. This theme, overcoming fear, was common throughout the workshops and talks over the weekend.
During a time when faith seems to be on the periphery of the Irish society’s focus, never before has the youth movement held such importance in order to reveal the power and strength that worshiping God can bring.
Sophie Overall is a student from Brown University in the US studying the history of religion, and is in Dublin to pursue journalism.
‘New angles, new material… the retreats are never the same’
For Lana Wilson, this may be her first year as the Youth 2000 national coordinator, but she is not new to the Youth 2000 sphere. This is Lana’s 13th year with Youth 2000, and each year she hopes to recast the mould for what Youth 2000 hopes to achieve nationwide.
“Each year, each retreat is different. There is variation in the talks, but we try to keep consistency with the themes of the talks. As the theme remains the same, we try to bring in different speakers as we are always trying to present new angles of the material. There is also more going on outside of the talks and workshops. There are fun games and many chances to meet new friends and reconnect with those you may have met in years past,” said Lana.
When asked how she faces the challenge of creating diverse and engaging retreats, Lana points to the great importance she places on feedback: “We always ask for tonnes and tonnes of feedback from as many people as possible who attend either the retreats or the festivals. Our aim is to listen to this feedback and make the necessary changes.”
Among those who attended the festival this year, there was talk of how there is a struggle between Catholicism and the modernising society. And with these changes in society that are exacerbated by the media, there is fear that faith is being pushed to the side. Lana responded to this by placing an important role on Youth 2000: “There seems to be a stigma around youth getting involved in the Church.
“However, I believe young people are very open, and it is their curiosity that is the best part. We want to bring along new people every year, and I think our ability to do that while also deepening people’s faith is extremely special. We have to get the word out for what we are doing, and we try and do that as best we can, using social media.”
Emphasis
There is also an emphasis placed on the openness of the festival’s mission. Lana states, “What we want to try and accomplish is leading young people to the Church. We want to help all people to deepen their faith, and cater to every need. As organiser, you oftentimes have to step back and see what areas you could improve, and how you can improve those areas, keeping in mind that our goal is to present everyone who comes to the Festival with an enriched experience. As we are faithful to the teachings of the Catholic Church, the testimonies are very powerful to hear, specifically how God has worked and helped to teach some people. I love the balance.”
When asked what her favourite part of the festival is, Lana points to the transformation she often witnesses: “Sometimes you have kids who have been quite literally pushed on the bus by their parents and sent here for the weekend. My favourite part is seeing them and talking with them come Sunday, completely transformed and excited about everything that has happened, and everything they have learned about themselves and their faith. It’s a complete transformation.”
