April 19, 2008
North state youths come together to pray, learn and play
By Christine Vovakes
Herald staff
Members of the youth choir, above, play at a recent 5:30 p.m. Sunday youth Mass at St. Joseph Parish in Redding. Mary D’Acquisto, regional coordinator for the multi-parish Shasta Deanery Catholic Youth Ministry, directs the choir. Christine Vovakes/Herald photo
A teen choir that plays and sings at a Sunday evening youth Mass, a monthly Taize prayer gathering, a journey to Mexico to build houses for the homeless, a Youth 2000 Retreat, a group caravan to the Walk for Life in San Francisco, and a bus ride to the Los Angeles Religious Education Congress Youth Day with side trips to the beach and Disneyland — the teens in the multi-parish Shasta Deanery Catholic Youth Ministry program are a tad busy.
And that’s only a partial schedule.
Prayer, faith formation, social activism, and just plain fun are key components of the program, according to regional coordinator Mary D’Acquisto.
She organizes events that include youth from four parishes: St. Joseph and Our Lady of Mercy in Redding, Sacred Heart in Anderson, and Sacred Heart in Red Bluff.
“The regional model is great because you bring together four different parishes for big events,” D’Acquisto said.
Each of the parishes also has its own leadership team that schedules regular youth ministry meetings at the local level.
Teens from the north state youth ministry program carry a large wooden cross from Bishop Quinn High School in Palo Cedro to Our Lady of Mercy Church in Redding during a walk of the Stations of the Cross on Good Friday.
“We’re working on gathering our young team leaders from each parish and sending them to a youth leadership conference this summer,” she said.
She’s trying to get students to be more involved by presenting leadership opportunities and letting them take the reigns.
“As they grow and become adults they’ll have experience in leadership roles,” she said.
She hopes that these early experiences will make them more likely to take active positions in parish ministry as adults.
Max Baker, a 16-year-old junior at Shasta High School in Redding, plays in the youth choir. He brought his guitar with him on the trip to the Los Angeles Religious Education Congress Youth Day in late February.
“The trip was awesome. It was amazing,” he said. “It was great to see so many kids and so many Catholics coming together, to see so much faith in the world even though so many terrible things happen. I would love to go again next year.”
About 15,000 teens filled the Anaheim Convention Center for Youth Day. It was 17-year-old Minda Moty’s second year at the event.
“It’s really inspirational and shows how much fun going to church can be,” said the team leader for St. Joseph’s youth group, who is also a flute player in the youth choir.
“We listened to some great speakers and I loved the Mass. It’s what we try to do here,” she said, referring to the Sunday evening youth liturgy.
Group members are drawn to traditional Catholic devotions expressed in innovative ways.
On Good Friday teens carried a huge wooden cross from Bishop Quinn High School in Palo Cedro to Our Lady of Mercy Church in eastern Redding for a Stations of the Cross walk. They are organizing a living rosary as a Marian celebration on the first Saturday of May.
Participation is an important way for the teens “to give public witness
to their faith,” D’Acquisto said.
They also heed the Gospel message of caring for the poor.
Last year about 65 teens plus college students and adult chaperones took part in Our Lady of Ransom Mexico Mission Trip. During their June stay in La Morita, an impoverished area of the border town of Tijuana, they built one house, re-roofed and constructed a second storey addition on another house, painted a large convent and conducted a bible camp for the village children.
They are in the middle of planning for this year’s June 20-28 house-building trip to Mexico. Anyone interested in donating time, talent or funding to this volunteer venture should contact D’Acquisto by e-mail at mary_dacquisto@yahoo.com or by telephone at (530) 524-2970.
Father Michael Hebda, pastor of Our Lady of Mercy Parish and dean of the Shasta Deanery, said that after the parishes decided to support a regional youth minister “wonderful things have happened that give our youth opportunities to get together to learn and to pray. The combined youth ministry program has exceeded my expectations.”
