Called youth conference from group effort

By RENEE WEBB
Content and Design Coordinator

“He will call upon me and I will answer.” – Psalm 9:15

That is the Scripture verse upon which catechetical leaders drew inspiration for the name of the upcoming Called Youth Conference for 7-12th grade students. Co-sponsored by the Diocese of Sioux City and catechetical leaders from the Northwest Deanery, the youth conference is slated for Oct. 27 at St. Joseph Parish in Granville.

According to Madeleine McLarty, coordinator of faith formation for the diocese, the conference will start with 10 a.m. Mass at St. Joseph Church, followed by an icebreaker activity and a keynote talk focused on the theme of hearing God’s call in your life. The schedule continues with two breakout sessions, a talk on the Eucharist followed by eucharistic adoration and confession. The day will end by 4:30 p.m., concluding with a service project and prayer.

“They will attend two breakout sessions that will feature panel discussions. One will be a vocations panel with a priest, religious sister, married couple and deacon. They will share their story of how they live out God’s call in their vocation,” noted McLarty. “The other breakout will be a young adult college panel with different young adults from the parishes to talk about how they live God’s call now.”

McLarty

Christy Funk, director of religious education at St. Andrew Parish in Sibley and one of the organizers of the conference, pointed out that Called will allow youth to have fellowship and a shared experience with peers of the same faith. It is her hope that they can develop a connection with others and hopefully build a support network as they grow older.

“They will have an opportunity to ask questions about different vocations with our panels. I am really excited about the panels with so many willing to share their story and encourage youth to find their vocation,” said the Sibley DRE. “Youth are also going to be able to talk with young adults about how they keep their faith as they grow older and go out in the world.”

Diane Rainbolt, DRE of the Pilgrim Cluster Parishes of Alton, Granville and Hospers, said that they chose the name and them of Called to stress that God calls each and every person.

“God doesn’t just call some or only those to the priesthood or religious life, we are all called,” she said, adding that she is praying for the youth that they may learn how to hear and discern God’s call. “I hope they know that God is calling them by name and that he has a plan for them – a purpose for their life.”

Funk mentioned she and others were excited the conference was going to be held in the Northwest Deanery.

“This has really been a wish of mine for many years. It is really hard to get kids excited to drive two to three hours one way for an event,” she acknowledged, adding she had shared those thoughts with the Office of Faith Formation. It was at the next DRE deanery meeting the topic arose and the Sibley DRE was grateful she had been heard.

Initially, St. Andrew was to host the conference, but flooding earlier this summer botched that plan. Rather than cancelling Called, the Granville parish agreed to host the event.

Rainbolt, likewise, is happy to have the event in their deanery as past events have been held in other parts of the diocese but the distance was too far for them to go.

“Visiting with the DREs here, it seems like there were many parishes from this deanery in those shoes,” she said.

Working with catechetical leaders throughout the diocese and seeking their input at regular meetings, McLarty said the Office of Faith Formation has been moving toward regional- or deanery-based events. It was the DREs from this deanery that proposed a youth conference in their area. With that in mind, the conference was originally planned for the youth of the Northwest Deanery, but they opted to open it up to 7-12^th grade students from across the diocese.

While all parishes of the Northwest Deanery have been involved in some way, McLarty noted that about seven catechetical leaders from the deanery have taken the lead by assisting to plan a certain part of the conference.

Offering an event based on the needs of the parishes in the deanery and working collaboratively to plan the event sets an example or model that can be used for other programs and events, the diocesan faith formation coordinator stressed.
“It’s been fun collaborating with them, they have so many good ideas I would never have thought of,” said McLarty.
Through this collaborative effort, Funk said they are sharing in the workload.

“With all of us working together we are able to separate out tasks and reach out to many different people throughout our local areas,” she said. “We all have so many different gifts to share, and this is a way each one of us gets to utilize these gifts. Where one is weak, another is strong.”

Rainbolt said having the joint effort has been “fabulous so not any one DRE is carrying the whole load. We are excited about God opening the doors and calling our youth to participate in this.”

The organizers pointed out that all parishes of Northwest Deanery will be able to get involved in the conference by helping supply products for the service project.

“We are going to be doing a service project for the Siouxland Soup Kitchen,” said McLarty. “Every (Northwest Deanery) parish has agreed to bring items such as Le Mars is bringing travel size shampoo and conditioner. Sibley and Sheldon are bringing mitten and gloves. Each parish will bring a certain amount of items to be packed individually. The students will also make cards to offer words of encouragement.”

Cost of the conference is $20, which includes lunch and a t-shirt. Individuals may register at scdiocese.org/called or groups can contact McLarty at [email protected] about group registrations.