Youth gather to hear God's call

By DAWN PROSSER
Director of Communications
 
Thanks to the collaboration of the catechetical leaders from the diocesan Northwest Deanery, over 250 middle and high school students from northwest Iowa gathered in Granville for the regional Called Youth Conference Oct. 27. The conference was co-sponsored by the Diocese of Sioux City.
 
Event organizers shared that they were pleased with their first combined effort to offer a youth conference. Amy Strouth, director of religious education for Sheldon St. Patrick Parish, pointed out as this was a regional conference, they expected 100 to 150 participants.
 
“To have 22 parishes with 250 students come – that was so amazing. Having eight priests there for confessions and adoration - it was beyond amazing. The Holy Spirit had a hand in so much for that day,” she said.
 ​Photo gallery​​​
Diane Rainbolt, director of religious education for parishes in Alton, Granville and Hospers, said they were pleased to see as many high school attendees as middle school participants. She agreed that God was in the success of the day including having an extra deacon show up when another was ill, and the readings of the day aligned with the conference theme.
 
“The thing that amazes me is how God had a hand in everything,” Rainbolt said during the conference. “Even the Gospel today (Mk 10:46-52) was about being called. Father Zach (Jones) gave the homily and asked if it was planned … it was a coincidence.”
 
The organizing DREs brought their students to the conference and were pleased to see registrations from as far away as Algona, Spirit Lake, Wall Lake and others.

 Conference youth filled St. Joseph Church, Granville“God wants our kids to be here,” Rainbolt said, noting the Granville St. Joseph Church was filled with youth for the conference Mass. “So many are discouraged with the church, this can give them something to be hopeful about.”
 
“I’m very pleased with how the youth conference went,” added Madeleine McLarty, diocesan coordinator of faith formation. “The collaboration between the parishes in the northwest region is what made this possible. It was rewarding to see our parishes work together and provide an opportunity for young people to encounter Christ.”
 
Attendees shared that they enjoyed the Called conference including the speakers who shared their faith stories.
 
Millie Glass, high school freshman from St. Joseph Parish in Wall Lake, said she enjoyed the witness talks from the young adult speakers as well as participating in the group service project.
 
Hawarden residents and members of Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish Owen Hansen and Jackson Bruner said they liked meeting the other young Catholics at the conference and enjoyed the speakers and the games.
 
Conference highlights
The conference kicked off with Mass followed by lunch and games outside. Director of Vocations Father Travis Crotty offered the opening talk to the combined group. Students were split into high school and middle school for breakout sessions on young adult Catholics living out their faith and sessions vocations, which include married life, consecrated life, single life, the priesthood and permanent diaconate.

 Young adult panel Mariel and Cole Strouth and Maggie SteinkampYoung adult speakers included Cadence Goebel, Beth Nagel, Maggie Steinkamp, Cole and Mariel Strouth and Garrett Sarringar. 
Vocations speakers included Father Crotty, Father Jones of Algona Divine Mercy Parish, Deacon Rick Roder of Le Mars All Saints Parish, Sister Sarah Elizabeth, OSB; Dan and Theresa McCarty and Ryan and Brooke Stoll.
 
Students rotated through a service project breakout session to assemble canvas bags for the Siouxland Soup Kitchen in Sioux City. Participating parishes and the Central Catholic Offices donated the items. The bags included shampoo, deodorant, soap, combs and brushes, hats, gloves, mittens and other items for Soup Kitchen diners.
 
Be engaged
 
In the opening session, the director of vocations encouraged the young Catholics to turn off their cell phones during the conference “to be attentive to what’s being offered.”
 
“Engage in what’s being proposed … If you are asked a question, engage. The more we’re engaged, we get the most out of life,” Father Crotty said.
 
He used Mary as an example of being engaged and “open to God’s proposal” to be the mother of Jesus Christ.
 
“Be open like Mary was and is to what God offers,” he said, pointing out God offers the perfect sacrifice of the body and blood of Christ at Mass.

 Service project for the Siouxland Soup KitchenThe priest explained hope for the attendees is to promote a relationship with Christ throughout the conference. “This is why adults brought you. A life lived with Jesus Christ in his church is better than life without Jesus. I really want you to experience life with sacraments and Scripture because it’s better, although the world says otherwise,” Father Crotty stressed. “I hope today you experience the witness of someone’s life and that you recognize how they responded to God’s call in their life. There’s joy when that happens.”
 
Young adult witness
Maggie Steinkamp of Sibley and Cole and Mariel Strouth of Archer served on a young adult panel for middle school students to share their lives as young adult Catholics.
 
Steinkamp is single and a professional working in Worthington, Minnesota, and the Strouths are parents of two young boys living in Archer. Cole is a lifelong Catholic and Mariel is a convert to Catholicism.
 
The panelists were asked how they include prayer in their lives. Cole shared that he works for the parish in Sheldon and has access to stop and pray in the church sanctuary for a few minutes. He is also a hunter and often prays when enjoying the solitude of being outdoors.
 
Steinkamp pointed out that when starting a prayer life do not be concerned with being perfect at first but start simply.
 
“It doesn’t have to be something big and scary. Start with two minutes. Find quiet pockets of time to sit and reflect,” she said, noting she and her boyfriend often spend 15 minutes of their lunch hour in adoration in the church “to block out the noise.”
 
Mariel said she often prays “little prayers throughout the day,” and suggests being around others whose faith is important.
 
“We surround ourselves with people involved in the church. Surround yourself with people with the same morals and values as you,” she pointed out. “Surround yourself with people to help you in your faith journey.”
 
Vocations
One vocations panel for high schoolers included Father Jones, Deacon Roder and Dan and Theresa McCarthy of Alton. Each shared the story of their vocation path with the students.
 
Father Jones said initially he didn’t feel the call to the priesthood. He said he loved the church, attending Mass and serving others. He attended a Lutheran undergraduate college and didn’t make attending Mass a priority.
 
One summer he decided to work as a Totus Tuus missionary in the Diocese of Sioux Falls. He spent eight weeks in small towns and parishes, often disappointed with low participation and behavior of the students.
 
“Almost every week my teammate was gone, the kids spit at me, the kids punched me,” he said. “And yet, was the greatest summer in my life because I went to Mass every day, praying the rosary ... living a life of service and talking about the faith.”
 
A priest invited the college student to consider the seminary. The future priest said he planned to attend for two years, “then leave, find a wife and have 17 children.”

 Vocations panel Theresa and Dan McCarty, Father Zach Jones and Deacon Rick Roder (not pictured).“I went and there every year (of seminary) the Lord would speak to me,” he said, noting he has been a priest in the parish for a year and a half. “I love it. It’s so much fun and I get invited to do things like this.” 

Deacon Roder explained he was interested in church history but wasn’t interested in a vocation or much of a prayer life until he was 40 after his sister gave him a book on prayer.
 
“It opened my heart and I invited Christ in. He just took over,” he said.
 
The McCarthys pointed out that they have been married 40 years after meeting in high school. Dan said his wife knew she had a vocation to marriage “way before I did. She was very tolerant and patient to wait for me to grow up.”
 
Theresa said because she knew her faith was important to her; she needed a spouse with similar values. She had been engaged to another young man when she met Dan and her mother cautioned her about her fiancé, concerned that Theresa would not be happy with him. Soon she found a young man with faith to join her in the vocation of married life.
 
“He was a lector at his sister’s wedding. I knew he had a faith life,” she said.
 
Future conferences
Organizers said they hope to make the Northwest Deanery youth conference an annual event. Strouth said she felt the work putting on Called was encouraged by the Holy Spirit. However, the organizers were not looking for praise or pats on the back.
 
“We did this so that the next generation of Catholics can experience their faith with others from our deanery (and others from the diocese). We are passionate about our faith and want to share it with our youth. We want them to see that it is cool to be Catholic,” she explained.