St. Viator Catholic Community’s Viator Youth Ministry participated in Youth Day at the Los Angeles Religious Education Conference on Thursday.
Associate Rosy Hartz, Coordinator of Youth Ministry and Faith Formation for St. Viator, leads the trip each year, and she was surprised at a little change in this year’s Youth Day schedule: Eucharistic Adoration in the arena took place in the morning, shortening the usual rally and shifting the atmosphere a bit.
“The kids enjoyed the early opportunity for Eucharistic Adoration and really soaked up their time with Jesus. They enjoyed the calmness and the chance to just be. It was neat to watch them in prayer,” Rosy said of the positive impact this time had on the group.
St. Viator sent a group of 53 people, mostly teens and some adult chaperones, to gather in Anaheim, California, with groups from all over the western United States. Our group included many Viatorians living out their commitment to young people: Fr. Dan Belanger, CSV, who serves the parish as its parochial vicar, attended his first youth day since starting at St. Viator last summer, and Associate Paul Hartz, Associate Deborah Perez, and Pre-Associate Cathy Flynn came as volunteers, as well as Mrs. Jamie Reyburn who leads campus ministry for St. Viator School.
Fr. Dan Belanger snaps a selfie of the adult chaperones.
“I am blessed to have an opportunity to spend time with Rosy’s youth group and have a glimpse into their lives. Their faith formation is happening in real time on trips like LA Youth Day, National Catholic Youth Conference (NCYC), and Viatorian Youth Congress (VYC), and they don’t even know it. And here we are watching them lean in and learn more,” Deborah said.
“Ministry in motion is healthy for all kids to be around. Sometimes they get stuck in routines, but when we get opportunities like this and take advantage of it, there’s such potential for the kids and the adult chaperones to get so much out of it. This was a great trip for the kids to grow their relationships with Jesus, and I think that will be the most impactful thing in the long run,” Rosy said. “Their relationship with God is going to grow because of their time together on this trip.”
For each Youth Day trip, the group departs early Wednesday morning from Las Vegas and goes to Knott’s Berry Farm for a day of fun and fellowship. On Thursday morning, the group heads to Anaheim for Youth Day Mass, workshops, and prayer at the convention center. This year, some of the teens even got to see musician and speaker Joe Melendrez again, after enjoying his visit to Las Vegas earlier this month.
Four seniors from Viator Youth meet Archbishop José Gómez of Los Angeles.
These young people demonstrate a commitment to their faith by taking two days from their usual week to invest in this trip, and they also sold tickets for trivia night at the parish to defray the cost of their trip. All of this leads to special memories and formative moments shared together as Viatorian youth leaders with Viatorians at their side, especially in moments like their group dinner at Knott’s Berry Farm.
“It’s so important to be all together for times such as our meals. Fr. Dan went up in front of the group and invited them all to share their ‘God moment of the day’ while the group ate, and they all came up and shared – it was perfect,” Rosy said.
Fr. Dan Belanger leads prayer and faith-sharing as part of the large group meal at Knott’s Berry Farm.