Daughters of St. Paul participate in NCYC Conference
December 6-9, 2001

The National Catholic Youth Conference was held this year in Indianapolis, Indiana. The Conference, which gathers teens from all over the country, is held every two years. The next one is scheduled for 2003 in Houston, Texas. About 8 years ago when it was also held in Indianapolis, there were about 7,000 participants. This year, participants numbered close to 24,000, with the highest numbers of teens coming from the Midwest.

The theme for the Conference was Hope at the Crossroads with a focus on discovering one’s vocation. It included Mass, Eucharistic adoration, opportunities for confession, workshops, Contemporary Christian Music Concerts, and many exhibits for the teens to visit. Both the keynote speakers and the workshop presenters were excellent role models for the young people. Among them were:

Renee Bondi, a Catholic singer from Southern California who after a freak accident was left paralyzed from the waist down. She shared her story of God’s faithfulness amid this huge trial, and now she uses her beautiful voice to praise the Lord and gives inspiring concerts.

Miss America from Hawaii shared how she lived her Catholic faith.

Ann Ryder, a local Indianapolis reporter for Channel 13 who brings hope to those who watch her on TV. She has visited Calcutta in order to do a story on Mother Teresa. She prepared a segment on teens living on the streets and a group of Christian young people that goes out at night to minister to them. Ann is definitely a Pauline apostle and we hope to share with her our Pauline communications spirituality.

For the weekend our Indianapolis Pauline Community included Sr. Marie James from Chicago, Sr. Margaret Michael from Cleveland, and Sr. Carmen Christi from Boston. During the Convention we had a large exhibit of music, books, and videos for young people. As the river of young people flowed by, they were drawn into the booth by the posters of different Christian bands: Audio Adrenalin, Steven Curtis Chapman, Newsboys, POD and others. On the other side of the grid wall was, to their surprise, a nun. Sr. Margaret Michael was eager to fill them in about the latest in Contemporary Christian Music and share her faith as well. About 25 teens expressed interest in religious life and we collected their prayer intentions to remember in the Christmas Novena.

We met people from all over the country who knew us. One man walked by and said, "We see you girls everywhere." Another member of a Christian music band called across the hall, "Sister, thank you for your commitment." A prayer group leader who was checking out the latest music albums sung by the Daughters of St. Paul Choir told us how he has been using our Wings of Peace instrumental CD for years in his prayer group. "There is just nothing else like it," he remarked. .

Once again we are blessed to be bearers of the message of hope, communicating it through our lives and through the many means the media offers us to put that message into image, word and sound. Maybe we’ll see you in Houston!

Our booth at the NCYC Conference. We were swamped with teens all four days of the Conference.

Sr. Margaret Michael and Sr. Marie James cheer as the crowd prepares for one of the Christian music concerts.

The Conference was held at the home of the Indianapolis 500. Beside the red car is Sr. Marie James.

Tattoos were "in" at the Conference. Sr. Carmen Christi and Sr. Marie James display their "Hope at the Crossroads" tattoos.