Young adult Catholics from all over the diocese focus on spirituality during summer retreat

IC photo/Laura Vallejo

+ Enlarge

The young adult Catholics participating in the summer retreat sponsored by the diocesan Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministry meet each other through an ice-breaking activity. See additional photos on the Intermountain Catholic Facebook page.

>

 SALT LAKE CITY — More than 40 Catholic young adults gathered in St. Vincent de Paul Parish’s Benvegnu Center for the diocesan Young Adult Summer Retreat.

This was the second young adult retreat organized by Junuee Castro, director of the diocese’s Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministry. The first retreat, which was in Spanish, was held in May.

The June 15 retreat, which was in English, was led by Fr. Charles Johnson O.P., director of Vocations for the Order of Preachers of the Southern Dominican Province, and a resource person for the Congar Institute, a Texas-based ministry that provides resources for the formation of lay pastoral leaders. He lives in Louisiana.

The young adults who attended the retreat came from parishes such as the Cathedral of the Madeleine, St. Francis of Assisi, Holy Family, Saint Joseph, Saint Martin de Porres, Saint Catherine of Siena Newman Center, Our Lady of Guadalupe, Saints Peter and Paul, and Saint Ambrose.

“This will be a time to reflect, a time to be able to get stronger and gain strength in our Catholic faith, and an opportunity to reflect and to have time and to have spiritual guidance together with Fr. Charlie,” Castro said as she welcomed the young adults.

After praying and reflecting on some readings, the retreat participants participated in some ice-breaking exercises.

Then Lan Pham Ngu, a Saint Ambrose parishioner and immigrant from Vietnam, narrated her personal story and invited everyone to reflect on theirs.

“But first let’s stand up and greet each other,” Ngu said, asking them to salute each other in Vietnamese style. The Vietnamese greeting is “Chao ban” (hello, friend), there also is a four-step handshake.

“Let’s now have more fun and put together our hands, facing backwards, and saying ‘moo’ to each other,” Ngu suggested.

Everyone in the room followed the instructions, smiling and having lots of fun.

“I was a refugee kid that arrived to the States in a boat with many others. ... I suffered from hunger — I thought that was my end, but then we prayed, and we prayed a lot. I asked God to live,” said Ngu.

Fighting tears, she shared that, thanks to that prayer, she was able to be at the retreat. Prayer has also made her faith as strong as it is, she said, and then she asked the participants to never give up, and confront the one thing that they thought they could not face.

“I am here because of my faith, I am here because of the prayer,” she said. “Pray. Always pray. Confront the difficult in your life.”

On the tables were potatoes and straws. Ngu asked each of the participants to say as loud as they could, “I am going to follow through” the particular difficulty that each chose, and push the straw into the potato.

“That’s life. Aim at what you want to overcome and pray. Pray a lot, even at the most dark times, always pray,” Ngu said.

The retreat continued with presentations by Fr. Charlie, as he prefers to be called. He focused on spirituality.

“We are going to talk about conversion, as a journey with Christ through new and familiar territory, which is through you,” Fr. Charlie said.

He took the participants through the pains, joys and challenges of personal spirituality.

“The main purpose is the growth of your spirituality,” he said.

Sharing personal experiences, those attending the retreat enjoyed a day filled with reflection, both personal and in community, praying and meditating together. The day concluded with Mass.

“These retreats are great,” said Jaime Zuazo, a Saints Peter and Paul parishioner who also attended the Spanish event. “We have to always keep learning and preparing in our faith.”