The
Calling
by Hannah Franklin
I just got back from DCYC and I'm on a serious holy high. The past
three days were totally amazing.
I've learned so much from this trip. There were more than 1300 youth at
the conference. All those people were in one room, praising God in one
voice. That, to me, is a miracle in itself.
The theme of the conference was 'The Calling.' I guess that since it is
National Vocation Awareness Week, DCYC decided to make the conference
about various vocations that youth might be called to. When our group
got there on Friday night, music was playing and people were already
getting into it. Then the opening ceremony started. There were about 15
priests there. When they walked in, they all wore sunglasses and were
declared to be the 'Men in Black.'
The first speaker was Sister Marilyn. She was amazing. You would expect
a nun to act serious and solemnly holy but this lady was all over the
place. She told us about herself. She used to want to be a rock
musician. She played guitar, worked on her rock moves, got into the
rock scene, and even mentioned that she liked Pink Floyd. When she
talked she was so animated. She walked back and forth across the stage
and spoke passionately about her faith. It was impossible for you to
take your eyes off her. She totally caught everyone's attention. As I
was watching her, I couldn't help but be inspired. I thought, "If I
become a nun, that's what I want to be like."
I heard that when the concert was going on the next night, she joined
in, danced like a crazy person, and even joined the Congo line that was
going around the huge hall. I'm telling you, she was more energetic
than me!
After that we prayed the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, had closing
announcements, and headed to the hotel. I don't know about the other
rooms but my room mates pretty much partied until 1:30 am. It was a
blast. The next morning we prayed the Liturgy of the Hours and had a
speech from Mary Beth Bronacci. She was a very good speaker.
After that we had workshops. Everyone from the conference got to choose
who they wanted to listen to and what they wanted to hear about. I
chose Mary Beth for the 'girl's only' session. She talked about our
role as women, how we are different from men (we have bigger brains),
and how we should be chaste until marriage.
After lunch we had 2 hours of free time. Mr. Valentino taught a few of
us how to play this awesome dice game. I was pretty bad at first but
actually managed to win one game later. Some other people from our
group went to the Dr. Pepper museum. They told us that there were
people running up and down the halls of the museum chanting "DCYC." I'm
telling you, the whole weekend was basically a riot for Jesus.
The greatest thing ever happened after free time. Bishop Aymond faced
off Tony Melendez in Guitar Hero! Now, not only was that special
because it was hilarious to watch the bishop play Guitar Hero, but
there is another reason. Tony Melendez is one of the greatest guitar
players I've seen. His story is truly amazing. He plays guitar without
arms. He was born without arms and does everything with his feet. To
watch him play guitar with his feet was awesome. There's a really good
video about him on You Tube if you want to go look it up.
In the end Tony beat the bishop.
Afterwards, we had more workshops, sang and danced around some more,
watched an amazing skit put on by the animators, then had Eucharistic
Adoration. Adoration is always awesome for me but when you're in a room
with that many people, it's even better. When adoration was over, there
was a concert in the main room but I went to ballroom dancing. That was
fun. We just did some basic things but I still had trouble with just
about everything. Let's just say it, I can't dance.
When we got back to the hotel, our group went to a room and talked
about all the things they had gotten out of the trip. Many said that it
really got them thinking about what God's calling might be for them and
I agree, DCYC really did help me with a lot of things. I'm glad I went.
The next morning we went back, sang and danced more, and listened to a
talk given by a couple, Scott and Kathryn Whitaker. The bishop then
gave a Mass, and we had our closing session. On the way back just about
everyone slept. We all took pictures of them on the bus. It was funny.
I'm still on retreat high and already miss all the fellowship. If
you're thinking about going next year, I highly recommend it. |
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