Spice up the World with Your Light! - youth celebrate their faith at diocesan Junior High Festival

by Bill Casey

The New Ulm Diocesan Junior High Festival for youth in grades 7-9, held November 3 at Cedar Mountain High School, Morgan, MN can go down in the record book as another success! The Festival participation has continued to grow over the years. This year, nearly 800 young people and their adult leaders attended this annual diocesan event which is intended to help youth appreciate their faith as Catholic young people in the Church today.

After 12 years of hosting the Junior High Festival, many good things continue to happen. This is the second year that 9th graders have been invited to participate with the Junior High Festival rather than the Senior High Festival, a decision that was suggested by the youth ministers of the Diocese.

APeX Ministry, a team of two young men, Gene Monterastelli and Brad Farmer, provided a captivating message about faith. Gene and Brad are a comedy duo and juggling team. Sharing their message of faith along with humor, they engage their young audience through active drama and complex juggling. There were many positive comments about the APeX Ministry team. They are amazing jugglers with a lot of creativity. The APeX team travels across the country sharing their faith with thousands of youth every year. Gene and Brad explained that the word "APeX " means "highest point" - or, when it comes to juggling, the top focal point in their juggling movement. They stressed that when it comes to God, they believe that He needs to be the "Apex" or top focal point in our lives. Brad and Gene’s APeX Ministry will certainly be remembered for a long time in the New Ulm Diocese.

The overall theme of the day was "Spice Up the World with Your Light." The concept came from the scripture verse of the Gospel of Matthew 5:13-14. Festival participants looked at being light to others and what they could bring to the world to make the world a better place.

Bishop John Nienstedt celebrated the liturgy of the day with Festival participants. An interactive dance concluded the day.

Behind the Festival scenes, the Diocesan Youth Council, which consists of fifteen youth representing the entire Diocese and five adult leaders, form a planning team that works together for months to come up with a plan of activities for the Festival day. They begin by using Pope John Paul II’s message to youth which is issued once a year. From that message they select and form a theme that will speak to the youth of the Diocese. A logo or design is created as a result of the theme and is shared across the Diocese through promotional material. It is their hope that parishes will pick up on the theme and use the Pope’s message to speak to youth in each parish during the year. The Diocesan Youth Council and the youth ministers of the Diocese give much input into the planning of the diocesan Junior High Festival.

The success of a Festival day is also due to volunteers. Many great volunteers from the local parish of St. Michael’s in Morgan were enlisted for the day by JoAnn Green, a local coordinator for the parish working with the youth. Adults from the parish that become involved with the Festival are often surprised that something so exciting for youth is happening in the New Ulm Diocese.

The N.E.T. (National Evangelization Team) also helped with the activities of the day.

After months of planning, the 2002 Festival now remains in the minds of the participants. We pray that the memories continue to call young people to act on their faith from this day on.

For information regarding up-coming diocesan youth festivals, contact Bill Casey, director of the Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministry for the Diocese of New Ulm at (507) 359-2966.