NCYC—An Explosion of Joy
By Bob McCarty
Executive Director, NFCYM
For a moment, let us resist the temptation to move immediately to planning our next event. And I do not mean just NFCYM—I am referring to all of us in our dioceses and organizations. If we fall into the trap of “events are us,” we will miss the special significance of the 2007 NCYC.
The tragic death of Veronica Gantt early in the morning of November 8 changed everything. This was a new experience for NCYC and NFCYM. And though we benefited from an Emergency and Crisis Response Manual developed over the past six years, we were clearly in uncharted territory.
Our immediate response included meeting with the Las Vegas delegation at the Columbus airport, attending to the Gantt family, making all the necessary contacts, supporting the diocesan delegation leader and the parish youth ministry coordinator, preparing a news release, and conducting a news conference.
The tragedy focused our attention on balancing pastoral and program concerns for the opening session, and had an impact on the other general sessions as well. Further, the local and national media highlighted NCYC, moving beyond the initial story to an emphasis on the conference itself. Their stories captured the move from grief and sympathy to the excitement of gathering as the young Catholic Church. They spotlighted the deep faith of the participants.
Participants had the opportunity in Port Discovery to write cards of condolence to the Gantt family. These thousand cards were personally delivered to Paul and Karen Gantt in December. Reading the cards affirmed the genuine compassion of young people, though it is often anchored in their personal experiences of loss, death, grief, and suffering. It was a blessing to read the scriptures of their lives as they reached out to the Gantts.
The closing liturgy completed this experience of the Paschal Mystery, as we moved from death to resurrection and new life. At the end of the recessional song, the young people rose in a spontaneous and extended standing ovation— an explosion of joy. And though our pastoral response to the family, the youth ministry coordinator, and the parish delegation continues, that outburst of joy will be a profound memory of NCYC.
Amid the many e-mails and letters expressing appreciation and gratitude for NCYC, the following came from a freshman at St. George Parish in Tinley Park, Illinois:
Hello, my name is Cailie and I have recently undergone a life changing experience. NCYC took me on a voyage, a voyage that has taken me deeper and deeper into my faith. There are no words that can describe the feelings that erupted there. The sorrow, the happiness, the total jubilation and the grief; we were all pulled into the vortex of Jesus, where He was standing, arms wide open, awaiting us. Not only did we discover the way, we also walked the way and talked the way. We are all disciples of Christ, We are all one Body, And we have discovered the way.
Indeed, an experience of special significance.
Email Connections at connections@nfcymoffice.org
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