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By Eric Connolly
Ask a middle-school kid to write three
words describing the diocesan Junior High
Rally held Nov. 5 in Kalispell, and this is
some of what you will read:
- Fun, awesome, fantastic
- Amazing, funkilicious, fun
- Loud, entertaining, dynamic
- Justin Beiber, Justin Beiber, Justin Beiber
No, the pop superstar wasn’t at the rally,
but, it did draw more than 300 young people.
The day coordinated by the diocesan
Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministry
featured two keynote speakers, two youth
keynoters, formation sessions, a worship
band and Mass celebrated by Father Rod
Ermatinger of St. Matthew Parish in
Kalispell. The rally, which was at the Red
Lion Inn, ended with a dance.
In keynote remarks, Reach Youth Ministry
Associate Director Johnny Doiron of
Helena spoke of how specific moments in
a person’s life can be instrumental in his or
her faith formation.
“And God provided me a moment,”
Doiron said, recalling his experience at
World Youth Day,
Aug. 16-21 in
Madrid. “Jesus is
someone we can talk
to and converse with
and be in relationship
with, and as I knelt
down before Jesus, it
struck me that I had
forgotten who he was
in my life, all of the
blessings given to
me.”
Doiron said he realized
in Madrid that
5 million-plus people
were brought to their
knees in the middle of
a field in 113-degree
weather and a rainstorm because of Jesus.
“...Only a person, an adored person, can do
that, and that’s Jesus,” he said.
Doiron encouraged the Junior High
Rally participants to “live passionate, bold
lives for Christ. Don’t be
afraid at school to say,
`Yes, I’m a Catholic, I
love Jesus…my truth is a
person: Jesus.’”
Second keynote
speaker Diedre Casey, a
youth minister at Our
Lady of the Valley Parish
in Helena, focused on the
power of words, especially
in the Mass.
For Communion,
priests will say, “`Take
this all of you and eat of
it, this is my body which
will be given up for you,’
and it happens,” Casey
said.
People at Mass “pray these words, we
listen to these words, we soak in these
words and then we celebrate them together
with a priest,” she said. “An amazing thing
happens. We bring up bread and wine and
it comes back to us as the real presence of
Jesus, his body and his blood.”
Middle school student Ryan Keenan of
Blessed John Paul II Parish in Bigfork said
the rally was helpful in understanding
“who you are and what you are trying to
be. It was thrilling, exciting and a blast.”
For young people to “come together
and see a large gathering of youth their age
who love the Lord and want the same
things is a powerful thing,” and it helps
them grow in their faith, said Jake Harrison,
director of Catholic Youth Rural Outreach
in the Flathead Valley.
Mackenzie Fauque, a youth who rose
at 4:30 a.m. for the trip from her hometown
of Cut Bank to Kalispell, described the
rally as uplifting and a spiritual journey.
“It’s very important, because you need
to know what your faith is,” she said.
Published in The Montana Catholic Online, Volume 27, No. 11, November 18, 2011.
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