An estimated 1,100 young people attended Sunday’s Middle School Youth Rally of the Archdiocese of New York, the first such event in 15 years.
The rally, held at St. Joseph’s Seminary in Yonkers, came one day after New York Catholic Youth Day celebrations on Saturday that drew 900 high school students.
Clergy speakers at the rally included Auxiliary Bishop Joseph A. Espaillat, who also celebrated Mass. Msgr. Joseph P. LaMorte, Vicar General and Moderator of the Curia for the Archdiocese was among the concelebrants.
Three lay Catholic inspirational speakers presented to attendees: Danny Ray from California, who put on a magic show; Cecilia Flores, also from California; and Brian Greenfield from Florida. All offered words of hope and encouragement for the youth, messages based on the event theme: “Signs and Wonders."
“You cannot offer peace unless you have peace,” Bishop Espaillat told the young faithful during Mass, noting the significance of forgiveness and reconciliation – eliminating tension in one’s relationships. He asked that each student think of someone with whom he or she has been having tense difficulties, and to offer that person to the Lord.
Later during Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, the bishop called on participants to “Just say the name of Jesus and that is prayer; the desire to pray itself is prayer. Please remember this as you go home; just say the name of Yeshua, just say the name of Jesus…Thank you, Jesus, for this time together.”
The event’s inspirational choir was made up of singers and musicians from several parishes within the archdiocese. The rally was organized by the archdiocesan Office of Youth Faith Formation, led by Ela Milewska.
This was the first archdiocesan Middle School Youth Rally since the last one about 15 years ago, Milewska said, adding it was brought back because “Middle School is a critical season in their life; it’s a great time to give them a really powerful experience of God and community.”
“I think it’s awesome; it’s a great opportunity for them. It’s great that they get these messages, and they get to meet kids from other parishes, to be together, to worship God. It’s just amazing,” Liz Ramos, youth minister at St. Peter-St. Denis in Yonkers said of the rally.
“I thought it would be important to come so that I could spend time with my youth group, to be with my friends,” Lara Rivas, 12, told The Good Newsroom near the rally’s big tent on a grass field behind the Seminary’s main building.
Attending from her home parish of St. Anthony of Padua in the Bronx, the sixth-grader added that she appreciated the event’s messages of forgiveness and trusting in the Lord, “because when you’re really struggling, God can help; you never know what God has for you.”
Janeudy Cruz, 12, noted that he too was grateful for the message of reconciliation, and for the entire afternoon event, which ran more than four hours and included break-out discussion sessions. “It was very important,” he said of his decision to attend, adding that the Catholic faith has always been a central part of his home life.