The Ministry with Youth Office approached the planning of the event in a different way this year. Instead of developing a retreat experience on their own, the office asked several youth ministers to form a planning committee.
“We built this from scratch,” said Jorge Galvez, youth programs coordinator for the Ministry with Youth Office. “The youth ministers worked so hard to make this successful. It was a beautiful experience.”
With the theme “How to Run a Marathon with Jesus,” the youth ministers shared with the youth practical ways in which to serve as leaders in youth ministry at their home parishes.
This year the YCLT also offered a retreat experience for middle school aged youth, responding to the call from parishes to offer something for this age group.
The leadership training for high school students ran for the first three days of the week. The last two days gave the youth an opportunity to apply their training by being leaders and facilitators in the two-day middle school retreat. Close to 50 middle school students participated in the retreat.
In keeping with the week’s theme, participants were presented with a medal at the end of the week.