Freshmen at retreat resolve to be 'Modern Day Disciples'

As the rain continued to pour on the morning of Sept. 13, 20 high school freshmen arrived at Sacred Heart Church in Falfurrias to attend the Link Retreat sponsored by the Office of Youth Ministry and Sacred Heart Church Falfurrias. The Link retreat is for teens who are incoming high school freshman and covers topics like peer pressure, bullying, relationships and faith. Many teens struggle with all these human elements in their lives.

Teens were provided with breakfast, lunch and dinner as well as participated in icebreakers, the Sacrament of Reconciliation and Mass.

There were 20 teen volunteers participated and 10 adult volunteers conducted the retreat. As several teens entered, they were met by hospitable greeters and were invited to be part of small family groups. Heath Garcia and his band led the teens and volunteers in prayer with praise and worship music.

"Many of the teens were very receptive and sang along with their hearts as it became contagious when more and more teens sang and held hands," Jaime Reyna, youth minister of the Diocese of Corpus Christi said.

Reyna, his staff and volunteers carried out this retreat after two months of preparations and training. He credits staff at Sacred Heart, including Father Matthew Stephan, parish secretary Joan Bostwick and youth leader Marty Cabrera with making the retreat possible. The Knights of Columbus from Sacred Heart cooked and provided hamburgers for lunch and the Catholic Daughters of America cooked and donated the Spaghetti dinner. Teens loved the home-cooked meals as well as all the snacks at the retreat, Reyna said.

"The retreatants' attitude progressed from not wanting to be at the retreat to really opening up to others at the retreat and having a fantastic time," Reyna said. "They were opening up with several icebreaker games and it allowed them to open more during the day."

Pam Saenz, a student at the local high school, served as the emcee for the retreat. She wanted to be part of this retreat but expressed reservations because she had not been active and "was not really there spiritually."

"I got involved in the choir and youth group. Marty asked me to be part of this retreat. I really connected with the topic of the relationship. At times it is hard to understand the Prodigal Son parable but I understand it clearly now," she said.

At the end of the retreat, many of the participants shared testimonies about how they enjoyed hearing talks from other teens, the sharing they did in the family groups and the opportunity to take part in the Sacrament of Reconciliation and Adoration. All retreatants signed a resolution to be a "Modern Day Disciple" with Father Stephan, pastor at Sacred Heart, and they took this resolution home with them after concluding the retreat with Mass.

The retreat also generated the organization of a youth group at Sacred Heart, which had not had an active group in some years. If anyone is interested in organizing a youth group or holding a youth retreat in their parish, they can contact the Office of Youth Ministry at (361) 882-6191.