By Gina Robles, Youth Ministry Associate 

The Salesian Youth Ministry Office West and the Salesian Sisters (eastern and western provinces) collaborated on an interactive exhibit this year at the National Catholic Youth Conference in Indianapolis. The conference ran from Nov. 16th to Nov. 18th.

The young people were given the opportunity to participate in daily mass, adoration, entertainment, and many sessions and to come and learn about Don Bosco and the Salesian Charism when visiting our exhibit booth.

The opening session was held at Lucas Oil Stadium. There, thousands of young people gathered to hear the guest speakers who spoke about the theme “Fully Alive.”

November 17th

We had many visitors in our booth. Bishop Louis Tylka of the Diocese of Peoria, IL joined the fun in the booth as well as speaker and author Chika Anyanwu. We also had a student visitor from Bosco Tech, Rosemead, and SYLCer, Nicholas Garcia, who is also on the National Youth Advisory Council of the NFCYM.  It was a great opportunity to share the Salesian Charism, Don Bosco, and all the works across the United States.

November 18th

The last day of the conference started with Mass at St. John the Evangelist Church followed by the General Session at Lucas Oil Stadium. On the last day in the exhibit hall, we had many young people return to offer their prayer intentions and hear who Don Bosco is and what the Salesians’ mission is. The day ended with the closing mass where Bishop Joseph Espaillat shared in his homily to the young people to be joyful, have faith, and to not be afraid. He invited them to live their Catholic faith with enthusiasm! He reminded us all to reference Pope Francis in Evangelii Gaudium, “Sometimes we lose our enthusiasm for mission because we forget that the Gospel responds to our deepest needs, since we were created for what the Gospel offers us.”