By: Billy O'Regan (Executive Director)
On the weekend of November 17, I traveled to Indianapolis for the National Catholic Youth Conference (NCYC). This year, more than 12,000 teens from all across the United States gathered for an experience of friendship and spiritual rejuvenation. The theme was "Fully Alive", drawing inspiration from Genesis 1:23-27 and John 10:10.
Evening came, and morning followed—the fifth day. Then God said: Let the earth bring forth every kind of living creature: tame animals, crawling things, and every kind of wild animal. And so it happened: God made every kind of wild animal, every kind of tame animal, and every kind of thing that crawls on the ground. God saw that it was good. Then God said: Let us make human beings in our image, after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the tame animals, all the wild animals, and all the creatures that crawl on the earth. God created mankind in his image; in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:23-27)
A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy; I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly. (John 10:10)
The TEC Conference hosted a booth in the exhibition hall, which stayed very busy for the entire conference. I was assisted in the booth by Sierra Altenstadter (LouTEC), Laura Arand (TEC New Orleans), and Paul Mach (Lindenwood Retreat Center Director). Our location gave TEC lots of visibility for the teenagers and youth ministers browsing the exhibit hall. As a special surprise, the booth was also staffed temporarily by our Episcopal Moderator, Bishop John Iffert, and the chair of the TEC Spirituality Ministry Team, Fr. Robert Murphy, SJ.
This gathering set the stage for more excellent conversations that I can reasonably fit into this blog post, but real momentum was gained for our aspirations to start TEC in the Diocese of Covington, along with the hope to restart TEC in the Diocese of Jefferson City and the Archdiocese of Louisville. There was also an excellent meeting of TEC people from around the country who have relocated to the Archdiocese of Indianapolis. We are gauging the prospects for a new TEC community there too!
We are grateful for all of the people who stopped by and visited us at the TEC booth and look forward to our next opportunity to share the good work that TEC is doing in so many parts of the world!
