By Juan Rodriguez
The Dreamers Club started with an interest for film.
It was not your typical youth group or youth gathering. Some groups would have the familiar sports or games for teens to keep them off the street, while other groups had a spiritual bent to it, similar to the Charismatic Renewal or the Cursillo (Jornada).
This group could not be all about “getting together to watch a movie,” it had to have elements of the Catholic faith –a Catholic identity.
Reflecting on that Catholic identity, I recall the words of Pope St. John Paul II, where he said to the youth and young adults at World Youth Day, “How does Jesus send you? He promises neither sword, nor money, nor any of the things which the means of social communications make attractive to people today.
“He gives you instead grace and truth. He sends you out with the powerful message of his paschal mystery, with the truth of the cross and resurrection. That is all he gives you, and that is all you need” (Pope John Paul II, World Youth Day 1996).
How does Jesus send us? We have the blessings of God, the sacraments that strengthen us and our relationship with Jesus, to give a reason to the youth and young adults we serve in our community.
The teens who wanted this film group also hungered for friendship, community and for that personal encounter for Christ.
They kept coming to the Church, not knowing that God was drawing them to Himself by way of us catechists and youth leaders. He was using us, like He uses the saints, most especially the patron saint of our Church, Mary.
One by one, we discussed with individual youth our ideas for a film group. It inspired them even when we mentioned prayer and friendship. Some did not like the idea, but they tagged along, later becoming members of the group.
The group’s target audience were confirmands, and those who received the sacrament of Confirmation and were in danger of leaving the Church.
If you are a catechist for Confirmation, you know the feeling of disappointment when your students, after receiving Confirmation, slowly lose themselves to the world, leaving the Mass and so many other spiritual blessings the Church has to offer.
We created a system to reach the youth who received their Confirmation, students who have entered Confirmation classes and members of the altar servers.
In six months, the group has grown from eight to 25. It not only includes former and present confirmands, it also includes family members who are in fourth, fifth and sixth grades.
In other words, the question “How does Jesus send us?” is being answered by the testimony of the “Dreamers Club” members: they are the ones giving Good News, not about the group, but about the friendship they found in Christ and each other. They are becoming a living testimony of the Gospel, and that “Catholic identity.”
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Rodriguez is director of faith formation at Queen of Angels, Sunnyside.