Lancers Attend Youth Day 2015

Thousands of teens celebrate Youth Day 2015.

Juniper Terrones

Thousands of teens celebrate Youth Day 2015.

Juniper Terrones, Staff Writer

Various events took place at LA Youth Day, a huge event put on for Catholic youth, which several Bishop Amat students were able to attend on Thursday, March 12 at the anaheim Convention Center.

LA Youth Day always has a theme for that specific year with this year’s being “Talk Jesus with Me.” The goal of this year’s conference was to encourage Catholic youth to talk Jesus with those around them, and to show the teens examples of different ways to talk about their faith. Speakers at the event suggested many teens have difficulty talking about their faith with their peers, because their friends do not always share the same beliefs. LA Youth Day’s objective was to inspire these teens to want to talk about their religion and beliefs.

In addition to the talks, the up-and-coming Christian rock duo Jeremy and Ryan wrote the theme song “Talk Jesus” for the Conference and shared how they “Talk Jesus.”

The two, Jeremy Shoop and Ryan Clouse, are from Moorpark and have been leading praise and worship at various retreats for several years. They said they love expressing their faith through their music and sharing that with everyone around them.

“Song is also prayer and I want to pray with all of you to our God,” Shoop said. “It creates this community in which everyone can be included.”

Michael Paul Leon from the Jacob and Matthew Band, was also at Youth Day promoting the upcoming teen conference City of Saints in Los Angeles. The goal of this conference is to “provide an opportunity for young people to deepen their relationship with Jesus.”

The conference will be held in August of 2015 and registration is now open online at http://layouth.org/.

Leon challenged the audience with his closing remarks, “This is your city. Be a saint!”

This Youth Day was also a special event as Sister Edith Prendergast, the director of Youth Day for twenty-eight years, retired and received a special blessing from all of the attendees of the conference.

Bishop Amat student Adrian Hernandez volunteered at Youth Day this year and was able to interact with Prendergast.

“She was a very nice lady and has inspired so many teens through Youth Day,” he said. “I am honored that I was able to interact with her during her last Youth Day.”