Atlanta Youth & Family Encounter

Well, I've been absent for a bit, and for good reason. By way of a recap, in the past two weeks, we've had Joel's mom, dad, and sister in town; went to the International Youth & Family Encounter (YFE); had my mom, dad, two sisters, and their two dogs in town; and celebrated Lucia's birthday. It's been incredibly busy around here. Unfortunately, as I write this, Joel and Lucia are upstairs in bed, both coming down with colds. I think all this activity took a lot out of us!

I could say a lot about the happenings of the last couple weeks, but I want to mention the Youth & Family Encounter. I don't always talk specifically about my faith in this blog, although it's an integral part of my life. The YFE embodied the wonderful things I love about the Catholic faith, and I want to be sure to give thanks to God for such a great experience.

The YFE is sponsored by the Regnum Christi¹ movement (an organization in the Church for laypeople) and the Legionaries of Christ² (an order of priests). The event is held in the U.S. every two years, and this year, it was in our new home city of Atlanta! It's a conference where Catholics can come together and learn more, deepen our faith, be entertained, and participate in the sacraments together.

One of the most exciting things about the YFE this year was that Joel had the opportunity to perform several times there. He played at the kids' track, and also at the youth rally (to about 1,000 teens!)...but my favorite performance at the conference was on the family track, where he played to quite a captive audience. When he played his popular song, "Save the Family", I looked around at the crowd to see every gaze fixed on the stage, some eyes filled with tears. It was such a beautiful moment that I heard the song as if for the first time, really listening to the words, and it touched me like it did the others in the audience. (If you'd like to hear a clip of this song, or any of the others on Joel's CD, click here³.)

Also exciting was the fact that Joel's family came in town to see him play and to help out wherever needed, as well as participate in the conference. It was great to have them there and experience all the activity together—we were incredibly busy!

Besides Joel's numerous performances, I gave two talks during the Youth for the Third Millennium⁴ (now Mission Youth) Coordinators' Track . I was very honored to be asked, and really enjoyed being a part of the YFE as a speaker. I also worked a couple of booths in the exhibit area as well.

When we weren't involved in these various pursuits, we all had at least a few moments to partake in the YFE's events as participants. Although I didn't get to see much, I was fortunate to see some of the main stage program. This included a juggling family (so cool), testimonies of Regnum Christi families, Fr. Álvaro Corcuera's address (the general director of the Legionaries and Regnum Christi), and Cardinal Franc Rodé's address (he came from the Vatican for the YFE).

My favorite part, though, was meeting Fr. Álvaro in person. As he's the head of the Legionaries and all Regnum Christi members all over the world, this was very exciting! I got to shake his hand and asked him to sign my prayer book (I had heard that Regnum Christi members often ask him to do this). To my surprise, he didn't just sign his name, he wrote me a personal message and was very unhurried and gracious. This was in contrast to the videocamera that accompanies him always, as well as his security detail and posse of priests and unnamed Mexican guys...which all made him seem very famous and untouchable. But, he's so warm and gentle, and I'll never forget meeting him.

The YFE is beautiful in its simplicity: thousands of priests, consecrated men and women, and families coming together to celebrate their faith and go deeper into what it means to love Christ.