Archbishop José H. Gomez and the Archdiocese of Los Angeles Office of Religious Education hosted the fifth annual City of Saints conference this past weekend on the campus of University of California, Los Angeles to offer teens an encounter with Christ through fellowship, praise and worship as they participated in workshops presented by renowned speakers, including youth leaders.
Archbishop Gomez welcomed the teens on Friday afternoon by celebrating Mass, then led the youth in an outdoor Eucharistic procession to the Sacred Space, where spiritual directors shared different prayer paths during the weekend.
The event featured music by the nationally-known recording artist Ike Ndolo, facilitated group time, worship and prayer, teens received the sacrament of reconciliation, and many other activities including a mosaic of the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe that students helped to create by taking pictures.
About 1,186 teenagers attended City of Saints from 55 parishes and schools throughout the tri-county Archdiocese (Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, and Ventura). The event was emceed by Mental Health and School Counselor Roy Petitfils, Musician and Author Chris Padgett, Theology teacher Brian Greenfield, Catholic speaker and the author of Follow and Room 24 Katie Prejean McGardy, and Director of Partnership for ODB Films and owner of Monarch Catholic Ministries Doug Tooke.
Full story at Diocese of Los Angeles.
For an “encounter with Christ”, these teens need to make a good confession then receive the Holy Eucharist. That’s as personal an “encounter” as they can get this side of heaven!
Our teens are encouraged to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation throughout the entire conference. Many priests volunteer to be present to our teens and hear their confessions. The opportunity to receive the Eucharist is also celebrated two times during the conference! Please join us in praying for our young church as we continue to bring them closer to Jesus!