youth conference....

well, my priest and fellow youth talked me into going to this little shin-dig...

why am i telling you this?
well i've never been to an event that wasn't para-military (im in the c.a.p.) and honestly have no clue how to function at such a thing!
i'm not so good around people, i prefer to be alone. and part of me is kinda worried i'll either: screw it up for lack of ability to...participate
or simply get pissed of and punch someone.
haha

anyway just, i dunno, what can i do to get the most out of this? watching the videos for previous ones it seems like there are gonna be a bunch of speakers and stuff....so i guess if i just play it cool i might be able to learn somethin? iono

I'm sure you'll enjoy yourself. Even someone that likes to be alone can enjoy being around people sometimes.

just don't act too quiet and to yourself or they may feel the need to personally make sure you're involved.

i went--it was amazing.
for the longest time i've had HUGE doubts about my faith, and after just this short (actually, it was really long) weekend, everything makes sense!

anyway, i'm zomped, i'll come spam it up later

glad that you enjoyed it bro - can't wait to read up on everything.

well...
it was pretty cool, there were about 200 youth there, and many, many religious. i got a class on angels and demons, which, out of all of the scheduled activities was my favorite part.

we went to the "abortion mill" to pray the rosary for the unborn, and that was a truly scary place, for the first time in my life i was sure i could feel the devil at work in there. and it's a very uncomfortable place to be.

also, i got a chance to converse with some sisters and brothers in various religious orders from the area, and was amazed by most of them, one thing i found universal about them was that; they all were very articulate, everything they said, even those with accents, could be clearly understood. and also, they were all truly wise people, people i respected...and that's pretty rare.

much of the details are a blur, i was with my heather the whole time, so those things that were not profound went to the wayside, but i got the important stuff =)

wow that sounds amazing!
being an ex darksider I have a huge interest in angels and demons.
what was the abortion mill about and why did it affect you so prefoundly?
as for the various religious orders from your area - were they like different faiths? or all bible believing but some different sects - a rabbi a priest and a baptist walk into a bar...
yay for getting to be with heather. but i would like to know a little more about this. sounds great!

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being an ex darksider I have a huge interest in angels and demons.

me too!

concerning the abortion mill....i'm not sure.
first off, to kill such an innocent thing...it's just evil.
when we arrived we had over 300 catholics, including priests and everything else, so naturally there was this aura of confidence surrounding the busses.
But then we found that the owners of the place had payed good money to have a couple nearby parking lots blocked off with chains, so we were forced to park on the street.

then, during the 1/2 mile walk to the place, i was informed that the escorts (those who walk the women in and out of the abortionary) were 100% volunteers, and that a large number of them were members of some cult or another who got a sort of reward for doing this!
but beyond that, it was amazing to learn that 4 out of 20 women who went in that day decided AGAINST having their baby killed, it was really awesome to know that we did that. =]

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as for the various religious orders from your area - were they like different faiths?

sorry, i meant different convents and such, like dominicans, sisters of st. joseph the worker, etc.

That sounds very impacting. I'm glad for you that you got to be involved in something like that. I was almost 20 years ago. Maybe it's about time for me again. Thanks for sharing!

wow. so you were actually praying outside an abortion clinic that's what you meant by mill. I thought maybe you were just in a simulated situation. What a wonderful thing to do. And yeah I can see how that would have really shook you up.
How great that you were able to see the affects of your prayers right away and even better that you guys helped save so many little babies!

So they were just different convents, that's cool. I just wondered because you said something about different accents. I wouldn't want to lose a good Catholic to the Buddists or something - lol
I am so happy for you that you had such a great time.

That is awesome, I didn't know the Catholics did anything like that. We always had the A/G Youth Convention every year and I always would get butterflies in my tummy before it because it was so much fun! My brother always went so I pretty much knew what to expect going in, and so would always pack plenty of T.P. and shaving cream.

(lol)

We pretty much did everything you guys did, and then invaded the attached mall afterwards both days, and then trashed the Hyatt Regency, (not literally but we would cause a lot of mayhem and make a huge mess) and stayed up all night prank calling each other, only to be dragged bleary eyed out of bed by our youth leaders after maybe three hours of sleep, to an Easter service (ours was always Easter weekend), where they would poke and prod us to stay awake for the rest of the day!

Then we'd go home and sleep it off.

But hey in addition to the Baptists and Pentecostals and Apostolics and whatnot, we now have a little Catholic girl coming to our group on Saturday nights! (yay)

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I didn't know the Catholics did anything like that.

haha
doncha know?? the Knights of Columbus are the organization who have put forth the most man hours, and biggest number of dollars for the pro-life cause...Catholics are hardcore about this stuff.

*wonders why my in-laws always get all offended and stuffy over the abortion issue then*

Are there Catholics who aren't pro-life? Because I think I'm related to some....

.....you can't even say the word around them without them getting all stiff.....

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Are there Catholics who aren't pro-life?

the very thought of a catholic who supports anything in opposition to the pro-life movement is, frankly...not a catholic.

but yes, there are those who would put the label "catholic" on themselves and still support abortion, euthanasia, homosexuality...they call themselves catholics for choice.

we laugh about them a lot.

There are both Catholics and Protestants who are liberal and conservative, this should be a no brainer.

The Changeling wrote:

There are both Catholics and Protestants who are liberal and conservative, this should be a no brainer.

that's......kinda what i was thinking.