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Mission: Province VIII youth gather in Salt Lake City
The joyful gathering, themed "Choose the Better Part," drew young people from Hawaii to Navajoland, Idaho to Alaska, for light-hearted fun and conversation, as well as the more serious spiritual discernment and leadership development that have been the inevitable byproducts of provincial youth events (PYE) over the past 18 years, says the Rev. Brian Prior, Province VIII youth ministry network coordinator.
"I tell kids all the time that there are lots of great opportunities to experience the breadth and depth of the Episcopal Church," said Prior, rector of the Episcopal Church of the Resurrection, which he started 10 years ago in Spokane Valley.
"Most of our Episcopal experiences are so parochial; there are so many great people out there that it is more important than ever for young people in the emerging generation to realize that the Episcopal experience is pretty broad," said Prior, who is also vice president of the House of Deputies.
"Our hope is that they make some true friends from other places and gain a sense of being part of a larger family. We also hope they learn new and different ways to live into their faith because of what it has to offer them."
For Kevin Viernes, 15, of Maui, attending the morning "Joy of Shameless Christ Promotion" workshop felt a step closer to an eventual media ministry.
He earned high praise from the Rev. Greg Tuttle for his video diary of the conference, held July 17-22 on the Westminster College campus. Learning to burn DVDs and to edit images for website and newsletter use will suffice for his present purpose of sharing his experiences with his home parish, Church of the Good Shepherd.
But he hopes, eventually, to engage a full-time media ministry. "I want to show people that the Christian life is a gift, and to tell them 'Aloha,'" he said.
Tuttle, 34, is a PYE alumnus. "I came first as a teen and was supported through youth ministry as a teen. Then, when it was time to get a real job, I ended up as director of youth ministry at St. David's Church in San Diego," he said, adding that PYE is an "extraordinary exchange -- if only we could do it in a broader way in the rest of society."
Hot topics and cultural expressions
Elaina James held up the culmination of an hour's efforts in her "Masks-Part 1" morning workshop.
The soft-spoken 15-year-old from Holy Spirit Church in Fort Duchesne, Utah gestured to the forehead of the mask. "I painted this black because of all the bad things that have happened in my family and my life," she said. "This represents the anger building here, for the lives of my family."
"The rest of the face I painted hot pink because it's my favorite color. Along the sides, I painted these strokes, to represent hope, because I have a niece and nephew coming, going to be born. And I painted a feather, for my Indian culture, the Ute culture.
"I'm not sure if I'll paint the lips, because I'm shy. I'm trying to learn to talk to people more," James added.
Next, participants paint the insides of the masks with the question in mind: "How do we present ourselves to the world," said workshop leader Linnea Collins, youth and family minister at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in Boise, Idaho.
Other workshops offered at the six-day gathering at Westminster College included: mandalas; spiritual autobiographies; taking faith to college; shrinky dinks; prayer and meditation and walled off/walled out.
A "hot topics" discussion about the church and sex drew more than half the PYE participants, many of whom expressed dissatisfaction with the church's failure to address the issue in a meaningful way.
"Most teens aren't going to wait until they get married to have sex so the church should realize that and help us deal with it," one participant said.
Some students said that the church's failure to act has left a vacuum filled by popular culture and negative images. But another teen-ager disagreed: "Just because I see (hip hop artist Curtis Jackson known as) 50 Cent grinding with some woman on a video doesn't mean I'm going to go and do it," she said. "I don't feel like pop culture is affecting my behavior."
"Some churches deal with it by using fear, that if you have sex you're going to hell, instead of talking about love," another participant said. "The church should teach more about love. If we knew more about love, it would make a difference."
Carl Foltz, 17, said he attended the "PK's" or priest's kids "hot topics" discussion since he is often stereotyped because his dad is rector of Church of the Good Shepherd on Maui.
"It's a small stereotype compared to race and gender, but it exists, nonetheless. I'm painted as either a rebel or an angel, or that I have to go to church because my father's the preacher, when I go because I want to," said Foltz. "It even happened at today's meeting. People said they never thought about it." Nonetheless, he's made a lot of friends at PYE and hopes "to get closer to God and get some clarity in my life about going to college next year," he added.
The Diocese of Hawaii's contribution to a favorite event, the cultural carnival, was ukelele playing and demonstrations of lei-making and the huki lau, a hula dance, he said. Alaska, on the other hand, handed out spray-painted "moose nuggets" as humorous mementoes and a ball inscribed with Alaskan trivia, said the Rev. Paul Klitzke of St. David's Church in Wasilla.
PYE gatherings have been held every third year in all nine provinces, since 1989, according to Betsy Boyd, national church staff officer for youth ministry, who attended the Province VIII gathering. Young people who have completed the ninth through twelfth grades and their adult sponsors are eligible to attend.
She said that in addition to developing young people, PYE gatherings also are an opportunity for creative and collaborative leadership among dioceses. "They can share resources and celebrate in a way they don't get to celebrate in their individual dioceses."
Also on hand was the new Province VIII coordinator, Patricia Erskine. "I've been on the job two weeks. Eventually, I'm hoping to connect with all 900 congregations, 17 dioceses, to share best practices and to help them develop a web presence," said Erskine, a parishioner at Grace Church, Bainbridge Island, Washington. She has created a new provincial website.
The conference theme "Choose the Better Part' reflects the Sunday, July 22's Gospel lesson, and Jesus' comments to Martha, after she complains that her sister Mary is not helping her attend to dinner and guests, explained Caralie Kennedy, 18, of St. John's Church in LaVerne, California, a member of the design team.
"It really reflects the whole conference -- it's important to focus on how not to let bad things in." She said she attended PYE 2004 because her youth minister, the Rev. Earl Gibson, made "learning about God fun, something I could do. He didn't tell me what I had to believe and that was exciting. I wasn't being condemned. I didn't have to be something I wasn't. It was a freedom and a comfort. It made God more human, someone I could relate to and talk to and trust.
"Then I just got a call one day that said we need help, would you like to join and here I am in Utah. The only way church is going to work is if young people get involved."
Joey Freund, 17, of St. Bartholomew's Church in Poway, California, said he decided to participate by sharing the preaching of a homilette about separation (Wednesday's theme) because of a desire "to share how we all need each other." Themes for the rest of the week included welcoming; listening; focus; and on the PYE final day, Sunday, July 22, "Choose the Better Part."
[Fran McKendree is a well-known musician, who began in 1984 working under the aegis of the Episcopal church, performing concerts and as music leader and coordinator for conferences and workshops.]
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