Las Vegas

The National Conference on Catholic Youth Ministry takes place every two years, and this was the third time we participated since the founding of ACTS. It also seemed to be by far the best and most productive for us. Whether it was that the location brought more people and their spouses, for a total of 2,900 youth ministry people; whether it was the situation of our exhibit and the bright new videos flashing across our screen that drew them in, I cannot say for sure. However we encountered a great deal of interest and enthusiasm both from parish and diocesan youth ministry people.

In no time we could forget about the Las Vegas glitz, the gaming machines at every turn, and also the unusually low temperatures outside. It became an environment surrounded by diverse Catholic youth ministries all around. In the exhibition hall, there were ministries which make videos - one group came all the way from Australia. Ministries that use comedy or music, and some selling T-shirts or other items. We also met a priest from Korea, and a Youth Minister from Denmark.

Had our three days of exhibiting been all we did, it still would have been a good weekend. However we had a resource spotlight to give on the use of multimedia in speaking the language of Millennial Teens at 7:30am on the final morning. It was clear that many would not make the effort to get up so early after 3 days of conferencing and partying in Las Vegas, but some began to arrive early, and they certainly wanted to be there.

One young Youth Minister from Scranton PA told me the reason he is in ministry is that a few years ago, I came to the youth conference at his home Archdiocese of NY. He said I was the first person to put in his mind the idea of serving God and ministering to others, so that is of course the kind of testimony we love to hear. I got to hang out with some cool people, including Cheer Up Charlie (a Christian band). Much of the conference is about meeting others, to encourage and affirm them, and form and strengthen relationships.